I have been listening to a lot more music lately, than I have in recent years. Being given an MP3 player by a friend, as well as having this new computer upon which to keep music, has particularly helped.
So I was ripping some of my CDs the other day, and came across one called TAP into Tradition, which was put out by Alexander Keith's beer. Basically it's a bunch of East Coast Celtic stuff. Awesome stuff, mostly. The CD begins with the song Barret's Privateers, a beautiful piece performed with just voice and bodhran. I got to thinking - I've got a bodhran, and have been looking for stuff just like this to learn and maybe play with Stardancer (though I wouldn't play this one with her - the chorus begins with "God damn them all") or perform at events.
I even offered to my gods (in this case Thunor and Ing) to do this, and to do it in their honour. They seemed to really like the idea.
Now I am hunting out the lyrics for songs that I can play with just my drum as accompaniment. Great Big Sea has a lot, and there are a lot of good Irish pieces out there, but I don't want everything to be Irish, after all. I am looking for other good stuff, and I will be putting together a songbook to play from while I memorize the lyrics. So far I have "Barret's Privateers" by Stan Rogers, "The Scolding Wife" performed by Great Big Sea (though I did not see a writer's credit..?), and "Hal an Toe," which is an English traditional song for May Day. Oh, and my own "Down by the Fire to Pray." One friend sent me a link to a page with hundreds of traditional songs that the SCA uses, so I will be going over that as time goes on.
Any other suggestions?
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Recent events
So recently I was contacted by someone I most definitely did NOT want to be contacted by on FB. I don't want contact with this individual at all, but FB was the medium chosen. One of the comments they made, though, seemed to refer to a blog entry from a year or so ago (which would make it on LJ). Nevertheless, between this and their "offering" to look up my number and phone me, I was rather worried. So I have now, at this point gone back through my entire Livejournal account, and locked the majority of the posts up so that they are readable only by those on my "Friends" list (similar to FB, really). There's still a lot of stuff publically readable, but it's mostly articles, etc, not my personal life or reflections.
An interesting side effect was getting a look at all of my old posts. One thing that really stood out for me was in one of the very forst posts. I was discussing the "Patron Gods" dream that led me to a Germanic path in my Druidry - only the dream had been the night before the post was written, which means there were details that I had since forgotten. They were rather enlightening to see, really, and reflect upon.
Anyway, back to the point, here. This newfound caution with what I have written naturally extended to this blog as well - especially since I had put a link to it recently, along with an invitation, in my LJ. So some thought has been put into it. What does this blog want to be? At first it was for some of my more personal observations, with the thought that it would be easier for a couple of my friends, who use Blogger, not LJ, to follow. Perhaps a bit naive, I know, but I assumed that Blogger worked similar to LJ, with lockable posts, Friends lists, etc. Now I know that you either lock the entire blog to all but your friends, or you leave it open. But it's measured by the whole blog, not on a post-by-post basis.
Hm. this explains why Fourleaf deleted her words, rather than merely lock them up.
So if everything I write here must be public, then a certain caution must be placed upon it. It can be easy to forget that caution, honestly, and in the meantime I have continued using LJ, and locking things as I go. Sorry, gang. But what of the ol' Blogger account? Well, my articles have been mostly getting put up in LJ, lately (though there haven't been many), since that was set up to be my ADF log, and they were written largely for that purpose. Personal stuff ought to be less public, more lockable. Hm.
But not all personal stuff need be. Hence this entry. Some of what I write can and should still be viewable, I think. I considered moving some of the more personal entries from here, over to LJ, but the time date stamp thing kind of blocked that idea (I wonder if I can change the date on a post there...?). So this journal remains, warts and all. It's not as though I didn't suffer another recent attack over there, as well, anyway, over something publicly posted.
Basically, I had attended an event, then written a review of it. While I didn't think I was being horribly unkind in it, I did write it as honestly as I could, and I suppose one or two things I said could be seen as rather unkind. Well, the post was found and read by a friend of the event's hostess, who attacked me in the comments field, then sent the link to the hostess herself and one other friend of theirs. The hostess was most upset, and also unleashed a verbal barrage upon me, but the other friend, who also commented, was more reasonable in his comments. So I locked the post up. Sigh.
The hostess and her friend also cut me from their FB lists.
The upshot of this is that I need to be more.. cautios with my words, I suppose, though I thought I had made clear that my observations were purely my own experiences.
So that is where things stand at the moment.
An interesting side effect was getting a look at all of my old posts. One thing that really stood out for me was in one of the very forst posts. I was discussing the "Patron Gods" dream that led me to a Germanic path in my Druidry - only the dream had been the night before the post was written, which means there were details that I had since forgotten. They were rather enlightening to see, really, and reflect upon.
