D' Aulares' Book of Norse Myths

Usually, a book review from me is a good thing.  I share volumes that I love and leave the ho-hum ones on the shelf.  Today, however I am going to share a book that I recomend you DO NOT buy.

A few months ago, I purchased D'Aulares' Book of Norse Myths with a preface by Michael Chabon through Amazon.  I can remember reading the Greek version of this book in grade school and loved it, so when I found this I thought I just had to have it.  Wrong!

The book features Norse deity and their adventures, but cloaked in a very Christian bias.  The preface includes some thinly veiled negativity toward our ancestral faith and the first two chapters are presented with such a Christianised slant that Superman insists they give him the creeps.  Further accounts are not exactly correct, but there is little harm in them and most mythologies for children have to be edited a bit.  The final chapter,however, is completely Christian propaganda and should and will be avoided at least in our house.

Since this book is paid for and on our bookshelf, I do read it to the children, but I read very slowly and do a lot of improvising.  Mostly, we look at the beautiful colored pencil illustrations and tell the story's for ourselves.

With all the good books available in our time, I would certainly recomend that this not be one you spend your hard earned money on.  Study the Eddas and Sagas or which ever classical stories build the framework of your faith and retell them yourself.   Work as a family to create an illustrated collection of your favorite tales and bind it into an heirloom tome.  You Tube has some great book binding tutorials.  Teach your children, but do it on your terms.  

Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You by Nancy Tillman

 

 

At our house, Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You  is what I think of as "the blessing book."  The littles and I read it nearly every day and although it is not specifically a Pagan book I find it to be jam packed with magick. 

 

The beautiful rhymed verses read like a sweet love spell and even Little Moon who is not very story friendly at this point seems compelled to sit and listen.  On it's own it is a lovely story, but infused with a parents love and fervent intentions it becomes a powerful blessing.  I use it on a daily basis, but it would also make great text for a new birth blessing ceremony. 

Trust Your Cards

Those of you who read my blog frequently know that I still have a lot to lean.  You may have also picked up on the fact that some days I am behind the learning curve- way behind.  This past week I made a stupid mistake not once, but three times in a row.  I asked my cards a question and despite getting the same answer in slightly differing vocabulary all three times, I still doubted my reading. 

It  all started last Tuesday morning when my dad tried to call.   I was home and I did hear the phone ring, but I choose not to answer.   I just didn't feel like I had the strength to deal with him, in fact just the ringing of the phone felt like an emotional attack.  My entire childhood was spent trying to be good enough not to bring him shame and in the process I became someone I absolutely did not enjoy being.  The journey to where I am now has been long and hard, but it still only takes a few moments for my dad to toss all my confidence on the ground and remind me what a disgrace I am.  I have the wrong haircut.  I have defaced my body with tattoos and piercings.  I endanger my children by treating them with herbs and having homebirth.  I married a man who is so irresponsible that he dares ride a Harley.  It goes on and on and on...  To make it even worse, he doesn't say it to my face.  He says it to other family members who relay it to me, so I can try to remedy the situation and pacify our ranting patriarch.  It seems that I am the only one who even tries to live without of his approval. 

So he calls and without even hearing his voice, my anxiety level goes through the roof.  I consult my Oracle deck and three readings told me to relax, be happy, everything is just fine.  I simply couldn't believe it.    I felt like a little girl trying to hide all over again.  Superman offered to call out to the ranch and deal with it for me, but that would have set off another chain of events that I didn't want deal with either, so I just let it ride for the rest of the day. 

The following morning, the phone woke me up and I answered without even thinking.  Of course, it was my dad and he was shockingly pleasant.  We spoke of general things like calving season, weather, and Miss Busy's new teeth.  I kept waiting for the tide to change, but it never did.  We actually had a pleasant conversation.  When we hung up, I felt like I had dodged a bullet. 

Then exactly a week after it all started, I ran into him and my stepmom at the store.  They had come into town to sell some calves and were grabbing a few groceries before heading back to the middle of nowhere.  My first response was to cringe, but he was grinning like a little boy and happy to see me.  We chatted for fifteen minutes or so while they passed Miss Busy between them.  So far, nobody has called me with a list of his complaints, so I am considering it a successful encounter.   

