Between the harbour and the biggest park in Copenhagen (Kastellet, the old fortifications) , there's a massive statue of the goddess Gefion, carving Zealand from Swedish soil with her four sons-turned-oxen. I was actually fairly old before I saw it with water in it - it was renovated for several years starting around 1999, and before that I lived a good bit outside of Copenhagen. Still, water or no water, it's impressive - the oxen seem to have been captured mid-motion, straining against the plough and with water spraying everywhere.
I've always loved the story, probably because I've lived my entire life on this island. Gefion (or Gefjun) tends to be overlooked or simple dismissed with one line as "One of Frigga's handmaidens" in modern Asatru and really, from an outside view it makes sense. There are so many 'minor' gods and goddesses with little mention in the sources or who seem to have been local deities. Still, she's one of the major goddesses to me. I never felt much of a connection with Freya or Skadi (who seems to be surprisingly popular but again, that's me, and I probably don't have a very balanced view of that stuff - I grew up with the myths, and the ones that somehow stuck are in a lot of cases the ones I stick with now. I didn't start out with semi-academic books about Norse mythology. Like so many other Danish kids, I started with the Valhalla comic books and Quark, the utterly fictional but damn adorable Jotun kid). ...The point being that Gefion probably is a fairly local goddess and that might be why I feel such a strong connection to her. Freya, for one, is far less associated with one particular places and far more popular, too... and it probably helps that she features more prominently in the lore, too. You don't need to be of Norse blood or whatever to follow them but when the place you live in is said to have been made specifically by one of the goddesses, it probably helps a bit on your interest in them. If nothing else, then because haha! We stole this from Sweden and you're not getting it back! *blows a raspberry*
...I think I had a point with this entry, but it's late and I lost it somewhere. I'm sorry.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Mix'n Match Religion
I spend a couple of hours every month studying the Bible with a couple of my local Jehovah's Witnesses. Let's pause for a moment and count the ways that makes me a bad and/or deluded person in the view of a lot of neo-pagans (yes, we study the Old Testament, too - don't forget to include that on the list). Then, let's pause for a moment and count the ways said Witnesses are obviously deluded, brainwashed individuals trapped in an evil cult - again, according to a lot of neo-pagans.
Today, one of them mentioned as we discussed people who haven't studied their religions that she'd recently had a run-in with a computer geek Asatru who believed that he would go to Valhalla and fight when he died. Being the helpful person I am, I suggested that next time she ask him if he's served his time in the military yet (yes, guys here can still get drafted) and if not, when he planned to. You may now pause and add to your list the ways in which the above probably makes me a bad Heathen for siding with an delusional, brainwashed Christian against a fellow Heathen and how you don't need to have done military service to end up in Valhalla.
And no, you undoubtedly don't. I'm sure Odin doesn't particularly care if you've spent 4 months in the army getting yelled at, as long as you're useful. I just think that you're a fucking moron if you believe that a) fighting and getting chopped up all day is The Ultimate Way To Spend The Afterlife when you've never picked up a weapon in your life and b) Odin would even want you there. I'm not saying that he couldn't be interested in you for other reasons just that, you know, not everyone was meant to end up in Valhalla. You think the Navy SEALs pick any yahoo who shows up?
While I'm ranting, anyway, I also don't think that seidr-workers are the end-all, be-all of things. There are awesome ones out there who do great things for their communities, and this rant isn't about them. This rant is about the drama whores - the ones who toss around the label in a way that suggests it makes them better than everyone else, all while playing up the "omg, the Heathen community doesn't accept us!!1 it's a hard path and we're called to it and it's omg, so rough but Odin guides us and we're spechul and we neeeed to do it 'cause it's our fate!!". Because somehow, magically, Odin has an urgent need for all these people who meditate (by staring into a flame until their brain gets bored and makes up funny images) and trancework (by smoking funny herbs) and are unemployed and bipolar/insert other mental illness that happens to be the current Big Thing ('cause, you see, they're seidr-workers, that's why they're ill and can't work. Remember, it's a hard path, omg, but they must do it).
These people are usually the same breed as the ones who insist that Odin is good and just and a general all-around huggly grandfather (or alternatively a hot, powerful male who has apparently taken enough of an interest in them to want sex with them when they trancework and who has the time and interest to answer their every whim).
