More on OceanMaiden

In this post I wrote about a 15 year old girl calling herself OceanMaiden who calls herself Wiccan and, like so many other Wiccans, believes in Karma and does not like people telling her that Karma is not and never was a Wiccan concept.

I did show her this post by Dharmaraja, who is Hindu, so she could figure out what Karma really is all about.

She ignored it.

It is precisely this kind of head up the ass type of deliberate ignorance on the part of many Wiccans that utterly gets my goat.

She just blows off over 3000 years of Vedic tradition and indicates, "Hey, it's cool, so I'm going to use it."

Once again, this is why I want to get totally clear on what wicce is and always has been, and there are moments when I think even ol' Gardner got it wrong.

Because if I and people like myself and Joe do NOT get clear on it, then such deliberate, arrogant ignorance as shown by OceanMaiden will proliferate, and ALL PAGANS, HEATHENS, WICCANS, ETC will be the absolute


LAUGHINGSTOCK


...of all religions.

I think it's already happening. I think people look at pagans and heathens and Wiccans and say, "Eh, they're just a bunch of hippie tree huggers, 1960s rejects, total flakes. Ignore them."

This is exactly the kind of thing that The Julian Society is trying to work against.

I'm a card-carrying member of the Society.

So anyway, it gets better.

OceanMaiden made a comment that Florida (where we both live) is a bad place to be Wiccan because it is geologically incorrect.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot interrobang

She also said she'd never seen oak trees in Orlando.

:jaw drops:

I told her I had seen them all over the freaking place here, and she screamed at me: ARE YOU HALLUCINATING??

No, honey - but you apparently are completley BLIND, girl, if you live in Orlando and can't see any oak trees.

THIS just absolutely grates on my last Heathen nerve. Telling me I'm hallucinating because she can't see any oak trees. OK maybe there aren't any at her house, but wtf - go somewhere other than your house for once.

Here's something else: I was looking at some Wiccan videos on YouTube and I ran across someone who had lots of crow and raven images in her video.

Someone else was very happy to see this and started asking questions about it.

She snarled at the person and basically indicated that she just had those images there because she thought they were cool.

Someone else came along and agreed and said that they have raven images all over their altar, no one had told them that the bird was a harbinger of death, and it didn't taint their "majik" at all.

First of all: "majik?"

That's where Joe's "stew-pyd twot" comes in. Anyone who mangles the perfectly good word "magic" deserves to be called a "stew-pyd twot" in his estimation.

It's like spelling "women" as "wimmin" or "wemoon" or "womyn" or whatever. That to him is also "stew-pyd twot" behavior.

Second, with regards to the "I think ravens are cool" attitude - ok yes fine, they are cool birds. But by the Gods, does no one do any reading or research any more?

Sometimes I think the deities of wisdom, such as Odin and Frigga and Saga (just to name the ones of the Nordic path) are no longer valued in the pagan world.

I have no idea which deity would be the "let's accessorize and mix-n-match" deity - Barbie?? Is that the deity that most of these people are honoring?

Urrrgh. This is how entire cultures, and I mean real people's lives, are chipped away and eventually hacked into meaninglessness. It's the ant eating an elephant - one bite at a time.

On the one level, creativity is fine. But I swear, it's really getting to be like the oh so great POT ROAST STORY that Jack told me so many years ago, that I will never forget.

It goes like this:

Imagine if you will, a man and a woman get married and start a household together.

One evening, the woman decides she's going to cook her new husband his favorite meal: pot roast. She goes shopping and gets all the ingredients and spends the whole day slicing up the veggies just so, and inserting garlic into the slits in the roast and going all out to make sure the roast is just perfect.

But she does one unusual thing: she cuts one end of the roast off and cooks it in a separate pot.

Hubby comes home to this wonderful meal, and he loves it, and thanks his wife for going to all this effort. And then he says, "But honey, I notice that you cut off one end of the roast and cooked it in a separate pot. Why did you do it that way?"

She responds: "That's how I learned to make pot roast; my mother taught me that. She always cut off one end of the roast and cooked it in a separate pot."

Months go by, and one day they decide to go visit Wifey's mother. Mother decides to make pot roast, and she goes through the same routine, including cutting off the end of the roast and cooking it separately.

Hubby compliments his mother in law on the delicious roast, and he then asks her the same question: "Why did you cut one end off the roast and cook it separately?"

"It's how my mother taught me to make pot roast," says the mother.

Well, her mother lives in the house with her. So they decide to ask her, "Grandmother, why did you cut one end off the roast and cook it separately?"

She's kinda old and has to think about it for a moment, but then she says, "Oh, I remember! The reason I cut the end off the roast and cooked it separately was because I never had a pot big enough to hold the whole roast!"

