The Drygand is embedded in the Great Tree, in the thickness of the bole, where it enters the earth.
When the Tree is threatened, He comes forth, to stand with sharp nails, ready.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Regeneration of the Bones
In primitive times, hunters would save the bones of their prey, and plant them respectfully in the earth so that new animals would be grown from them, magically, ensuring a continuing supply of game.
Similarly, in shamanic cultures, which were of hunters or herders, at least originally, there was the mythic notion that the young shaman-to-be must be devoured, stripped of his flesh, stripped to the bones, and from these marrow-bones, a new body regrows, of shamanic substance-- crystalline, clear and shining. It is a rebirth, with a new "body of light", as a new-fledged shaman in a new world.
This myth of regrowth from the bones, in its many cultural evolutions, was widespread in the ancient world. A good, smallish book about it is Weston La Barre's Muelos: a Stone Age Superstition about Sexuality.
Recently, it occurred to me that the Romantic Movement could be seen as involving a stripping of the flesh-- a rejection of the elite, high civilization of the Enlightenment characterized by order, reason, high-flown manners, and refinement, to go back to a lower level, of the simple common-folk, with their traditional ways and wisdom, which by contrast with the artificial elaborations of the Enlightenment was like the bones of civilization-- stark, simple, yet authentic, honest, vital, even magical. And many of the Romantics could be said to be trying to regrow a new (organic!) body of civilization from this archaic stock, and get it right this time. Well, the results were a mix of the wonderful and terrible, and we're still living with them.
Now, if we see that we are, perforce, in the Age of Ecology, in which the current global civilization is obviously destroying Life on Earth, and that fundamental changes are required if there is to be any hope that an intact Biosphere and some kind of human presence will survive, then it is very like the situation at the end of the 18th century, with the Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement in opposition. In fact, our global civilization is a direct development of the Enlightenment civilization, two centuries on, as the Ecology Movement is of the Romantic Movement-- only now the stakes are drastically higher.
And I see this powerful myth of the regrowth of a new, superior body from the bones of the old one to fit our present situation, just as with the old Romantic Movement. Now we must develop-- regrow-- a new global civilization-- and it must be global, because the Biosphere is global, and not ethno-centric/nationalist like with the Romantic Movement-- and the determining, driving idea, the "marrow" of it, must be Ecology-- that is, how we can live on this planet without destroying it. It is a very simple idea, easy to see its truth, that therefore we must make a new ecological civilization, and we must get it right, which requires that we use whatever will be necessary and reject whatever is a hindrance, or harmful, which means using our intelligence, knowledge, and science as well as inspiration, intuition, and old wisdom-- everything we can bring to this terrific Work, but all with great discrimination, so that we get it right.
Similarly, in shamanic cultures, which were of hunters or herders, at least originally, there was the mythic notion that the young shaman-to-be must be devoured, stripped of his flesh, stripped to the bones, and from these marrow-bones, a new body regrows, of shamanic substance-- crystalline, clear and shining. It is a rebirth, with a new "body of light", as a new-fledged shaman in a new world.
This myth of regrowth from the bones, in its many cultural evolutions, was widespread in the ancient world. A good, smallish book about it is Weston La Barre's Muelos: a Stone Age Superstition about Sexuality.
Recently, it occurred to me that the Romantic Movement could be seen as involving a stripping of the flesh-- a rejection of the elite, high civilization of the Enlightenment characterized by order, reason, high-flown manners, and refinement, to go back to a lower level, of the simple common-folk, with their traditional ways and wisdom, which by contrast with the artificial elaborations of the Enlightenment was like the bones of civilization-- stark, simple, yet authentic, honest, vital, even magical. And many of the Romantics could be said to be trying to regrow a new (organic!) body of civilization from this archaic stock, and get it right this time. Well, the results were a mix of the wonderful and terrible, and we're still living with them.
