I caught up on some reading this morning but errands this afternoon kept me from spending as much time as I would have liked. Nothing stopping me from going back to it, especially as I just got canned stuff for supper tonight so I think I'll head back in my bedroom and read some more.
I finished up the first lesson in the 101 course. The second one will go faster since it's not as long and I won't spend as much time angsting about the things I disagree with since I'm positive it's not the path for me. Still, the angsting was kind of fun. I love having arguments with inanimate objects. I always win.
Lately I've been drawn to read my Norse books. When I read them without the heathen/Asatru perspective, I'm in love with the gods. Add that cultural aspect back in and I cringe. It's just not for me with the extra baggage. And I'm okay with not adding the heathen/Asatru aspects back in. As far as I know there are no Pagan police out there going to come into my home and arrest me for doing it my way.
Frigg continues to embed herself into my heart and my being. The more I read about her, the more I feel a connection, especially outside the perspective of war-mongering and Viking culture. To be fair, the Vikings were only a part of the later history. The gods existed in villages before the Vikings took to their ships.
I've also felt a pretty strong connection with Tyr/Tiw, especially as a flaming liberal. I see no conflict at all with my beliefs and his strong sense of justice. Just sayin'.
Beyond that, I haven't really thought it out much.
I've also been contemplating the runes, reading the book I got from the library. I'll have to check the book out a few times before I get all the gold out of it but in the meantime, I'm learning the names and numbers of the runes. I'll get into meditation and all that later. Baby steps.
Magic is on the horizon as well. I tend to believe that colors, textures and aromas aren't specifically powerful in their own right, I think that it's the energy put through them or the energy used in them that matters more. It may also be that I just can't afford to get all the fancy equipment I've seen in books (not Cin's course though) in order to be a proper witch. I think our ancestors used household stuff for their magic. And I think I will, too.
But for now, I'm going back to bed and read the rest of the night. Maybe some knitting, too. I find knitting to be a very spiritual exercise for me, that I haven't been doing enough of lately. And maybe a small spell tonight to place wards around my room so Professor won't be disturbed by everything that goes on outside it and will let me sleep for once.
I finished up the first lesson in the 101 course. The second one will go faster since it's not as long and I won't spend as much time angsting about the things I disagree with since I'm positive it's not the path for me. Still, the angsting was kind of fun. I love having arguments with inanimate objects. I always win.
Lately I've been drawn to read my Norse books. When I read them without the heathen/Asatru perspective, I'm in love with the gods. Add that cultural aspect back in and I cringe. It's just not for me with the extra baggage. And I'm okay with not adding the heathen/Asatru aspects back in. As far as I know there are no Pagan police out there going to come into my home and arrest me for doing it my way.
Frigg continues to embed herself into my heart and my being. The more I read about her, the more I feel a connection, especially outside the perspective of war-mongering and Viking culture. To be fair, the Vikings were only a part of the later history. The gods existed in villages before the Vikings took to their ships.
I've also felt a pretty strong connection with Tyr/Tiw, especially as a flaming liberal. I see no conflict at all with my beliefs and his strong sense of justice. Just sayin'.
Beyond that, I haven't really thought it out much.
I've also been contemplating the runes, reading the book I got from the library. I'll have to check the book out a few times before I get all the gold out of it but in the meantime, I'm learning the names and numbers of the runes. I'll get into meditation and all that later. Baby steps.
Magic is on the horizon as well. I tend to believe that colors, textures and aromas aren't specifically powerful in their own right, I think that it's the energy put through them or the energy used in them that matters more. It may also be that I just can't afford to get all the fancy equipment I've seen in books (not Cin's course though) in order to be a proper witch. I think our ancestors used household stuff for their magic. And I think I will, too.
But for now, I'm going back to bed and read the rest of the night. Maybe some knitting, too. I find knitting to be a very spiritual exercise for me, that I haven't been doing enough of lately. And maybe a small spell tonight to place wards around my room so Professor won't be disturbed by everything that goes on outside it and will let me sleep for once.
To be perfectly honest, none of the Norse pantheon or modern practice has ever resonated very strongly with me. I find this odd, since my genetic makeup includes some Norse bloodlines. (Mostly Celtic, some Pict, some Anglo-Saxon and Gaul just for fun lol) Whatever the reason it's just not my thing. I'm very interested in your story with the Norse heritage, however. Because it doesn't speak to me I'm curious as to how other people relate to it. Not sure if that makes a whole lot of sense...
ReplyDeleteI was never drawn to them until recently and then it was a pretty powerful feeling. I've felt for a long time that I should look to my ancestors for my path and thought that my Gaelic/Welsh/Scottish ancestors were the ones I was supposed to be looking to. I think the Norse aspect came from my Anglo-Saxon ancestors. But the Heathen/Asatru conservative perspective really isn't a good fit for me because I could never go back there. I'm much more liberal now and while I don't want to get political on this blog, I won't vote Republican, I hate the attitudes they have toward the poor and don't view compassion as socialism. The Heathen groups online tend to ridicule liberalism and have some pretty keen Obama-hatred going on so it was a dilemma for me. But by liberating myself from the baggage that went with the Norse gods, namely Heathenry, I found them refreshing and a lot more complex than just war-mongering Viking warriors. That's not to say that I will end up with a Norse/Anglo-Saxon pantheon at all. It just means that for now, I'm forging a connection with them.
DeleteI call that "fancy equipment" entrapments. IMHO, The only equipment magic requires is Will, Heart, Confidence and Belief.
ReplyDeleteI will admit that I love pendants and pentacles but my budget keeps me limited on what I can buy to wear around my neck. I tend to buy frugally for my altar, one dollar bandanas for an altar cloth, cheap, colored candles that come in packages and incense that I can buy at Walmart. It's probably a good thing we don't have any Pagan shops around here anymore. I would go broke. But I tend to view things in the perspective of what would the ancestors do? And I don't think they would have specific colored candles set aside for specific intentions. I think they would have had just the white ones and would infuse their intentions into them. Maybe a black one or two but mostly just white. I love the colors because I can get them as cheap as I can the white ones but I don't assign specific intentions to specific colors. My athame is a letter opener I got for a couple of dollars. I have some crystals and stones and spirit beads that were gifts from a very good friend. Most everything else is from the thrift store, which is what I think is in keeping with the ancestors using what they could find for as economically as they could. I don't think it's bad to have all those wonderful accoutrements and some of them are just gorgeous, but it's just not a requirement. I believe magic comes from within anyway.
ReplyDelete