Final Review-Norse Mythology by John Lindow

Woo, what a ride. Finally finished this unholy monstrosity of a book last night, and what a feeling of accomplishment!

I already touched on this quite a bit when I wrote about my reading before, but I'll recap-if you are looking for asatru-related info, or instructions on rituals or rites for working with the Norse pantheon, look elsewhere. This is academic mythology. It is dry, dry, dry. Not even really much in the way of pictures, though there are a few. So it's a lot of hard slog buckle-down reading.

But coming at the pantheon as a total noob, I learned a ton and don't regret reading it. I think now I would feel more prepared looking at a book about asatru or working with the norse deities. I have a better idea of who they all are now, what myths they're associated with, their lineages and exploits. So that was good.

If you'd like to read this book for your initiation (or in general really) here is my advice:

-be prepared to spend 2 months on the one book. I am normally a voracious reader and burn through books almost as fast as literal fire, but I could only handle this in short sessions, with lots of time in between. Info overload, and not exactly gripping reading. (Unless you're a university student and read dry academic shit all the time. Then maybe you'll fare better.)
-pick up an actual "storybook" of the norse myths. In segments on some of the more important figures, this book does expand on the actual stories/myths a bit more than I initially thought, but it's not done in a storytelling fashion, more encyclopaedic.
-if you are already familiar with the norse pantheon and mythology, and are looking for info on spiritual working, skip this and head to a book more geared towards asatru/heathenry in practice. This book doesn't even mention modern paganism that I took note of. But maybe still ideal for a practitioner to read this if you have an interest in a more in-depth academic approach to things.

Glad to have it done. My brain is super loaded with info, but also super exhausted from cramming all that info into it. I've already chosen my next book and dived in, and it's going much easier. Will update again once I have a bit more on that to talk about.

My Altar--April 2014.

Filler

So this is way overdue. I was going to blog, but I feel like I haven't been home for days. So I thought last night that I would do a vid instead, but ended up feeling horrible. Lack of sleep and barometric pressure were giving me the headache from hell and I was feeling kinda sicky. I'm better today, so fingers crossed that I dodged whatever it was.

So, BOOK. Still plugging away at the Norse Mythology monster. I only have about 100 pages left, which means I'll be done still behind schedule but sooner than I was hoping for, which is good. I grabbed a copy of The Way of the Hedge Witch, which isn't on the initiation list, but The Way of the Green Witch is, and they're from the same author. I will read it as a treat since one thing I did get done last night was a mother load of reading. I started it at work earlier, and am about 15 pages in. Interesting so far.

My plan was to rearrange my altar again, since I had acquired some new bobbles, but headache killed that plan. Later in the week I'll be getting some goodies I painted at the clay cafe, (you buy and paint bisque pieces and they fire it for you) which will be good altar pieces. There is a small leaf bowl, a small oak leaf, and a little cup/bowl in the shape of a drawstring bag. So I'll pretty it up once I have my new goodies, and hopefully by then my head will stop being a dbag. 

We went back to the clay cafe tonight to finish up some shot glasses Amy didn't have time to finish on Sunday. The plan was to pick up a small leaf, to go with the others, to give me something to do while Amy finished her stuff. Somehow that turned into a leaf, a small disk, and Amy and I split a pair of ceramic antlers, which I painted to reflect the four seasons: (oops...$30 later)

If you've never painted bisque before, it will look quite different once it is fired, so consider this the "before" shot. The stuff from Sunday will be ready tomorrow; we'll probably get it Friday. The stuff from tonight sadly won't be ready until next week. Can't wait to set it up on my altar!

Book learnin'

Two posts in one day. Had some catching up to do!

My first book of 6 for my IDGAF initiation is Norse Mythology by John Lindow.

I'm not quite halfway through. It's slow going. It's a very dry, scholarly book. After a 45 page introductory section, everything is in alphabetical order: deities and figures from the mythology, events, places, etc. There is a fair bit of overlap, and some sections with overlapping info seem to be verbatim repeated from multiple places.

I am enjoying how much I am learning; Norse mythology was probably one for the "least versed in" category for me. Before I was approached by one of the Norse gods and started learning in earnest, I more or less knew that Thor had a hammer, Odin had a horse with too many legs, and Loki caused shit to go down. There was something about a giant serpent, and a big tree, and Ragnarok is the end of the world.  For a mythology/archaeology nerd, pretty sad really.

I should mention though, if you're looking for pagan-specific information, this is not a good book to grab. The book states directly, in the introduction, that this is a book of myths, not religion. Everything is in a historical context. There's a lot of focus on the historical side of the mythology, the skalds and poets who left most of it behind, the various scholarly interpretations of translations and references and kennings; and a lot of the information contradicts--because it does. There is no reference to modern pagan practice or Asatru that I've come across yet. If you're looking for information on working with the Norse gods, and not so much on the mythology itself,  again, probably not a book for you. It is good for a newbie to the mythology however, because I am starting to understand things now, and can recognize various deities and the stories associated with them. Reading reviews, a lot of people sum up my thoughts pretty well: this is more of an encyclopedia or textbook, than a collection of narratives.

I read this after reading a very short book with a lot of the actual stories in it: Norse Mythology: Great Stories from the Eddas and I would recommend doing the same--pair this book up with another book with the actual stories, laid out as stories rather than an encyclopaedia. I think I'm following it better for at least having had a brief intro to the "characters" I'm now reading about.

I'm pretty confident I will not be done this book by next week, because reading it isn't as easy as I'd like, but if I go a bit late on finishing, I'll just pick a somewhat lighter book for next month to give my brain a rest.

Ostara

A little late, I know.

