- Mon. Dec. 2, 1996
- Fellowship meets again. Tonight we discussed Odhin, continuing in the sequence of Kevdulf's book.
I am struck by the discussion about Odhin's dual nature resulting (I think) from his unswerving dedication
to his goal, thus anything that serves this goal is permitted including treachery.
- Tue. Dec. 3, 1996
- Meeting for Mummers play. I might be doing the Doctor role. Thought about slight spoof with a crossover identification with
Dr. Who of BBS fame. (Maybe a kazoo playing the theme as I make my entrance...?) J. wants to perform the play for laughs but
consensus is that this is not the year for this. The final performance will be a video-taping party for the local public access
which will allow the play to be shared with a local pagan public access show in the future. I think that Dr. Bob will perform the
role for the taping. (I feel that the role is his, as I have filled in for him once before.) Next year there is talk of me doing the
Turkish Night role!
Spoke briefly to Z. who faces some minor legal trouble. (Yet, another offering to Mammam Bridgette...) I really didn't know what to say
to him so settled on telling him that he could call and talk to me or ask if I could do anything for him. Sometimes when folks make negative
choices for themselves one wants to intervene but there is no clear way to do so... Having been there, it seems that it is part of my Karma
to experience this painfully through someone else.
- Wed. Dec. 4, 1996
- Dream with much detail but I only remember the vivid image of two
playing cards: 2 of spades and 10 of spades.
- Thur. Dec. 5, 1996
- Found out that the German Myth class that I was looking forward to had been replaced with a modern lit one. The instructor is having health
problems. I wrote a e-mail to the Dept. head complaining about them not replacing the course with a comparable one.
- Wed. Dec. 11, 1996
- Rune study group completes the first aetyr of the Elder Futhark and begins Hagalaz. We celebrate with a sumbel. On the first round, I call for Truth, Ranger mentions
Integrity which is more of what I had in mind... On the second round I mention the God Tyr who symbolizes the unswerving commitment to Truth and thus Integrity.
On the third round I am thankful for what I have been able to get out of
the work and on the final round I brag/vow to get more out of it.
- Thurs. Dec. 12, 1996
- Almost immediately, I begin to feel the influence of my vow at the sumbel. Several very clear issues crystalize that I must deal with and rectify. Many are best not
mentioned here... This reminds me of a very intense Philip K.Dick story in which there is a drug that eliminates the effects of all other drugs to allow the user to see the true nature of
reality (aside: metaphor for psychadelics!) which turns out to be this grim, horrific dystopia in which people are controlled by hallucinogens that tune them into the reality that
is created by the government.
- Sat. Dec. 14, 1996
- Go with Owen to get Yule trees for our households. I always enjoy
Owen's company as he knows so much lore.
- Sun. Dec. 15, 1996
- Most of the community turns up for Nola's birthday/Santa Lucia celebration. It is a good crowd and there is much communitas! M. says some excellent things about children
being the most important part of a community: it's hope and lifeblood for the future.
Was fairly on in my cups and didn't feel that Mammam Bridgette offering went well but intent was pure...
- Mon. Dec. 16, 1996
- Good fellowship. We discuss the Frowe and consider plans for both our Yule/12 Night rite and Magni's naming rite at the end of the month. I commit to create the wreath and runic chocolates
for the Yule rite. (The later derives from a recently read book called When Santa was a Shaman in which the author mentioned that there was a Scandanavian tradition of giving folks either candy
or cookies formed in the shape of the rune that is the first letter of their name.) I use a woodburning pen with a smooth tip to melt the runes into squares of chocolate.
- Tues. Dec. 17, 1996
- Now that I am off for exams I am eating books a good rate! Finished When Santa Was Shaman, H. R. Ellis Davidson's Scandanavian Mythology, and started on another volume by her. Also
read well into a programming textbook for the upcoming quarter...