I am, by the way, still not saying that all seidr-workers do the above, and do drugs, and are delusional. Or that it isn't okay to be unemployed, or that they're faking their illnesses. As said, there are truly awesome seidr-workers out there with a shitload of issues to deal with - and you know, somehow they manage without being drama whores. Imagine that.
Some hardcore Christians believe I'm going to burn in Hell. My Witnesses believe that non-believers will simply die and no longer exist. And you know, I'm fine with that. Because at least they're honest about it and they study the whole Bible and they don't just pick and choose what they like and deny the rest exists. I'm not a Christian but this is, at least officially, a Christian country and the Bible is an important book. Being able to smack around so-called Christians who don't even pick up the Bible outside of Sunday School but still feel holier than everyone else is just another fun benefit.
Somehow, 'my' two Witnesses manage to live their faith while having good jobs, a nice place to live, a sense of style, a sense of humour, and the ability to show up at a job interview without wearing a religious symbol the size of a dinner plate around their neck and then cry about discrimination. Frankly, I respect them a hell of a lot more than most neo-pagans and Heathens I see online.
Today, one of them mentioned as we discussed people who haven't studied their religions that she'd recently had a run-in with a computer geek Asatru who believed that he would go to Valhalla and fight when he died. Being the helpful person I am, I suggested that next time she ask him if he's served his time in the military yet (yes, guys here can still get drafted) and if not, when he planned to. You may now pause and add to your list the ways in which the above probably makes me a bad Heathen for siding with an delusional, brainwashed Christian against a fellow Heathen and how you don't need to have done military service to end up in Valhalla.
And no, you undoubtedly don't. I'm sure Odin doesn't particularly care if you've spent 4 months in the army getting yelled at, as long as you're useful. I just think that you're a fucking moron if you believe that a) fighting and getting chopped up all day is The Ultimate Way To Spend The Afterlife when you've never picked up a weapon in your life and b) Odin would even want you there. I'm not saying that he couldn't be interested in you for other reasons just that, you know, not everyone was meant to end up in Valhalla. You think the Navy SEALs pick any yahoo who shows up?
While I'm ranting, anyway, I also don't think that seidr-workers are the end-all, be-all of things. There are awesome ones out there who do great things for their communities, and this rant isn't about them. This rant is about the drama whores - the ones who toss around the label in a way that suggests it makes them better than everyone else, all while playing up the "omg, the Heathen community doesn't accept us!!1 it's a hard path and we're called to it and it's omg, so rough but Odin guides us and we're spechul and we neeeed to do it 'cause it's our fate!!". Because somehow, magically, Odin has an urgent need for all these people who meditate (by staring into a flame until their brain gets bored and makes up funny images) and trancework (by smoking funny herbs) and are unemployed and bipolar/insert other mental illness that happens to be the current Big Thing ('cause, you see, they're seidr-workers, that's why they're ill and can't work. Remember, it's a hard path, omg, but they must do it).
These people are usually the same breed as the ones who insist that Odin is good and just and a general all-around huggly grandfather (or alternatively a hot, powerful male who has apparently taken enough of an interest in them to want sex with them when they trancework and who has the time and interest to answer their every whim).
I am, by the way, still not saying that all seidr-workers do the above, and do drugs, and are delusional. Or that it isn't okay to be unemployed, or that they're faking their illnesses. As said, there are truly awesome seidr-workers out there with a shitload of issues to deal with - and you know, somehow they manage without being drama whores. Imagine that.
Some hardcore Christians believe I'm going to burn in Hell. My Witnesses believe that non-believers will simply die and no longer exist. And you know, I'm fine with that. Because at least they're honest about it and they study the whole Bible and they don't just pick and choose what they like and deny the rest exists. I'm not a Christian but this is, at least officially, a Christian country and the Bible is an important book. Being able to smack around so-called Christians who don't even pick up the Bible outside of Sunday School but still feel holier than everyone else is just another fun benefit.