And that's what people are doing. They don't know the whole context of what they are doing, and they don't know why things are done certain ways. They're just doing it by rote, automatically, without any thought beyond "we've always done it this way" or on a similar level: "it's cool so I'm going to do it too."

:shakes head:

Thank you ever so much, Jack, for the pot roast story.

And ya know what? Let me say this: sometimes it's hard.

Sometimes it's damn hard because I look at other blogs of people who might be called eclectic Wiccans and such, and I think "that looks so peaceful and easy" and I think I might want to be part of that.

But whenever I think of actually doing it, something in me says "no."

I'm not sure I can put this into words, but I'll try.

Something in me says "no" and my mind turns to the wholeness of the Heathen path. It does not deny anger or violence. Many people in various areas of the pagan world hate violence, but I do live with a military veteran. Sometimes I wonder if most pagans would hate him and think of him as a human butcher, because if his love turf is ever truly threatened, and I mean something along the lines of my life being in danger at the hands of another, Joe will not hesitate to use lethal force to preserve my life, if that's what it took.

Somehow, my mind turns to Awen when I write this. I have a feeling that she and Wolfie would understand this idea.

I also do not want to presume to erase the uniqueness of the other paths out there, such as the ways of the First Nations people, or the African indigenous path, or the Australian Aboriginal way, etc etc.

I have a way that is indigenous to my people - Heathenry. I do not need to look elsewhere. I have all that I need right here. There's even the death-and-resurrection thing, really, if you look at the story of the Ragnarok closely.

And this path offers challenges like no other. It really does demand (and I have to use that word, even though it sounds like "nail wrist to forehead" drama) that I bring the best out in me to show real honor to the Aesir and Asynjur.

I wonder if many other people have thought of that: that in their everyday lives, they represent their Gods everywhere they go. What image will you give them of your path, your Gods, your co-religionists? It's like I said to Joe many years ago: "You may be the only Asatruar some people ever meet, so you will be giving them a lasting impression. You represent your Gods where ever you go. What is the impression of Asatru that you want them to remember, possibly for the rest of their lives?"

He said that has stuck with him ever since.

Once in a while I DO come out with something profound. And once in a while I DO get credit for it.

This is one of those moments when I keep thinking of Awen. She walked her way, without compromise. Sometimes she represented something that a lot of people might have been very uncomfortable with. But she did not back down. Backbone of pure cadmium, I'd say.

Hmmm.

Anyway...I guess I find it hard to do the "universal Goddess" thing because I've learned too much. You can't go home again, they say.

August Holy Days/Rememberance Days

I really should have got myself more organized about this long ago, but I'll at least put some information here for future reference:

Loaf-Feast / Lammas / Freyfaxi / Freysblot
August 1. The harvest festival, it falls the same day as the Celtic Lughnassadh, and the Christianized Lammas. Some Ásatrú Folk call it Freyfaxi (Frey's Coming) or Freysblot (Feast of Frey) in honor of the harvest god Frey.

Remembrance for King Radbod of Frisia
August 9. Radbod was about to be baptised when he changed his mind, not wanting to be seperated from his ancestors.

Thingtide / Tyr's Blót
August 23. A minor holiday celebrating the god Tyr / Tiw. Not to be confused with the Icelandic Thingtide in June, which is when the Althing meets.

SOURCE

Here is another calendar for Heathen holy days.

Rune Calling

Wake Skadi by Hagalaz Runedance

This band kicks ass. Joe has one of their CDs but I do not think this song is on it.

In the winter mountains high,
Where avalanches roar and frozen lakes sigh
The sough of the wind to hear
The howl of the wolves sweet tune to her ear
Wake Skadi, come patroness
Guide me through your crystal woods


Silvery goddess of the snow,
Your shining beauty melts the cold
Dress me in your white shawl
Kindle my fierce passions
Wake Skadi, proud northern giantess
I invoke your strength


Mistress of the hunt,
Raise the spirit of freedom
Led your sisters into the chase,
Arouse their untamed nature
Wake Skadi; light the flames of courage,
Wake your sisters' will to fight


Sister of wolves,
Seek your companions
You heard the call of the wild
I summon your instinct
Wake Skadi, defend your kind
Guard them from the hateful hand of the blind

Joe Wrote This

A HEATHEN’S CREED

I believe in the Aesir and Asynjur, the Vanir, and other wights that have joined the company of the Gods, as my Elder Kin – active and manifest in this world, visible in my surroundings at all times and in all places.

I believe that this world is Midgard, the sacred enclosure at the center of the Nine Worlds, supported and sustained by the Yggdrasil.

I believe in the power of my ancestors (physical and spiritual) to watch over me and intercede for their descendants; that death is not an end to the spirit; and the communion of the disir and alfhar.

I believe that Ymir and Audhumbla were born from the dynamic tension of Muspellheim and Niflheim within the Ginnungagap.

