Pray Tell, or The Santa Claus Syndrome, Take 1

As previously mentioned, I get regular visits from a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. I doubt I'll ever convert - there's something in the Norse lore that speaks to me on a level that the Bible doesn't, some sense of rightness past the "Oooh, interesting stories!". It's hard to explain but I imagine it's the same stuff they feel when they study the Bible. Some feeling that hey, this makes sense, this is right, this moves me in a way that no other religious text has managed, however interesting they might be. We agree on a lot, and we disagree on a lot as well, and that's not even touching the whole question of which god is right.

Prayer, for one. The Bible tells to pray to God and do it heartfelt and however often is needed, to develop a relationship a bit like with a friend, to share your problems and thoughts and to respect and honour him. With the Norse pantheon it's a bit different. They don't encourage you to lean on them all the time - rather address them too little than too much. Honour them, respect them, maybe even love them, but your life is yours to live and they have other things to worry about as well. Maybe that's why I was never attracted to neo-wicca. These beings are divine and demand respect. They're not someone to casually call upon because you need a date for the prom or need to lose five pounds to fit that dress you really, really want, and oh, could you please get some money to buy it for as well? Why would they even bother with you, if the only time you address them is when you want something from them? It's like the friend who only calls when they need your help - sooner or later, you stop helping at all (another thing my JWs and I agree on - it's not a list for Santa Claus, it's prayer).

I keep my gods in my thoughts but I rarely address them. I handle as much as I can on my own, I thank them when I get a streak of exceptionally good fortune, and I only address them with a request when I've exhausted any other option and desperately need a hand and then only with an offer of something in return. Maybe that's why my JWs' way of praying seems strange to me. I don't want to bother my gods with insignificant stuff. It's my life to live and my problems to handle. I don't fear my gods but I do have an immense respect for them. And that's likely why the classic "Heathens don't kneel to their gods!" never rang true to me, either. It's my gods. I'll do whatever the situation seems to require and if that's how I wish to show them respect, until they themselves tell me otherwise, I'll damn well do just that.

Does This Midsummer Ritual Make My Ass Look Fat?

I'm skimming a forum and I'm reminded of something I've always wondered about - it's always very black and white when it comes to Heathen stuff. If you're not into tranceworkings and Loki-worship and mix-and-match Heathenry-Hindu-Indian rituals, then you're obviously a stubborn, hardcore reconstructionist who insist that if it isn't in the Eddas and backed by five independent archaeological sources, then It's Not Valid (and vice versa).

What really makes me itch to slap someone is the way someone, usually from the former group, will go "... well, the Norse people were influenced by other cultures, too! But that's okay, I respect your right to have your Stone Age, backwards version of Heathenry that will never develop any further, but I obviously just had to comment to say that."

Dear fucking morons (and could I write this entry without cursing? Sure. But it makes me feel much better this way):

There is a hell of a big difference between 'influenced by other cultures' and 'well, I like Kali! She will work well with Loki! And Karma is so h0tt right now! I'll use that, too, 'cause a book told me it was really really important!'. As far as I'm concerned, that stuff isn't Heathenry. And as far as I'm concerned, nowhere does it state that I have to respect that sort of 'religions in a blender and see what comes out' practice. There's "Huh, that's a pretty interesting ritual they have there for Midsummer - I like that, it makes sense, maybe I should read up on it, try to adapt it to my tradition and try it out" and "OMFG, some South American tribe had this really cool harvest celebration in March! I'll do the same! ... what do you mean, I live in the northern hemisphere? So what?"

It is perfectly possible not to believe in mixing religions and still not follow everything done 1100 years ago right down to the letter. Of course religions evolve over time, and it's perfectly possible to go along with society without jumping all the way other to the other extreme and use the "Everything goes" approach. Most people probably wouldn't go along with human sacrifice there days, even if they could get away with it. There's a nice middle road between those two extremes. It's just a pity those two extremes yell a lot louder.

Dusty Jewels

Keys, for some reason, have been in high fashion the past couple of months. It probably goes with the fact that long necklaces with large pendants are very much a Thing right now. Black keys, golden keys, silver keys, keys with faceted crystals, all of them as very nice pendants on chains that are long enough to almost reach my navel in some cases. Being an utter sucker for anything sparkly, and having been on the lookout for something Frigga-related, I've been drooling over them for quite a while now.

I've looked at old keys on a couple of occasions - the big, heavy, several centuries old ones, except they're expensive as fuck. It would, however, match the antique spearhead I keep for Odin and the fire-steel I got for Thor. There's just something gorgeous and feminine about the jewellery keys, though. I bought one on sale already, a necklace with a cluster of items with the two main features being a key and a crown, which I found perfect for Frigga - Key to the Home and Queen of the Gods. I've been sighing over more, though. Several bronze coloured ones covered in crystals, because they're gorgeous and feminine and just look right. Modern stuff or old stuff? I still really haven't decided.

Everything Heathen-related I have seem to fall within those two categories, actually. If it isn't very old, it's practically brand new. And the new doesn't include books. My Danish books tend to be old. 1911 print, in the case of one Edda, 18-something (but new reprint) in another. I have, I think, two recent books on Heathenry. One was good, and the other I wasn't that impressed with. I'm not interested in most modern Asatru books as a whole. I've noticed a few interesting ones I've been unable to get in Europe, but most just don't seem to click based on summaries and excerpts. I like to read books from the 1950s and just shift through the Christianity-influenced POV. I love the lore, and I can pick up a ton of interesting, quirky things from various old-as-hell mythology books. Maybe they're not politically correct, maybe they're almost downright offensive in places, but they're fun and they give a view that hasn't been through the filter of however many Heathens and Lokeans and Asatru who helped give their input and arguments. In many ways, the modern books are just as biased as the old ones, they're just biased in a different way.

Plus, the rare few drawings in the old ones are just gorgeous. I'm a sucker for pretty stuff.

Gefion

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.

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.