Somehow, 'my' two Witnesses manage to live their faith while having good jobs, a nice place to live, a sense of style, a sense of humour, and the ability to show up at a job interview without wearing a religious symbol the size of a dinner plate around their neck and then cry about discrimination. Frankly, I respect them a hell of a lot more than most neo-pagans and Heathens I see online.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Meading Place (punny, we are)
One of the kindreds here as well as one of the main Asatru message boards both regularly have café-meetings/get-togethers/come-say-hi things at the other end of town (it sounds far. Trust me, it's Copenhagen. Nothing's that far away here). Every time, I consider showing up. Every time, I change my mind or I have studying to do, or friends to meet online (timezones, yay), or any other of a dozen different reasons. I've showed up twice, both at the kindred's meetings. First time, I bought a cup of hot chocolate, settled down with a schoolbook, and watched. I'm curious. So sue me.
Second time, I was moderately down with something and not entirely at my best, but I showed up, anyway, and got a glass of orange juice and watched. I'd actually intended to say hi that time but changed my mind after listening to a long-haired fella in an T-shirt talking to someone obviously new to the whole thing about the parts of the Eddas he'd recorded to music, his hobbies, his songs, and then recommended a few books. One of them was out of print and he wasn't sure if said new one could get it at the library. At that point I couldn't keep my mouth shut and suggested maybe the main database of used books had it, because that's where I got one of my copies of the Poetic Edda. Fella made a note of that, then continued to explain starry-eyed new one about his views of things. It was around that time I decided I should probably get going.
Now the main Asatru forum here has started on little get-togethers the same place and I've been tempted again. My main reason for staying away so far is the fact that while they encourage lurkers to show up, too, they don't know me and I only know them from said forum and frankly, I'm a superficial capitalist bastard - the result, undoubtedly, of five years of economics combined with a good friend who studies law in the same buildings. Law-girls are notorious for wearing expensive brands and it tends to rub off during prolonged exposure. And that's not even mentioning my political views.
I lurk on the forum with good reason. I'm not particularly social to begin with and from lurking, it doesn't strike me as a place I'd care to get involved with. You tend to get the impression, reading it, that there are some serious undercurrents between people there and that all it takes to set it off is a wrong word. Asatru forums in general tend to be happy to argue - often fiercely - and this one's really no expection. And when I finally started to consider posting, another newbie (branded 'troll', imagine that) set off a massive explosion when s/he posted about the general tone on the board during debates and how it might be scaring newbies away (yes, yes, yes. I'm missing the backstory, I don't know the whole thing, I'm not a part of it so I wouldn't understand, they're a family of sorts and not required to play nice with everyone, etc. I know.)
So I lurk a lot, basically. But on the bright side, they can be really fun to watch.
Second time, I was moderately down with something and not entirely at my best, but I showed up, anyway, and got a glass of orange juice and watched. I'd actually intended to say hi that time but changed my mind after listening to a long-haired fella in an T-shirt talking to someone obviously new to the whole thing about the parts of the Eddas he'd recorded to music, his hobbies, his songs, and then recommended a few books. One of them was out of print and he wasn't sure if said new one could get it at the library. At that point I couldn't keep my mouth shut and suggested maybe the main database of used books had it, because that's where I got one of my copies of the Poetic Edda. Fella made a note of that, then continued to explain starry-eyed new one about his views of things. It was around that time I decided I should probably get going.
Now the main Asatru forum here has started on little get-togethers the same place and I've been tempted again. My main reason for staying away so far is the fact that while they encourage lurkers to show up, too, they don't know me and I only know them from said forum and frankly, I'm a superficial capitalist bastard - the result, undoubtedly, of five years of economics combined with a good friend who studies law in the same buildings. Law-girls are notorious for wearing expensive brands and it tends to rub off during prolonged exposure. And that's not even mentioning my political views.
I lurk on the forum with good reason. I'm not particularly social to begin with and from lurking, it doesn't strike me as a place I'd care to get involved with. You tend to get the impression, reading it, that there are some serious undercurrents between people there and that all it takes to set it off is a wrong word. Asatru forums in general tend to be happy to argue - often fiercely - and this one's really no expection. And when I finally started to consider posting, another newbie (branded 'troll', imagine that) set off a massive explosion when s/he posted about the general tone on the board during debates and how it might be scaring newbies away (yes, yes, yes. I'm missing the backstory, I don't know the whole thing, I'm not a part of it so I wouldn't understand, they're a family of sorts and not required to play nice with everyone, etc. I know.)
So I lurk a lot, basically. But on the bright side, they can be really fun to watch.
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