I believe that Ymir was slain by Odin, Vili and Ve, his body was used to shape the other seven worlds; and the heirs of his body used to shape the trees and plants of all the worlds.

I believe that Odin and two companions shaped the first humans from trees found on the seashore, giving them life, breath and orlog.

I believe that Odin hung himself on Yggdrasil, sacrificed to himself, for nine nights and from this sacrifice received the runes – some of which were passed on to humanity to aid our understanding of the will of the Gods.

I believe that my given word is my bond; to be granted sparingly; broken never; and held even unto death.

I believe in the Nine Noble Virtues of courage, truth, honor, fidelity, hospitality, discipline, industriousness, self-reliance, and perseverance as the best way to thold to my faith in the Gods, ancestors and folk; and it is my sacred duty and charge to show these to all others at all times.

I believe that in the fullness of Time the Ragnarok shall occur. The heroes and allies shall fight on the side of the Gods and from this will arise a newer, better world.

I hold to these truths with all my heart, soul, mind and might; as it was in the past, is now, and shall yet be at the Ragnarok, cycle without end.

Awen's Viewing

Trudy L. "Awen" Dunbar

DUNBAR, TRUDY L., "AWEN", age 36 of Orlando, passed away Aug. 11, 2007. She was born in East Liverpool, Ohio on Oct. 13, 1970. She was a member of WRCF and served in the US Air Force. Trudy is survived by her husband, David: her parents, Tom and Nancy Enochs and brother, Thomas M. Enochs. The family will receive friends on Wednesday from 12-4PM and 6-8PM at the funeral home. Other family services to be held in Ohio. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Lupus Foundation of America. Arrangements entrusted to WOODLAWN MEMORIAL PARK & FUNERAL HOME.

Went to Awen's viewing last night.

Wolfie (David) is holding up better than I expected. But, he'd seen her struggling with this disease for a long time, so it's probably something of a relief to know she's out of pain now. I even heard him say to a visitor that she's free now.

Pagans tend to deal with death quite well. I think it has to do with accepting it as part of the ways of nature.

I did not see a lot of people crying. Oh, there were some tears, but mostly very small and quiet. Everyone knew that Awen had struggled with her lupus for so long, after all.

Myself personally, I'm very stoic in the face of death. I did not weep even when releasing Dad's ashes to the water at his favorite fishing hole.

From what I came to understand, Awen will be flown to Ohio for a viewing there, but Wolfie said that the whole viewing thing is being done for the living - to have closure. Awen herself did not want a viewing at all. She will be flown to Ohio, there will be another viewing there, and she will be cremated in Ohio and her ashes mailed back via United States Postal Service. Apparently this is what the law in this country dictates - if you want ashes to be moved from one state to another, you either hand-carry them in your own vehicle, OR you get the mailed (not FedEx or UPS, etc) back to you.

There's no telling how long Awen's remains will be up there before she's cremated. Wolfie doesn't plan to stay up there the whole time. But I do remember this - my father was cremated within a week of his death. He might get Awen's ashes back sooner than he thinks.

For all that she loved wearing black and red and dark purple, she was laid out in her wedding gear - an eggshell white suit that had elegant silver sparklies down the center of the shell (camisole-type top under the jacket). The jacket fastened with two small sparkly buttons.

She did have a black feather wreath on the simple pine casket. Upon that wreath lay one long-stemmed red rose - and what appeared to be a machete.

And - the cows. There were cows everywhere. Not live cows - stuffed animal cows. Long story about the cows.

The only nod to her military service was one flag, folded and on a stand next to the pine casket she was in.

After visiting hours, which ended at 8pm, we walked out to the huge labyrinth that is on Woodlawn's property. It was very dark and quiet (Woodlawn is located way out in Gotha, which is a rather remote township so it's very peaceful). There was about 6 of us, including dear sweet Wolfie, who walked the labyrinth.

It was very nice, even when the mosquitoes came out to eat us alive, and even when the one little tiny frog hopped onto the labyrinth. I think he was there to eat mosquitoes. It's what frogs do.

Pratchett Rules!

Check it:

Clicky

Runic Rosary!

Check it!

Yes I made that rosary. It's a three-aett rosary with nine wooden Nine Worlds beads.

The central medal is a triquetra medal I found at the bead place.

I can hardly believe I did this. I'm not usually a very crafty person.

There are more rosaries that I made.

Here's a single-aett rosary:



Here is a different version of the single-aett rosary.

Interesting, no? I'll have to post the prayers I came up with for this as soon as I find them. I created an updated form of this at work and I don't think I emailed it to myself at home.

In Awen's Memory...

To the memory of Awen Blackthorn Phoenix:

...I raise this horn (you'll have to imagine it is filled with mead):



So our beloved Awen passed away yesterday morning. Awen, our own Druid extraordinaire.