We held our Ostara ritual on Sunday afternoon. We wanted to plant herbs, with the intention that they would represent things we wanted to see "grow" in the new season. We bought seeds, pots and soil.

We went out to the woods, to our spot there. We started a fire in the cauldron, and took turns writing on pieces of parchment paper our "wish" for the new season to come; then burning them.

While we were out in the woods, we noticed a LOT of tree branches were knocked down from the crazy amount of wind and heavy snow we've had this year. A whole tree trunk by our altar was downed, and there was a long branch from another tree laying on the ground. I was reminded that I want to make a staff, and that I was "instructed"--not sure by whom--that the bough I used for the staff should have enough extra wood at the end to make a set of runes. This had that and more. I got permission from the woods to take it, and we broke some of it off (because it was every bit of 10-12 feet long probably) and I carried it back.

We kept the ashes from our ritual fire, and I ground them in our mortal and pestle, to add to the soil we were going to plant the herbs in.

Grindin'

My pot with the ashes at the bottom.

I am growing peppermint, Amy lavender, Drew thyme and Renee is growing anise. It's too early to see signs of life yet I think, but I hope they all grow. (And only partly because I want fresh peppermint leaves for tea.)

Here's to spring, and new growth. I have empty places to fill.

(We are currently getting a severe blizzard. I was sent home early from work, and only avoided being stranded because someone gave me a drive. They pulled the buses. Irony.)

IDGAF from my perspective.

I want to clarify IDGAF for some folks. I haven't personally received any negative attention, but there have been some negative comments in general, that I want to try and address.

IDGAF is not about being flippant. As stated, we are not joking. It is also not about being callous, uncaring towards others, or negative towards the community. You can care about others, be kind, considerate, and polite, but not care what others think about you. I hold the door for people, say please, thank you, sorry, excuse me. But if you turn and tell me "I think your hair is ugly, bitch"?

I don't give a fuck.

We saw a void. We filled it.

There is a considerable push and expectation towards being "initiated"-it gives you "street cred", it gives you belonging. But so many initiatory traditions are closed; or they are for followers of a certain path only; or they are expensive, costing a lot of actual money, or amounts of time and dedication that some people just can't manage. This doesn't make them bad. If you can afford the money, are willing and able to dedicate the time, if you walk that path or know the right people; may you find learning and fulfillment there. These traditions are not for everyone. Neither is ours.

We wanted to create something accessible. It is free, it is eclectic. And--tongue in cheek--we don't give a fuck what specific spirituality you practice, as long as you Practice. We don't care what gods you work with, so long as you work with them and don't leave them gathering dust. We don't care what learning interests you, so long as you learn. We're after your dedication, not your dogma.

"I don't give a fuck" is meant to be a statement of personal power, presented in a friendly, saucy, informal way.

Take me for example. In recent months, I've been learning about norse deities. I was approached by one. I had never worked with deities before. To some, working with the Norse pantheon would make me Asatru. I don't think I am. I don't understand enough about it to call myself that. I'm still learning. There are those who would say then, that I'm doing it "wrong"-if I'm not Asatru, I shouldn't be working with those gods. Say some day I do decide to call myself Asatru. There are some who would pour over my family tree, my heritage, and judge whether I can or can't be something I've now decided to be. There are some who would scoff and scorn at my beliefs--in pantheism and animism, god is formless and everywhere and everything is alive--and tell me I can't reconcile that with named deities, with mythical gods with stories and histories and forms.

I don't give a fuck. I am who I am. What calls to me, calls. I walk my own path.

That is what we mean.

There will always be those who tell you "you can't". IDGAF is your statement, your declaration, your affirmation: "FUCK YOU. Yes I can!!!"

I'm excited to see who chooses to walk with us, who can look past our silly saucy name and see our intention. In intention and purpose is our power.

But you all knew that already, right?

My Altar

Wooo, first post! As part of a project involving some friends of ours, I started this blog. It's going to basically be a journaling of my witchcraft/pagan learnings,  and a record of my growth.

I thought a nice first post would be to show off my current altar. It's tucked neatly in the corner of the bedroom, and above and to the right are two corner shelves, one of which is another altar of mine (That's currently mostly empty) and the one below it belongs to my wife.

As of yesterday, my altar looked like this:

I moved things around a bit. I also (tried) to redye my altar cloth. It's literally just a piece of cut broadcloth which I dyed once already with old tea bags to make it more of an off-white colour with a mottled pattern. I was trying to dye it blue, using dark blue food colouring...

And now it's pink. (It's much more vibrant in person.) Urk. Not terribly pleased. Not sure how blue dye turned something pink, but I guess it's at least a nice colour for spring. I'm not finished; it's "missing" something. But what I have on there right now:

-my athame
-my bell rattle. The wooden handle used to be the end of my old wand. I use it as a "smokeless smudge" when burning sage is either unavailable, or I want something more physical. (I can shake the rattle harder for emphasis.)
-shells, moon snails, and sand dollars in a big mussel shell (to represent water)
-a wooden sculpture of three birds, and
-a tiny wooden owl (to represent air, and also birds in general)
-a teeny little dragon (fire, and dragons)
-The pale green up with the red ribbon, to the left of the black bowl, is full of forest things-it has an acorn, several chestnuts, and a piece of bark.  (earth and forest)
-the black and red bowl is used for offerings, or placing stones, or anything where I need a shallow container
-the wooden plaque is painted with a pentacle in the centre, and with representations of all four seasons around it.
-the blue and white candle holder is handmade, and is supposed to be a wave (I guess...)
-there's a little owl shaker, sitting in an owl candle holder. He serves the same purpose as my bell rattle.

It's still a work in progress. But it's a start!