A question (or two (or more))

Because my mind seems unable to resist such lines of thinking ….

If Odin were to live in any country in the world right now, which would you suppose he’d want to live in? Where do you think he might either fit in best or stand out and make a new name for himself?

What about Thor? Or Loki? Or any other god, from any other pantheon?

Because I see Odin a little differently than how he is often portrayed in the lore and even in mainstream Heathenry, I could seriously see him still somewhere in Scandinvia – or in Switzerland. The reason for this is simple: science. My experience of Odin is that he is very much about acquisition of new knowledge. While the US and China put more money into scientific research than any other country, the Norwegians put more money per citizen into this than any other country in the world; thus I think the Norwegian spirit and priority when it comes to learning and understanding science and technology is something Odin would still feel very much at home with. I suggest Switzerland mainly because of CERN and the Large Hadron Collider … I could see this being something Odin would be keenly interested in, unlocking a secret of the Universe or two! Where I could see him living if he were interested in making a new name for himself would be Japan … I’d love to see what a god like Odin would do with a growing interest in Bushido :)

Ownership

In the news, it seems like there are a lot of very possessive people bent on possessing all they can. If I would be pressed to point my finger at the ‘root of all evil,’ I would say that it is the need to possess everything, for which money is only one of many symbols. We live in a culture that promotes this flaw and calls it success. Arguably now the most powerful man in the world, we have a character who amassed an empire based on the possession of one thing or another, one place or another. He’s a fitting symbol for this, I think. As a leader of millions of freedom-loving people, one might expect someone who at some point served his people, rather than possessing as much as possible and earning his celebrity status by ‘firing’ people who were not gifted enough to acquire more efficiently than others. His agenda is based entirely on possession.

What drives this sort of madness? Is it a fear that being in possession of our own selves (for we can no longer claim this) simply won’t be enough? Or more general, is it fear itself that drives the need to possess? The final lesson of life is death, in which we are parted from all we think we possess, and take only that with us that actually matters and belongs to us. Is it a fear of this moment that drives our culture? What does this say about our faith in what lies beyond, if we’re so afraid of it?

A film suggestion

With all the great film franchises retracing their roots to the beginning, rebooting, revamping and re-everything, I find myself wondering what a film might be like, if it focused on Odin … from his birth, on up to at least his sacrifice on Yggdrasil. Most of the Heathens I’ve encountered never spend a lot of time wondering about Odin’s youth – and I can understand why, since we only hear about Odin as the Allfather. And like with so many of our fathers, it’s sometimes difficult to ever imagine that they were once kids, themselves. I’m still fairly certain at times that my father simply materialized from a world of strict rules, where smiles are only allowed if you are chewing on a rock; but I digress ….

Odin had a childhood. While Buri, his grandfather, was licked out of the rime by Audhumla and thus freed, Odin’s father’s name, Borr, means ‘born.’ Odin and his two brothers are the offspring of Borr and Bestla, a giantess. Odin’s children are also born, not simply materialized. Therefore, it’s a safe assumption that Odin was born as a child to his parents. What was he like as a child? How did he grow and develop, participating in his father’s war against his mother’s kin – his kin? What drove him to become chief among the Aesir, to sacrice his eye, his life, for the constant search for more to know and learn? What elevated him above his brothers? When was Asgard built? Was this the work of his father, or did Odin create Asgard?

These are all questions a film could attempt to explore. Correct answers aren’t possible – the lore simply doesn’t support answers to these questions. But a film can do something completely different here ….

I wish all of you a great weekend!

Recently ….

So I’m back, and have posted next to nothing – typical! This isn’t for a lack of things to say, so much as a lack of time and space in which to compose my thoughts and write them down. I have been fascinated by the news reports lately … I look at the ‘POTUS’ and think to myself, Marty McFly must have done something horribly wrong, because Biff is in the White House! But that’s how life goes sometimes … comedy, drama, suspense, and in modern times, apparently all uploaded to Twitter in the dark hours of the morning!

I also decided to add a contact page to this blog – for me, it’s better than posting my Email address and I’m happy to see that WordPress has made this option available for us bloggers!

I hope Ostara went well for all you readers, and hope the emerging Spring will allow some fertile sanity to grow amidst the madness that seems to have overrun our society!

Free will in paradise

This was something that crossed my mind earlier, and I haven’t really made any progress with it – I thought I’d post it here and see if any of you readers have any thoughts about it …

My question revolves around free will and what happens to it when we pass from this world.

Fukushima

I read this story today, about efforts to bring residents back to, and rebuild the town of Namie, near the site of the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant. Although I can understand the mayor’s fervent wish and motivation to bring people back to his town, what I don’t understand is why this is still being considered when radiation levels in some areas are still generating ‘hot spots,’ and dismantling of the Fukushima plant is still not far along (estimates, according to this article, are that it will take another 40 years).

Wearing the runes

My girlfriend and I, a few months ago, started talking about the runes. I explained to her that although I’d spent time studying and working with the runes, I never really felt connected to them. This was ten years ago … then I basically stopped working with them outright and after a while, started thinking about tarot cards. We talked about some of what I had written about the runes a decade ago, and she had a suggestion, something she has been doing to help her connect to the runes: wear them ….

A storm gathers on the horizon …

… and a fool raven flies before it, laughing as he cartwheels and dives in the air …..

It’s been a while since I last wrote here, and much has happened in my life since. Like with most ravens, it would seem my life is about transformation, about learning, letting go and growing. And of course, storms! I stopped writing here for a very simple reason: it seemed the right thing to do. I feel the same reason applies to why I decided to resume blogging here … I looked at this blog, and I missed it. I also missed the interaction here. It felt right.

So, I’m back … still (ever) the fool, and happy to be so!

Socrates, a flight, and the world turns anew

Socrates, a philosopher I admire greatly, is credited as having said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” These are words I have taken to heart; and I know I am not alone, especially here in the blogosphere. However there is an addition I feel should be made, if one can be so bold as to propose wisdom to such a giant: While the unexamined life is indeed not worth living, a life dedicated to examination has not been lived. In all of my spiritual, intellectual and emotional journeys, this counts among my most valued lessons. It builds a circle, a healthy one, in which the Fool in the tarot cards starts with as much wisdom as he ends with … the idea here being not an accumulation of wisdom; but through experience, a transformation of wisdom. Thus ends the Major Arcana quite wisely with the World card.

For me, the World has turned anew, and this sable-feathered Fool is now focused on living and experiencing wisdom, rather than constantly examining it. Many thanks to all who have taken part in this journey, for sharing your wisdom with me along the way ,-)