It was probably the lupus that killed her. She knew it would. She was quite blunt about that.

I remember attending a moon circle that she hosted. She also had her oghams with her and we did a reading.

I wasn't terribly close to her, but I really admired her from afar. She was a military veteran, like my Joseph. She was one of the few reconstructionists in this pagan community here that I was aware of (Druidry, along with Asatru, are just two of many reconstructionist pagan paths out there). I remember having a conversation with her about the Wiccan soldier finally getting a pentacle on his headstone; Awen and I were both very happy for that Wiccan family because it was a long hard struggle for them and it was nice to see the "little guy" win for once. But we both were in agreement on this: since we aren't Wiccans, the pentacle is not an appropriate symbol for our faiths.

For mine, it would be Mjollnir, Thor's Hammer. Click here to see a nice Mjollnir pendant.

For Awen, this or this would be a better symbol. The first is the symbol of the awen/spirit itself, and the second is a triskele, and it can represent any triplicity. For a Druid such as Awen, it would represent the Three Realms of land, sea and sky.

Here's a post she made to me about this very topic:

I feel the same way about the pentagram...it has nothing to do with my path either! Studying a Druidic path, I would think a Triskele would be more appropriate for me personally but I have no intention of letting the VA touch or have anything to do with my final resting place...I have had enough of the VA to last several lifetimes!

My big question to everyone is why would any self-respecting, ecologically minded Pagan want their body buried in the ground? We don't need our bodies to "come back" so why not minimize what we leave behind? To me it seems like a waste of time, money and land...but of course that is just my personal opinion...take it or leave it!

Personally I would like to be cremated and my ashes scattered off of Diamond Head overlooking Waikiki in Oahu where I used to live. I have arranged for there to be enough money to pay for the trip for Wolfie and a few others and enough left over for them to have one hell of a party in my memory!

Okay, I need to get down off my soap box and lay down, I have worn myself out typing!

Blessings,

Awen

This is why, by the way, Wicca clearly is not Celtic. The priestly class, the Druids, did not have a fivefold cosmology. Theirs was a trinity - land, sea and sky.

Part of me wanted to get to know Awen better and talk to her more about the ways of the Druids, as the Celts are my ancestors too.

But now - she is an ancestor.

:ponders:

I emailed Kym and asked if we could find a picture of her and put it up on the WRCF webpage, as one of our community's ancestors. We do have a picture of Ken Windwalker, our founder. I think it's appropriate to recognize people in our community who have passed on.

I don't know when her memorial service will be.

For the time being, I'll probably sing a song for her...an Irish drinking song would probably make her laugh...

For all the money that ere I spent
I spent it in good company
And for all the harm that ere I done
Alas, it was to none but me
And all I done for want of wit
To memory now, I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Goodnight, and joy be with you

For all the comrades that ere I had
They're sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that ere I had
Would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise, and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Goodnight, and joy be with you...

Rest in blessed peace, Awen. And rise in glory.

Kvetching - Lughnasadh - Etc

Seems like I kvetch A LOT but as I said before, I want to get clear on some things in my head. Here's something I posted on another site:

Where in the name of all that is holy is Dharmaraja when you need him??

Have a gander at this post made by a 15 year old Wiccan who calls herself OceanMaiden, and note what she says about karma...

Ok. Religions have to start somewhere. If we want to believe in karma-so be it. ITS A UNIVERSAL THING. I believe that we have a right to have whatever ethics and morals we choose, even if another relgion has them as well. Religions cant "claim" ethics and morals for themselves and only themselves.... how stupid is that concept? Cathy. Your brother cant be Wiccan. If he chooses the "dark side" he just cant be wiccan. If just goes against everything the religion stands for. simple as that.

This is in response to this post from a woman named Cathy, who is talking about her brother whose name is Steve:

My brother told me several years ago that he is Wiccan/Pagan; however, he also told me that he chooses to walk in darkness. I don't see how the two can be reconciled. Does anyone here have any thoughts on this? Here are links to his websites. One is to a site for a book he had published, the other is his personal site. I am posting them in the hopes that maybe someone here will be able to discern where he is coming from by looking at what he has on his sites: branchesinthemyst.com http://labyrinthmyst.com

M. Gratto attempted to correct OceanMaiden's erroneous viewpoint of karma:

You can believe in Karma all you want, but an important thing to understand is that it is not Wiccan, it was not and is not a Wiccan concept.

Now, before someone says Karma = Law of Threefold Return, let us examine that as well. The Law of Threefold Return is indicative of a recipricol nature where your actions will affect a person on three levels: the mental/emotional level, the physical level, and the spiritual level. The action will also create the same affects to you on those same three levels.

