Here are a few more stanzas in my ongoing project examining the verses of Hávamál, the medieval Norse gnomic verses of wisdom and advice, copied down in Iceland centuries ago.
31. Fróðr þykkisk, sá er flótta tekr, gestr at gest hæðinn; veit-a görla, sá er of verði glissir, þótt hann með grömum glami.
There was a time when Witches (and Wiccans) kept deep within the broom closet, for all manner of reasons, most involving fear of discrimination at work, school, or housing.
23. Ósviðr maðr vakir um allar nætr ok hyggr at hvívetna; þá er móðr, er at morgni kemr, allt er víl sem var.
The unreasonable man wakes all the night, and ponders over every thing. Thus it is for the man, who when morning comes, finds all will seem just as wretched.
A lot of people have been reading and circulating the recent articles that were written by my fellow Patheos.com blogger, Jason Mankey, about the “25 Most Influential People in the Birth of Modern Paganism”. He wrote an “American Wing” article and a “European Wing” article, and I thought they were excellent, but the sum total of his mention of those of us north of the 49th Parallel was “sorry, Canada!” Well, naturally that got my dander up a little. It gives the impression that what goes on up here is an appendix to the greater American scene. But in the founding of modern Paganism, in many cases it was the other way around. Here’s my list of 25 Canadians who helped mold the modern Pagan world; without whom, nothing would be as it is. If you ranked them along with the members of the other two lists to create a list of “The 25 Most Influential People in the Birth of Modern Paganism (All-Time Champions,)” some wouldn’t make the cut . . . but many of them would. Just as Mankey did, I’ll list them in alphabetical order, since prioritizing is very difficult. Mankey said that the American list was harder than the European one because everyone was “second generation”; I find that my list consists of either proto-Pagan contributors, or people who are doing very interesting things right now; perhaps a third generation, still active.
Janet Boyer
I love the idea of green burials! I first heard of Recompose right before it launched. I wish there were more here on the East Coast; that's how I'd l...
Victoria
I would say as neopagans we are constructing our futures rather than reconstructing THE future. I'm not sure if we are in the process of becoming a tr...
Steven Posch
Not so sure about "culty," though.Many--if not most--peoples with a collective sense of identity have a term for the "not-us people": barbaroi (non-He...
Mark Green
OK, this is funny.But could we [i]please[i] stop using that word (or, worse, "Muggles")?Having a down-putting term for people who aren't a part of you...
Happy your more recent post led me read your backlog.
I'm delighted to hear it!
Beautifully rendered. I believe that it's hospitality that is the common denominator in world religion and world culture.
ty!