Anyway, back to the point, here. This newfound caution with what I have written naturally extended to this blog as well - especially since I had put a link to it recently, along with an invitation, in my LJ. So some thought has been put into it. What does this blog want to be? At first it was for some of my more personal observations, with the thought that it would be easier for a couple of my friends, who use Blogger, not LJ, to follow. Perhaps a bit naive, I know, but I assumed that Blogger worked similar to LJ, with lockable posts, Friends lists, etc. Now I know that you either lock the entire blog to all but your friends, or you leave it open. But it's measured by the whole blog, not on a post-by-post basis.
Hm. this explains why Fourleaf deleted her words, rather than merely lock them up.
So if everything I write here must be public, then a certain caution must be placed upon it. It can be easy to forget that caution, honestly, and in the meantime I have continued using LJ, and locking things as I go. Sorry, gang. But what of the ol' Blogger account? Well, my articles have been mostly getting put up in LJ, lately (though there haven't been many), since that was set up to be my ADF log, and they were written largely for that purpose. Personal stuff ought to be less public, more lockable. Hm.
But not all personal stuff need be. Hence this entry. Some of what I write can and should still be viewable, I think. I considered moving some of the more personal entries from here, over to LJ, but the time date stamp thing kind of blocked that idea (I wonder if I can change the date on a post there...?). So this journal remains, warts and all. It's not as though I didn't suffer another recent attack over there, as well, anyway, over something publicly posted.
Basically, I had attended an event, then written a review of it. While I didn't think I was being horribly unkind in it, I did write it as honestly as I could, and I suppose one or two things I said could be seen as rather unkind. Well, the post was found and read by a friend of the event's hostess, who attacked me in the comments field, then sent the link to the hostess herself and one other friend of theirs. The hostess was most upset, and also unleashed a verbal barrage upon me, but the other friend, who also commented, was more reasonable in his comments. So I locked the post up. Sigh.
The hostess and her friend also cut me from their FB lists.
The upshot of this is that I need to be more.. cautios with my words, I suppose, though I thought I had made clear that my observations were purely my own experiences.
So that is where things stand at the moment.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Isaac Bonewits
By now I'm sure you've heard - Isaac Bonewits is dead. He died Thursday morning at roughly 08:00 ET. There have been a lot of people writing of his life, several obituaries, and a lot of personal observations floating around the Web since then.
Mine falls into the last category.
I never met the man. I live on the opposite coast, and in a different country, than he did. I would like to have met him, but it didn't happen, and now never will. I was first introduced to his work maybe five years ago, when I found a copy of Real Magic in a used bookstore. I was excited, but also a bit sceptical. I picked it up, though, and began to read it (still haven't finished), and found it good.
Then a friend of mine joined ADF, and invited me to join as well. Again, I looked at it with a certain scepticism (this is not like me, not at that time. If it was druidic, I was interested in those days, and tended to jump in with both feet). There was something... different here. I couldn't quite place my finger on it but it didn't feel quite the same as other stuff I'd looked at in the past.
In the end, I joined, and have bought several other of Isaac's books. I found his writing style to be casual, friendly and laced with humour. Yet for all the ease of reading he provided, his works are incredibly informative, and more importantly, accurate. This last is something you all too often find lacking in pagan books, so it's a very refreshing thing to find. The scolarship that show in his histories, etc, is as accurate as it can be for the time it was written. He actually did the research.
So, yeah, this has left an impact. And his creation, the ADF, has come to mean so very much to me. I think of myself as a druid (ADF style) before even being a Heathen, though that's more in terms of organizational stuff, because obviously my troth with the gods is with those of my Anglo Saxon ancestors. But that's okay, because he made it a Pan Indo European organization, not just a Celtic one. His vision was to have a public pagan church organization, and that's what it is.
He has gone on, now, to the Halls of his ancestors, but to many of us, he is an Ancestor of the heart, one of the Ancient Wise. May you rest comfortably in that Hall, Isaac. Hail, and Farewell!
Mine falls into the last category.
I never met the man. I live on the opposite coast, and in a different country, than he did. I would like to have met him, but it didn't happen, and now never will. I was first introduced to his work maybe five years ago, when I found a copy of Real Magic in a used bookstore. I was excited, but also a bit sceptical. I picked it up, though, and began to read it (still haven't finished), and found it good.
Then a friend of mine joined ADF, and invited me to join as well. Again, I looked at it with a certain scepticism (this is not like me, not at that time. If it was druidic, I was interested in those days, and tended to jump in with both feet). There was something... different here. I couldn't quite place my finger on it but it didn't feel quite the same as other stuff I'd looked at in the past.