Think of when you get into an argument. Mental/Emotional: thoughts are racing, you are probably angry and/or frightened. Physical: heart is pounding, hyperemic face (red in the face), body temperature rises, you might sweat, adrenaline might be released. Spiritual: If someone were to take a picture of your aura in this state and compare it to your normal state of being, there will be vast differences, and the aura is part of our spiritual body along with the chakras, etc...

So Karma and the Law of Threefold Return are not the same, not in the slightest.

As for Wicca and the "dark side". You are right, her brother is not Wiccan, but neither are you. Both of you are what is called Neo-Wiccan. Wicca is the religion established by the New Forest Coven, Gardner, and Valiente and it has come to be known as British Traditional Wicca (BTW). There are very few Traditions of Wicca in this day and age that can actually give a valid lineage and line of initations that connect them to Gardner. Most Traditions today take their core ideas from outercourt material published by the BTW which lacks SO MUCH in regards to details, theology, and other sacred and oathbound materials. Solitaries above all are Neo-Wiccan, unless they were once trained and initiated into a BTW Coven, which is far and few in occurrence.

Now before anyone goes crazy, listen. Is Neo-Wicca bad? No, it can be a very valid and rewarding path. The issue is that there has been SO MUCH misinformation swirling around that it is contaminating well-known history and rational thinking.

Please, if you are new to Wicca, or even if you have been following some form of Wicca for a while now, go buy Gardner's, Valiente's, and the Farrars' books. Right now! Go! Read them and then compare them to Cunningham, Ravenwolf, Conway, and McCoy. You will see the vast differences, I promise you!

OceanMaiden responded thus:

I really dont appreciate you thinking that you know me and what I am about. and yes, the Threefold Law is exactly like karma, only it returns Threefold. MOST Wiccans believe in the Wiccan Principles, infact I would said in confidence that only a group of maybe 20-30 Wiccans in the entire world do not believe in all of these principles. The Wiccan Rede? I would said the same thing about that.

I am not Neo-Wiccan. I dont know who came up with that term, but I personally hate it. All Wicca is new, meaning not even 100years old yet. Old origins, but not old itself. I said Wicca before in a post but I meant paganism, sorry.

:shakes head:

Where do I start?? For the love of all that is holy, where??

It is because of the OceanMaidens of the world that I want to get totally clear on wicce/Wicca and whatnot. Things are getting totally ridiculous - and I do wonder, is this limited to AMERICANS who do tend to have their heads up their asses a lot and just steal land, ideas, languages, etc from everyone around them willy-nilly and don't care whom they step on in the process??

May the Gods have mercy upon us.

Last night was the WRCF Lughnasadh rite. It was kinda small, a bit stripped down, but hey. We sacrificed Sqrl. Well, we mock-sacrificed him. He was dragged into the kitchen where he came back to life again. I think he should have come out holding a plate of 'Nilla Wafers, myself personally. Haha!

Annual meeting of WRCF was yesterday as well. Joe and I were very good and did not volunteer to do Moon Circle. We're already doing Ritual Studies.

And...I found another point of contention with SRW. She has a section in her book "To Stir A Magick Cauldron" that talks about choosing your patron deity.

Oh. My. Gods.

Does she not know about being tapped by a deity? See, this to me is more of this mentality of USING the Gods and Goddesses as if they were just another tool for doing spells and such. Using them as if They were a great cosmic credit card for getting whatever you want from the Universe and not actually developing a relationship with Them.

It reminds me of Dann, quite frankly. There got to be a point where every time he called me, he wanted money from me. He didn't want to be a friend. He just wanted money.

I know I for one don't like being treated that way; how much more so would the Gods dislike it?!

Not even Freyja, who is pretty generous with Her gifts, would appreciate that. She doesn't just give Her gifts willy-nilly. Distribution of Her blessings is done according to Her own choice; She is never forced into it, not even when Thor lost His hammer and the giant wouldn't give it back unless he had Freyja as his bride. She tensed up in such rage that Her neck swelled up and busted the Brisingamen. Oops!

So yes, I'm finding more and more specific reasons other than just the fluffy bunny thing to not like Silver Ravenwolf. I borrowed this book from Spring so I could look through it and see specific things in it that are ok and things that are not. I want to be able to give real, concrete reasons in response to someone's question, "Why don't you like Silver Ravenwolf?"