- Wed. Dec 18, 1996
- Mummer's Play at wed study group. I am ill as is Father X-mass, so Spam Lord steps into fill that role and Dr. Bob does the Dr. role. Not knowing the role someone reads the lines offstage and Lord Spam
pantomines to them... I wish I could have seen that!
- Fri. Dec. 21, 1996
- Fellowship celebrates Mother Night, the first day fo the 12 day Yule celebration. We do the ritual found in Teutonic Religion. C. does a fine job leading the rite and young S. does very well holding
the distaff thread that forms the perimeter of the sacred space. There is one very humourous moment when we lose the Frowe's "gifts" and spend five minutes looking about for them! Folks feel good about the rite.
I am pleased by with it. Bob H. is headed to Indiana to celebrate with the kindred there. We discuss final preparations for Magni's naming rite. I am to take the part of Tyr for the gifting portion and to cast a runic circle
when we set up sacred space.
There is discussion about Green Dome Community Yule ritual scheduled for Sun. 22. It is to be held at private home and not everyone in the community is welcome. This situation makes me very
uncomfortable and just seems wrong. The problem seems to be the blending of two elements that are exclusive: one the one hand a private party at someone's house and on the other the community's sabbat celebration. I can not condone
the scheduling of a community rite for a location where not everyone in the community is welcome... As Dr. Bob will be there to do
Mummer Play role, I decide not to attend.
- Sun. Dec. 22, 1996
- Yule! We attend the Bevis & Butthead movie, which is not a disappointment. Consort and I spend a quiet day at home as we (I) decided not to attend the Yule party. It turns out to be a cool respite from the flurry of holiday
activities.
- Mon. Dec. 23, 1996
- T. shows up from Seattle! A wonderful surprise. He is well and brings much booty. We drink a gallon of Oldenburg's Black Cat ale and achieve ecstasy. Consort and I
both like him very much and wish he would move back to town so he could take part in the Fellowship and Runic work. Work opportunities are good there and he is prospering.
He gives Consort a wonderful Hammer, perfectly sized for her.
- Tues. Dec. 24, 1996
- Perform private Full moon rite with consort. It is very rushed and hurried but there is something to be said for the continuity. Fellowship and student group fails to celebrate the Esbat this time.
Galdr is good and has that sucessful resonance...
- Wed. Dec. 25, 1996
- Louis calls... he is in town and we will meet for Black moon website on Sat. I am very pleased!
Louis tells me that there is a Hougan in New Orleans that has a collection of the
rythms used to prepare the Temple and summon the loa (Voudon deities) all carefully annotated in a drumming notation. He want s to put this material on the Black Moon website. I am
excited about this project! I spend most of the morning on the web putting together the collection of Asatru and Norse links for the revised Green Dome Temple Pagan resources section.
I find one sight that has all of the Asatru contacts organized by country and state. I print out the list for Ohio with the idea of doing some networking.
I returned to the Runic Memory program that I
had written sometime ago. A concentration-style game designed to aid in learning the Elder Futhark runeset and the various attributions that Edred Thorsson lists for them in Futhark. I decide to
begin expanding the program to include the other Runesets: Viking, Younger, Anglo-Frisian, etc. I got a lot of work done on it but discover that my algorithm for randomizing the playing board for each
game is unstable and with the new runesets doesn't always exit! That will require some more work...
Runic study group meets to begin Nauthiz rune period. T. in town from Seattle shows up at my invitation.
Meeting goes well. Galdr is especially potent with T. participating. Very resonant and vibratory.
- Thur. Dec. 26, 1996
- Go into work to complete the scanning of the Black Moon material that Louis has sent me so that I can return it to him at meeting on Sat. I am very pleased with the progress of the Black Moon site.
- Sat. Dec. 28, 1996
- Meet with Louis, Mishelen, Nema, and Mike about the Black Moon website. Really great to meet in person. I am very pleased with the plans for the site and the way that it is progressing. Louis gave me some sample archive documents
to scan and mount as examples of the materials in the archives. Mishlen and I worked on the ideas for her virtual art gallery which will be expanded to include the work of other artists. She likes my conceptualization of the project. I call C.
who is kind enough to come over and photograph Mishlen's latest work so that there will be a record of it. It is a wonderful piece depicting the spirit of the Tibetan prophet Milarepa.