Now, if we see that we are, perforce, in the Age of Ecology, in which the current global civilization is obviously destroying Life on Earth, and that fundamental changes are required if there is to be any hope that an intact Biosphere and some kind of human presence will survive, then it is very like the situation at the end of the 18th century, with the Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement in opposition. In fact, our global civilization is a direct development of the Enlightenment civilization, two centuries on, as the Ecology Movement is of the Romantic Movement-- only now the stakes are drastically higher.
And I see this powerful myth of the regrowth of a new, superior body from the bones of the old one to fit our present situation, just as with the old Romantic Movement. Now we must develop-- regrow-- a new global civilization-- and it must be global, because the Biosphere is global, and not ethno-centric/nationalist like with the Romantic Movement-- and the determining, driving idea, the "marrow" of it, must be Ecology-- that is, how we can live on this planet without destroying it. It is a very simple idea, easy to see its truth, that therefore we must make a new ecological civilization, and we must get it right, which requires that we use whatever will be necessary and reject whatever is a hindrance, or harmful, which means using our intelligence, knowledge, and science as well as inspiration, intuition, and old wisdom-- everything we can bring to this terrific Work, but all with great discrimination, so that we get it right.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Taken
In folklore, the Elves take a normal baby and leave a changeling in its stead. This is noticed when the child turns-out to be strange-- withdrawn, addled, fey, or otherwise undesirable.
This is typical of Humans-- they get it wrong. Why would the Elves want normal babies? In fact, the baby is not exchanged, but changed by the mysterious "elvish influence", from Human to Elf, which makes it an alien among Humans, so of course it doesn't seem like everyone else. And the change isn't necessarily made all at once, to a baby in a cradle. Often, nothing is noticeably strange until the onset of puberty, when there is suddenly much more to influence. But influence can be effective into the mature years-- that "mid-life crisis"?
And where it used to be "taken by the Elves", it has become "taken by Aliens", which is just Humans updating their wrongness-- in the world of nuclear warfare and all the other wonders of science and technology, natural beings like Elves no longer signify, but futuristic space-craft carrying humanoids do, so...
But as in the olden days, most of those "taken" are just confused people and/or liars. In reality, those benefiting from elvish influence keep that to themselves, and since no-one believes in Elves anymore, no one sees an Elf-changeling; instead, it's a person with autism or some other modern syndrome. However, changelings can spot each other pretty readily, and they often make their true identity obvious to their fellows in various improvised ways. The thing is-- many changelings don't know what they are, from how they are, if they haven't been told, but they know it's something, and they're on the look-out for others like themselves.
So, if you haven't been told, I'll tell you here-- yes, you are probably an Elf-changeling, and even if, strictly speaking, you are not, it doesn't matter-- if you are elvish, you are, to all intents and purposes, an Elf. But it's not so much a matter of identity-- ultimately, elvish is as elvish does, and, to some extent, you can choose elvishness. In fact, you must choose it, and work at it, because, surrounded by Humans and the world they have made, you are heavily influenced (corrupted) by them. And until you have become well and truly an Elf, it can be a hard road for you to travel. Sooner or later, though, you encounter others of your sort-- not always the blessing it might seem, so take care-- there are Elves and Elves (and faked Elves). But don't go traumatic-- trust yourself. Remember-- self-possessed self-reliance will get you through most things, generally. You need to get your direction from within-- the outer stuff will sort itself out with a little applied intelligence. As an Elf, you are an agent of change, perhaps a secret agent. Though you may in time fall-in with other Elves, you will never be a herd-animal, and much relies on your inner access to things that the Herd knows nothing about-- so you had better get down to that, before anything else, and you'll be fine. And someday, you yourself will have developed the inner substance which can influence those you come upon with themselves a latent bent toward elvishness, helping them along.
Until then, fellow, Go Deep! And use what you have brought back from there to work in the real world for the coming of the Edhli-menning!