1: She gets her information about the Nordic Gods messed up (I found this in "To Ride A Silver Broomstick")

2: She seems to think the Gods as a whole are there to be used like cosmic credit cards

3: She writes that the Gods are sometimes called archetypes and because she does not explain what this is, leads readers into thinking that Gods are archetypes - and I would think even a Christian would get offended at that one (imagine a Wiccan telling a Christian that Jesus is just an archetype)

4: She does teach spells that could cause harm (see Teen Witch and her spell about getting rid of a school bus driver just because one does not like him - if the school bus driver is out of work, doesn't that bring harm to himself and his family if they can't pay bills and feed themselves??) - YET she wants people to believe that Wiccans live by the Rede, which of course involves those two key words "harm none"

5: She not only removes a perfectly valid source of energy raising (the scourge) but she also gets rather sanctimonious about it

6: In her book that accompanies a set of rune cards, she keeps making reference to "the Witan Witch" and I'm not sure (I don't have the book right here for me to reference right now) she knows what "wita" is - she seems to think it's a really cool-sounding Germanic term that could be interchanged with "Wiccan" (but in reality, "wita" would be from the witengamot, which was a folk meeting of the Saxons to judge cases and set laws)

I'm sure this is SO not the end of this.

What The Hey.....

I’m going to present some random thoughts here that are popping into my head. It’s like a brainstorm. I’m trying to get clear on things in my own mind here.

Sometimes I ask myself, What does this word Wicca or witchcraft actually mean? What are we talking about here? And when I sit with those words, and think about how it came to exist in the English language, I get a mental picture of a magical/spiritual practice that originally wasn’t anywhere NEAR as structured and organized as modern Wicca or pretty much any modern religion is. As an aside, I think we have the mixed blessing of living on this side of the Enlightenment, which I believe has affected the way we think about pretty much everything, including faith and religion.

I find myself thinking that our ideas about what religion is and how it works is nothing like what the practice of wicce – I’ll just use that word for this essay, to separate it from modern Wicca - would have been centuries ago.

So what can I guess the wicce did?

Is it possible they engaged in, among other things, ancestor worship? If I think this is so, why do I think this way?

I look at the holy days, the special days marked out for celebrations. Walpurgisnacht comes to mind.

What in the world is Walpurgisnacht? The best thing I can think to do is really break down the word and understand what it’s trying to express.

As I understand it, Walpurgisnacht has to do with “night of the mounds of the slain/deceased.” Sounds like a form of ancestor worship to me, esp. considering what I have learned about the alfhar, etc. Turning my attention to the time of year (this would be Beltane in the Gaelic calendar, but Beltane isn't the same holiday - they aren't interchangeable) when Walpurgisnacht would have been celebrated, it makes absolute total complete sense to me that it would be right there at that point on the calendar, and it makes complete sense that this would be a holy day sacred to Freyja. It also makes sense that since this is a holy day to honor the glorious dead, this is a night that is great for divination. And yup, all the more reason to worship Freyja in the process. I find myself wondering if this might be part of the reason She's also known as "Vanadis" (which means "female ancestor of the Vanir") and "Valfreyja" (which means "Lady of the slain").

Naturally, Jul and that season’s associations with the Wild Hunt, also suggest to me that the glorious dead were given their weorthscipe (this is an Anglo-Saxon word from which came our English word “worship” and it means "to give worth" or value or respect, sort of like paying respects) as people engaged in feasts of the holy days.

Thinking about this, it’s making me sort of shake a bit. It gives me the serious shivers. It gives me a feeling in the ol’ gut region. It makes sense, but on a more gut-level than just a mental level. And it can be intimidating, even though it’s coming from myself.

Is it possible the wicce would have familiarized themselves with runes? Maybe. I’m not 100% sold on that idea, but maybe 60%. If I think they might have done so at all, it is because somewhere along the line I learned that the Nordic word “vitki” (which is the label Joe uses for himself when describing his magical practices) means “wise one.” I think Thorsson wrote that into one of his books, of which we have entirely too many and I can never keep straight what I read in which book when it comes to him.

I’m not sold at all on the idea that the practice of wicce would have been regarded as something “dark and scary” in the way we define “dark and scary” now. I think of the Voluspa and the seeress who is speaking there. A person like that likely would have been treated respectfully, yes. But the whole Goth oooky scary thing? Eh. Not so much.

I’ve been examining very closely the Anglo-Saxon rune poem; it is the one rune poem that makes the most sense to me. The next one after that is the Icelandic rune poem, in terms of the ones I like best. This brings it home to me that English is/can be used as a liturgical language for the practice of wicce.

Clairvoyant Norwegian Princess

Princess claims clairvoyant powers, aims to share them

Norway's Princess Märtha Louise, daughter of King Harald and Queen Sonja, has emerged as a clairvoyant, and is launching an alternative school aimed at training students to contact angels. Officials at the Royal Palace won’t comment on the princess' latest business venture.

The princess' business partner has publicly confirmed the training program, which is billed as a means of "getting in touch with your own truths" through "readings, healing, crystals and hands-on treatment."

The princess, who still officially represents the Royal Family at various events, has named her new venture after "one of the oldest goddesses in the Middle East," Astarte, and its website is registered at her home address in Lommedalen, just west of Oslo. The telephone number listed is that for the Royal Palace in Oslo.