To make sure that the site is viable financially, we decide to
shift the focus of priority from the archives to the section that will advertise the chapbooks, books, and cd's that Black Moon Publishes. I have several of the chapbooks and will begin preparing that section along with the cd's I have gotten from Owen.<
P>
These folks are so cool! It is an honor to be working with them. I realize that each of us in our own way has taken a sort of Bodhisatvic vow to aid in the evolution of consciousness. (I'm not sure that everyone else would express it in quite that way
but I
percieve it as a commonality for us...
- Sun. Dec. 29, 1996
- We meet in Mt. Echo park for the Norse naming ceremony of Magni
Finrarson, Bob H.'s one year old boy. The rite is really great. Darien calls on Thunar to sanctify the space before folks arrive. I am pleased by my Runic Circle and portrayal of the God T
yr for the gifting.
I am humbled by the fact that C. L. 's children not only Hallow the sacred space with the Hammer Rite but his daughter M. even follows me in casting a runic circle! It is truely wonderful to see young Asatru Folk already well into the knowlege of the sys
tem.
Meet some great folk:
C. L. and his family from Greywolf Kindred, and Claudia. I really like C.L. and hope to keep in touch with him in the future. He mentions a book that he has been trying to find and after the rite I got home and located it in the University Library. I'l
l try and pick it up tomorrow!
- Mon. Dec. 30, 1996
- Picked up the Anglo-Saxon Magic by Dr. Storm for C. L. at the library. It was on the shelf! This is the second time that books that other folk have had trouble finding were readily available at the University library. All thanks to Bibliothe
ka, Goddess of books!
It was in the midst of a variety of books on Witchcraft from many cultures, which I hadn't investigaed before. I found a book called Norske Hexeformulae by Dr. A. Chr. Bang which is in German, which I can't read, but wonder about the title. A c
ursory look did not seem to
indicate that it was Old norse material unless it had been translated from that language into German.
Off to Court's and Dave's
this evening for making Lefsa (sp?) a traditional Norwegian Yule-fest food, for our end of 12 night rite on tues.
- Tue. Dec 31, 1996
- Over the previous weekend at the naming ceremony, we discussed th possibility of having a dedication rite for the Norse Fellowship that has been meeting on Mon. nites. I know that I was very moved by that rite and would like to formally dedicate our
own efforts at forming a
Kindred. Toward that end, I prepared two rituals toady one for the
midnight end of twelve-nite and the other for the dedication. Both are based on outlines found in A Book of Troth and Teutonic Religion. For the dedication rite, I baked my usual Troth-loaf using the modified
recipe from the later book. Usually I divide the dough into three sections and braid it into a ring. This time I wanted an unbroken ring so I took the entire mass of dough and formed it into a ring. Then consort and I cut the Elder Futhark around the
perimeter of the ring as we sang the
appropriate galdr for each. When the bread had come out of the oven with most of the runic incisions wonderfully ledgible, we took a tube of red icing and risted the runes again singing the appropriate galdr. The finshed loaf, is beautiful and vibrates
with an energy and that sense of
rightness one gets from inspired work done well...
As it turned out, several of the Kindred members did not make the celebration and it was decided to postpone the dedication until sunday.
Twelve-nite rite went well. There were about six of us. I didn't like the sparcity of Kvedulf's outline so combined it with that found in A Book of Troth. We tried to tie the ritual to climax at midnight with the coming of the new year but I was
a little premature and lit the wreath
too early. Still the wreath burned beautifully, leaing a glowing ring of coals that remained until well after midnight. As it burned al the apples fell or roled off of the lid it had been placed upon to burn except for the one in the North. It also in
the course of burning out, took on the appearance
of an iconic heart. I could see how pyromancy would be a natural activity for festivals that involve the use of fire or burnt offerings.