My cards really did know the right answer, I just wasn't willing to accept it.  Maybe I was afraid of being too optimistic about the situation, or I doubted my new found skills; either way I refused to trust what I was told.  Skepticism can often be a good form of self defense, but it can also be a hindrance and detrimental to a healthy relationship.  When I ask The Power and my cards for answers, I need to have the respect to take their answer for truth rather it makes sense to me at the time or not. 

Thoughts On Motherhood

A Recent Photo of Miss Busy and I

There is a lot to be said for the stages of a woman's life.  Unfortunately, in our society the Maiden stage is idolized and moving on to the more mature and productive stages life is often feared or shunned.  Oh, being a Maiden is beautiful!  I love to hear the joy and optimism in my young Maiden's voice, but I also have no desire to be fourteen again.  A Maiden has troves of wonder and untouched beauty, but she also has a lot of learning to do and much of it will be painful. 

As a Mother, I feel I have come into my own.  I am currently carrying my sixth child and find myself to be more beautiful and confident than ever.  When I hold one of my children some of whom are now bigger than I am, I see how powerful and yet how small I can be at the same time.  I am the one who will provide the love that they need to grow and meet their potential, I am the measure by which they will gauge good and bad, and I am the one who's strength they will draw on.  Yet, with in all that power, I will still be unable to give them a perfect life and I am far from capable of  being  the perfect Mama I feel they deserve.  In my children I find both my honor and my humility.

As a Mother, I have learned that my body is amazing.  Before having babies, I had a body I was very proud of.  I was tall and lean, nothing except legs and boobs.  I never felt very beautiful, but I loved my figure.  When things didn't bounce right back after my first child, I felt somewhat like a failure and worked hard to get my shape back, but the babies just kept coming.  Then about the time my oldest was four he asked me, "Mama, why is your tummy so ugly."  I told him that the saggy skin and stretch marks were just the natural results of having children and he started to cry.  As he clung to me and apologized with his little heart absolutely broken over the damage he had done, I suddenly knew it didn't matter one bit.  I told him that he and his siblings were worth every single stretch mark  and I would not trade even a moment with one for them for my pretty tummy back.  That was the day I begin to make friends with my body.  Sometimes I still have a moment of insecurity, but then I remember that creating life is no easy task.  My body has worked hard and never failed to nurture and protect those I love the most.  My figure isn't perfect, but my body is. 

As a Mother, I learned to pick my battles.  My children are not here to be little reflections of me, make me look good, or to define my success as a human being.  My children are here to grow and learn and become the individuals they are meant to be.  It is very easy for many parents to view their offspring as little accessories and want to position them in whatever manner they will be the most flattering.  Sorry, but being a parent is not flattering.  It is often tiring and messy, but so very rewarding.  As long as my children are not behaving in a harmful way or being immoral, I see no reason to control their choices.  So what if Sassafras prefers camo to lace or Mr. Man chooses to wear long johns under swimming trunks to kindergarten?  They might not be following the status quo, but they are following their hearts.  By respecting them as individuals, I keep their hearts and minds open to my influence in the areas that really matter. 

I guess, over all it just boils down to...I love being a Mama.  Yet, as much as I love being the center of my children's world, I know the day is coming when they will move on.  G.I Joe keeps reminding me that he will be enlisted in a scant two years.  Then I will move on.  I will be the grandmother, the wise one, the crone.  It is a phase of life, I look forward to.  All in due time. 

Celebrate the Wind: My Favorite Childhood Poem

Fiber Art: Air Elemental (work in progress)

Who Has Seen the Wind?

By Christina Rossetti      

 

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by.

 

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Source: The Golden Book of Poetry (1947)

 

 

As a  Virgo, I am an Earth sign, but that does not stop me from being very attached to the Wind.  Maybe it was growing up on the prairie where the wind is a constant companion.   Even before embracing a natural faith, I found spiritual moments standing at the clothes line with my bare feet absorbing energy from the sun warmed Earth while the Wind swaddled me in friendly gusts.  For many years, not even understood by myself, the clothes line was my altar from where I worked infantile magic.  I sent and received messages, drew strength for upcoming tasks, and received soothing.  The elementals require no liturgy or dogma and they were happy to commune with one who simply believed.