Even though use of the palace's phone number implies the business is indirectly supported by the Royal Palace, palace officials won't comment on it.

"The palace never expresses itself on the princess' private business ventures," said a tight-lipped Sven Gjeruldsen, information adviser on the palace staff. He referred further questions to the contact information on Astarte’s web site.

The princess wrote on her school's new website, Astarte Education, that she's "always been interested in alternative treatment programs," suggesting she's had psychic abilities since she was a little girl.

"I especially remember one time I met a woman when I was small," Princess Märtha Louise wrote. "I went up to her and said she didn't need to be sad about her husband, that things would go well between them."

The woman was astonished, according to the princess, and "wondered who had told me this. There was a big commotion, and many fearful adults, because none of them wanted her to think one of them had gossiped," Märtha Louise wrote.

Princess Märtha Louise claimed to have "seen the light" in 2002, when she married author Ari Behn in a lavish royal wedding at the cathedral in Trondheim.

Communicating with animals
The 35-year-old princess was educated as a physiotherapist, trained as a Rosen therapist and also has studied at an academy for holistic medicine "where I learned to systematize sensual impressions to read others, and through horses I learned to communicate with animals on a deeper level."

Märtha Louise, who competed in equestrian events for several years, said that she started "taking contact with angels" when she worked with horses. "I have later learned the value of this enormous gift, and want to share it with others," she said.

The princess has launched Astarte Education with a friend, Elisabeth Samnøy, who describes herself on the website as a former ship mechanic who also attended a holistic academy.

"After that I have been in a process where angels and their frequency opened contact with the divine in my heart," Samnøy wrote.

The pair concedes that their training program isn't sanctioned by Norwegian education authorities.

Editorial: Joe and I think she should have named her school something like "Freyja Education" or "Vanic Education" or something like that. After all, it is her birthright.

Ah, but she probably grew up Christian and most likely regards the Norwegian body of folklore as fairy tales. The Christian paradigm is the only one she might be able to reference. Thus, all this talk of "angels" instead of "wights" and "Astarte" instead of "Freyja."

:sigh:

Gods = Archetypes?

According to SRW in To Stir A Magick Cauldron, the gods are sometimes called "archetypes" - and she does not go into any further detail about what archetypes are, who Carl Jung is, what Jungian theory is, etc etc etc. She leaves the reader to conclude that gods are archetypes, and archetypes are gods.

How I managed to NOT throw the book across the room, I do not know. Probably because I borrowed it from Spring, and it's not mine to destroy.

Either this book is part of the dumbing-down of society that I am convinced is going on, or it is symptomatic of the dumbing-down of society that I am convinced is going on.

This is part of the reason why I myself do struggle so hard against misinformation.

There are enormous consequences of it, and if I'm not part of the solution then I'm part of the problem. Remaining silent in the face of it can be construed as assent and agreement. If nothing else, it does not prevent misinformation from proliferating.

Something is going on (especially in this country) that is far bigger than the Wiccan world, yet what I do see going on in the Wiccan world seems to be hugely symptomatic of this bigger "disease."

Americans in particular are being discouraged from investigating anything too closely, from learning too much. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"

And I think it's very possible that "the man behind the curtain" involves Llewellyn Publishing. Let me just tell you what I think might be happening.

Silver Ravenwolf isn't a witch. Same goes for DJ Conway and Raven Grimassi and a lot of other people who have "written" for that publisher.

The publisher hired someone, an actor, to "be" SRW or DJC or RG, etc. Just because they show up at events and whatnot, doesn't mean they are who they say they are.

The only one I have personally met who is a published Llewellyn author is Ann Moura/Aoumiel. She came to a blot with Runehaven once. She was very nice, even in the face of Dion's antics (being so drunk by the time the blot started, he was actually half passed out and Joe had to carry him to bed).

I think it's VERY possible (especially in the face of the existence of Fiona Horne) that there's a team of writers at Llewellyn who are churning out these books and these actors agree to be the face of the author in public.

I think it's very possible there's a racket going on there.

Kinda like the racket that the American government is pulling on us all - and people are either too stupid or too jaded to care any more, which gives them free rein to act like a major drunken fratboy prick on spring break in Daytona.

Come on, people. It's right there in front of us. Oh, but most people don't see it because they're too busy watching sitcoms and playing with their iPods and downloading tunes and watching YouTube and blogging about crap and driving their SUVs into oncoming semis because they can't NOT text while they are behind the wheel....

We. Are. Turning. Into. Sheeple. Madison Avenue and Microsoft and the American government all are leading us down the primrose path of blind obedience and "ask us no questions and we'll tell you no lies" - and we're allowing it to happen. We are not only being led to the slaughter, we're singing and dancing along the way.

Hey, just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they AREN'T out to "get us."

