Seven Interests
Oct. 9th, 2007 06:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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gnomic_noodler
Arianrhod: A goddess who appears in the Mabinogian and the poems of Taliesin. In the Mabinogian, she is called to be the king's footholder -- a position that can only be filled by a virgin. She says she has not known a man, but when she steps over a druid's wand, she gives birth to twin sons, one of whom is thrown in the sea. The other is fostered, and she curses him by saying he will never have a name or weapons unless she gives them to him, nor will he have a human wife. Eventually she is tricked into giving the boy both a name and weapons. Taliesin wrote that he sojourned seven times in Caer Sidi, the castle of Arianrhod which was believed to be in the Aurora Borealis. She is considered a goddess of initiation and is one of the patrons of my priestess training. I don't know her very well yet, but I've visited her castle once.
Einherjar: "One army-ers" As LM told it to me: it can mean either warriors who are by themselves the equivalent of an army, or those who all belong to the One Army of the Dead. I believe (and may be wrong) the traditional Heathen view is that they are the dead warriors who will fight for Odin at Ragnarok. It's an interest of mine because LM identified himself as having been one during his lifetimes of warrior service to Tiwaz.
Healthy Multiples: My RPG group used to have a joke: "If they all get along with each other, it's not a multiple personality disorder." For a long time, the only thing I "knew" about people with multiple personalities were the stock characters of tv and movie drama: the apparently normal person with the violent criminal personality, or the abused child. They had blackouts when the 'other' was active, and needed to be cured of a traumatic affliction. Then, via LJ, I started meeting people who exist as multiple communities. They don't have blackouts. They aren't criminals or non-functional. The different personalities -- or spirits -- within them get along (or not) like families in a very small house. I've met some of them off LJ as well and witnessed first hand the changes that occur as the different beings switch control over the body. I think there are some on LJ (and elsewhere) who are fakes, and probably many who do suffer from a "disorder" -- but it's not all of them. Authentic healthy multiples are fascinating beings.
Royal Duty: From a very young age I had the sense that being royal was not all balls and feasting and getting to order people around. Being royal carried with it a sacred obligation, a lifetime of service. Somehow this innate understanding is part of my spiritual inheritance, and it's part of what connects me to Sovereignty and its rituals.
Swords: I've always loved swords, always wanted to be able to fight with one -- and modern fencing is not enough. I want to buckle some swash, or swing a broadsword. Then there's the archetypal aspect: the Sword as the discerning, judging, rational mind, something near and dear to my nature, as many of you know.
Tiwaz: Was LM's patron god, back in his earliest days, the days before Odin was preeminent. Tiwaz -- also known as Tyr -- put his hand in the mouth of Fenris so the giant wolf would consent to be bound. He lost his hand, and is considered the god of those who battle and sacrifice for others. I have met him once or twice, and honor him for LM's sake.
Wolves: Wolves are one of the symbols of the wild, and one of LM's primary totems. I was never a wolf person, but since loving LM I've come to enjoy the company of wolves and bring out the long-buried wildness in my own soul. I've been working on a magical erotic variation of Little Red Riding Hood in which a red cloaked maiden is driven into the forest every spring as an offering to the Lord of the Wood. Years before that, twisting Women Who Run With the Wolves into Mommies Who Run With the Wolves helped me free myself from a non-rational sense that in order to be A Good Mother I had to exactly follow the example of my own mother -- who was (and is) a very good mother, but in a traditional, stay-at-home style that would have resulted in my killing myself and/or my child if I had tried to pursue it.
gnomic_noodlerArianrhod: A goddess who appears in the Mabinogian and the poems of Taliesin. In the Mabinogian, she is called to be the king's footholder -- a position that can only be filled by a virgin. She says she has not known a man, but when she steps over a druid's wand, she gives birth to twin sons, one of whom is thrown in the sea. The other is fostered, and she curses him by saying he will never have a name or weapons unless she gives them to him, nor will he have a human wife. Eventually she is tricked into giving the boy both a name and weapons. Taliesin wrote that he sojourned seven times in Caer Sidi, the castle of Arianrhod which was believed to be in the Aurora Borealis. She is considered a goddess of initiation and is one of the patrons of my priestess training. I don't know her very well yet, but I've visited her castle once.
Einherjar: "One army-ers" As LM told it to me: it can mean either warriors who are by themselves the equivalent of an army, or those who all belong to the One Army of the Dead. I believe (and may be wrong) the traditional Heathen view is that they are the dead warriors who will fight for Odin at Ragnarok. It's an interest of mine because LM identified himself as having been one during his lifetimes of warrior service to Tiwaz.
Healthy Multiples: My RPG group used to have a joke: "If they all get along with each other, it's not a multiple personality disorder." For a long time, the only thing I "knew" about people with multiple personalities were the stock characters of tv and movie drama: the apparently normal person with the violent criminal personality, or the abused child. They had blackouts when the 'other' was active, and needed to be cured of a traumatic affliction. Then, via LJ, I started meeting people who exist as multiple communities. They don't have blackouts. They aren't criminals or non-functional. The different personalities -- or spirits -- within them get along (or not) like families in a very small house. I've met some of them off LJ as well and witnessed first hand the changes that occur as the different beings switch control over the body. I think there are some on LJ (and elsewhere) who are fakes, and probably many who do suffer from a "disorder" -- but it's not all of them. Authentic healthy multiples are fascinating beings.
Royal Duty: From a very young age I had the sense that being royal was not all balls and feasting and getting to order people around. Being royal carried with it a sacred obligation, a lifetime of service. Somehow this innate understanding is part of my spiritual inheritance, and it's part of what connects me to Sovereignty and its rituals.
Swords: I've always loved swords, always wanted to be able to fight with one -- and modern fencing is not enough. I want to buckle some swash, or swing a broadsword. Then there's the archetypal aspect: the Sword as the discerning, judging, rational mind, something near and dear to my nature, as many of you know.
Tiwaz: Was LM's patron god, back in his earliest days, the days before Odin was preeminent. Tiwaz -- also known as Tyr -- put his hand in the mouth of Fenris so the giant wolf would consent to be bound. He lost his hand, and is considered the god of those who battle and sacrifice for others. I have met him once or twice, and honor him for LM's sake.
Wolves: Wolves are one of the symbols of the wild, and one of LM's primary totems. I was never a wolf person, but since loving LM I've come to enjoy the company of wolves and bring out the long-buried wildness in my own soul. I've been working on a magical erotic variation of Little Red Riding Hood in which a red cloaked maiden is driven into the forest every spring as an offering to the Lord of the Wood. Years before that, twisting Women Who Run With the Wolves into Mommies Who Run With the Wolves helped me free myself from a non-rational sense that in order to be A Good Mother I had to exactly follow the example of my own mother -- who was (and is) a very good mother, but in a traditional, stay-at-home style that would have resulted in my killing myself and/or my child if I had tried to pursue it.