In the end, I joined, and have bought several other of Isaac's books. I found his writing style to be casual, friendly and laced with humour. Yet for all the ease of reading he provided, his works are incredibly informative, and more importantly, accurate. This last is something you all too often find lacking in pagan books, so it's a very refreshing thing to find. The scolarship that show in his histories, etc, is as accurate as it can be for the time it was written. He actually did the research.
So, yeah, this has left an impact. And his creation, the ADF, has come to mean so very much to me. I think of myself as a druid (ADF style) before even being a Heathen, though that's more in terms of organizational stuff, because obviously my troth with the gods is with those of my Anglo Saxon ancestors. But that's okay, because he made it a Pan Indo European organization, not just a Celtic one. His vision was to have a public pagan church organization, and that's what it is.
He has gone on, now, to the Halls of his ancestors, but to many of us, he is an Ancestor of the heart, one of the Ancient Wise. May you rest comfortably in that Hall, Isaac. Hail, and Farewell!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Pondering the Gylfagginning
Sacred Feces!
This morning, in order to facilitate my article-writing (which is going slowly, but is still going), I grabbed my Eddas to read on the bus ride in to work. So I began reading the Gylfagginning, and do you know what the first thing I noticed was? Here, let me quote:
"He saw three high-seats one above the other, and a man seated in each of them. Then he asked what names those chieftains had. The man who had taken him inside answered that the one siting on the lowest seat was a king called High One, the next was Just-as-high, and the topmost one was called Third." Jean I. Young, translator.
Do you see it? You may not. Think about the Temple at Uppsala (in Sweden...? Hmmm). Actually, the description of the stronghold he visits is similar, too...
Anyway, inside the Temple, it is described that there were three statues, each placed on high-seats. Odhinn, Freyr, and, on the highest seat, Thor.
Maybe High One, Just-as-high, and Third aren't all Odhinn, after all? Something to ponder...
This morning, in order to facilitate my article-writing (which is going slowly, but is still going), I grabbed my Eddas to read on the bus ride in to work. So I began reading the Gylfagginning, and do you know what the first thing I noticed was? Here, let me quote:
"He saw three high-seats one above the other, and a man seated in each of them. Then he asked what names those chieftains had. The man who had taken him inside answered that the one siting on the lowest seat was a king called High One, the next was Just-as-high, and the topmost one was called Third." Jean I. Young, translator.
Do you see it? You may not. Think about the Temple at Uppsala (in Sweden...? Hmmm). Actually, the description of the stronghold he visits is similar, too...
Anyway, inside the Temple, it is described that there were three statues, each placed on high-seats. Odhinn, Freyr, and, on the highest seat, Thor.
Maybe High One, Just-as-high, and Third aren't all Odhinn, after all? Something to ponder...
Friday, August 6, 2010
The Caffeine Psalm
(Always a favourite...)
Caffeine is my shepherd;
I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in Green Pastures;
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses;
It restoreth my buzz;
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for it's name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the valley of addiction
I will fear no Equal (R)
For Thou art with me.
Thy Cream and Thy Sugar comfort me;
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of Juan Valdez;
Thou anointest my day with pep;
My mug runneth over.
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the House of Maxwell forever
Amen.
By Ann O. Nymous
Caffeine is my shepherd;
I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in Green Pastures;
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses;
It restoreth my buzz;
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for it's name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the valley of addiction
I will fear no Equal (R)
For Thou art with me.
Thy Cream and Thy Sugar comfort me;
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of Juan Valdez;
Thou anointest my day with pep;
My mug runneth over.
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the House of Maxwell forever
Amen.
By Ann O. Nymous
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
America
So I am reading a couple of things at the moment: Tacitus' Germania and this blog entry of my daughter's Godsmother. Together they formed a very interesting realization about my American neighbors, to wit: the modern American shows an incredible similarity to the ancient Germanic peoples.
In her blog post, she talks of the irony of how she is shown incredible hospitality on the one hand, but is asked about what kind of protective measures she is carrying with her as she travels (most of this blog is detailing the travels of a young, beautiful woman on her own in a VW Westfalia). In the Germania, Tacitus states how every adult carries arms, and how hospitality is the greatest of virtues.
Given how the news is always debating about gun control measures, etc, this stuck out as particularly noteworthy. Hm. I wonder how Canada stacks up, with this in mind..?
In her blog post, she talks of the irony of how she is shown incredible hospitality on the one hand, but is asked about what kind of protective measures she is carrying with her as she travels (most of this blog is detailing the travels of a young, beautiful woman on her own in a VW Westfalia). In the Germania, Tacitus states how every adult carries arms, and how hospitality is the greatest of virtues.
Given how the news is always debating about gun control measures, etc, this stuck out as particularly noteworthy. Hm. I wonder how Canada stacks up, with this in mind..?
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