Yes, there are more important specific things than what SRW writes into her books. But if people are going to be witches, aren't they supposed to be able to travel to the utangarth and look back and see the innangarth with some degree of objectivity?

Not if they're reading HER books. They're being led into sheepdom too. They aren't encouraged to learn much more than the very shallow information she provides.

She writes in her books that she doesn't like it when people talk of "the mysteries." She thinks that people who use that phrase are being pompous and trying to garner attention for themselves and make themselves look more important. To her, the big mystery is this: we are all one. That's it.

Oh no, my lady. That isn't quite it at all. And I'm glad we're not all one. I can never be Jarred or Lexa or Dev or Joe or Spring or Kym or Wayne or anyone else. They have to be themselves. I can only be me. But what we each are is a mystery.

But, if we want to talk about mysteries......or runes......

Ansuz. Kenaz. Suwelo. Tiwaz. Fehu. Uruz. Nauthiz. Hagalaz.

Hagalaz is where we're going to end up if we keep allowing ourselves to be deceived into surrendering our power to these entities/organizations that either have no right to it to begin with, or have abused it.

Energy has been moved. It has been manipulated. And the first law of nature is self-preservation. The entity that has been moving the energy is doing so in order to perpetuate its own existence. One of the cleverest things it's done is got people fighting amongst themselves about comparatively piddly shit. It's also distracted people with the Britney Spearses and Paris Hiltons of the world.

It is a complex that consists of the military/government/corporate powers in this world. That is the entity that has formed and taken on a life of its own, and has to eat to survive. It is hungry. It is a type of hydra, with three heads. It needs food (nauthiz).

This entity feeds on our feelings of inadequacy (corporate/Madison Avenue/industry head).

It feeds on our fear of attack (military and government heads).

If we don't want to be eaten, we need to take steps to protect our lives (nauthiz, kenaz).

We need (nauthiz) to demand accountability and transparency of government (ansuz, tiwaz).

We need (nauthiz) to know the truth (ansuz) about the marionettes that have been pulling the strings and manipulating us and our ability to even follow this kind of thing. We usually are too poor (fehu) to stop working all the time and don't have a lot of luxury time to investigate this stuff. Or, we don't have adequate health care (uruz) and end up dead at a far too young age (hagalaz) to make a difference for our children (othila).

:stares:

Tommy's Gone??

You mean Tommy is gone from Bloopdiary?

GLORY HALLELUJAH!!

I don't think I can gloat on Bloop, but I sure as hell can gloat here.

It's about damn time! I do not have words for what an awful disruption that man was to the community. I hope that not only is he GONE, he's GONE FOREVER! Let him go to Livejournal and write, because it's not likely I'll run into him there.

From The Wild Hunt

I just read this.

I'm not really surprised, but I'm not really all that disturbed by it either. I don't approve of polyamory, and I don't recall being required to approve of it just because of whatever faith path I choose to walk.

I've always felt like I am a real weirdo in the pagan world, because I don't approve of or even encourage things like polyamory and all that. I guess it's a selfish motivation, because if I start approving it, I'll send messages to my partner that I like it and want it in my own personal relationship. I don't.

Not even Freyja necessarily encourages what we today call "polyamory." She refused to marry one of the Jotun, remember. She got so pissed off at the very idea that when She tensed up in fury, the muscles on Her neck swelled up so much that the Brisingamen busted into a million little pieces.

So I take that as an indication that She will not be treated as a damn whore. She maintains control over Her body. She decides with whom She will share it. She doesn't just give it to every swinging dick that passes by.

Of course, there's not even the first breath of evidence that polyamory is behind the UUA's decision. But it wouldn't surprise me.

In other news: Ya know, even though most of the people in TEC seem accepting of a blending of spiritual practices, I just am not feeling the need to be there as I once did. It doesn't compel me as it once did. I guess it has something to do with an awareness that hit me shortly before doing all the galdor I've been doing - and that is "I live in a sacramental universe." Especially considering I live in subtropical Florida!!

That is to say, I live in a world that delivers to me Divine blessings. Just going out to the pool right here and watching the palms sway in the breeze is a megatrip. I suppose because I grew up in the DC area, it seems really trippy to me to live in a state where I can see PALMS every day!

And for the record: palms are not trees. They're grasses. Big, tree-sized grasses.

But - even if I still lived up North, going out to Lake Needwood at any time would also be a sacramental moment for me. It always was. I felt it most in the autumn, and every year I feel this agonizing ache in my soul to get back to the Northeast to see the leaves change, feel the cooler temperatures, hear the crunch of dried leaves under my feet, etc.

And I mean agonizing. It drives me just a little bit mad. October here is nice and quite pleasant (when we're not getting run down by hurricanes) but it's not the mid-Atlantic states.

Sacramental universe. Oh yes.