This is typical of Humans-- they get it wrong. Why would the Elves want normal babies? In fact, the baby is not exchanged, but changed by the mysterious "elvish influence", from Human to Elf, which makes it an alien among Humans, so of course it doesn't seem like everyone else. And the change isn't necessarily made all at once, to a baby in a cradle. Often, nothing is noticeably strange until the onset of puberty, when there is suddenly much more to influence. But influence can be effective into the mature years-- that "mid-life crisis"?
And where it used to be "taken by the Elves", it has become "taken by Aliens", which is just Humans updating their wrongness-- in the world of nuclear warfare and all the other wonders of science and technology, natural beings like Elves no longer signify, but futuristic space-craft carrying humanoids do, so...
But as in the olden days, most of those "taken" are just confused people and/or liars. In reality, those benefiting from elvish influence keep that to themselves, and since no-one believes in Elves anymore, no one sees an Elf-changeling; instead, it's a person with autism or some other modern syndrome. However, changelings can spot each other pretty readily, and they often make their true identity obvious to their fellows in various improvised ways. The thing is-- many changelings don't know what they are, from how they are, if they haven't been told, but they know it's something, and they're on the look-out for others like themselves.
So, if you haven't been told, I'll tell you here-- yes, you are probably an Elf-changeling, and even if, strictly speaking, you are not, it doesn't matter-- if you are elvish, you are, to all intents and purposes, an Elf. But it's not so much a matter of identity-- ultimately, elvish is as elvish does, and, to some extent, you can choose elvishness. In fact, you must choose it, and work at it, because, surrounded by Humans and the world they have made, you are heavily influenced (corrupted) by them. And until you have become well and truly an Elf, it can be a hard road for you to travel. Sooner or later, though, you encounter others of your sort-- not always the blessing it might seem, so take care-- there are Elves and Elves (and faked Elves). But don't go traumatic-- trust yourself. Remember-- self-possessed self-reliance will get you through most things, generally. You need to get your direction from within-- the outer stuff will sort itself out with a little applied intelligence. As an Elf, you are an agent of change, perhaps a secret agent. Though you may in time fall-in with other Elves, you will never be a herd-animal, and much relies on your inner access to things that the Herd knows nothing about-- so you had better get down to that, before anything else, and you'll be fine. And someday, you yourself will have developed the inner substance which can influence those you come upon with themselves a latent bent toward elvishness, helping them along.
Until then, fellow, Go Deep! And use what you have brought back from there to work in the real world for the coming of the Edhli-menning!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Intimations of Ancient Being
I was a spaced-out child, rather stupid and day-dreamy. I would go about in my personal dream-haze, drawn to things of the imagination, feeling-images, strange states of mind. I'm sure that my memories are selective, but what I remember now, half a century on, are these perceptions alternate to reality, and mostly I remember those relating to Nature. Is it that I was conditioned to respond to Nature in terms of Nature-romanticism? There was enough of that around, in children's literature, children's television programming. The first movie I ever saw was Bambi! But I probably had a bent toward this, and not much to cars and jets and sports and such, despite that being normal. Nature was where the wonder was. We were surrounded by woods, in our small apartment development, and there was also a meadow and stream. People, by contrast, were alien, incomprehensible-- what could you do with them? The meaning of life came from dream-visions, that were elicited by television, or books, or just day-dreaming, and when the season was favorable, by being outside with trees and grass and sky. And it all blended together.
When adolescence changed my life, the "strangeness factor" came to the fore. I was drawn to almost everything that was uncanny, mysterious, odd-- in short, Romantic. I knew I was a weird kid; I even took pride in it. But there was so much that was strange about, if you looked for it-- especially in certain stretches of the public library shelves-- and it all blended not very well, and so there was tremendous teenaged cognitive dissonance confusion, to add to all the other traumas, one of which was from being a teenager in the Sixties, when too much was happening at once, too much to make sense of it all.
But Nature still loomed large in my inner life, and I still spent a lot of time wandering in the woods, or day-dreaming on my bed, remembering places, some of which I had never been. One of the great appeals of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was all the description of wild places-- in my romantic imagination transformed into otherworldly panoramas, with the sort of mystical states of mind illuminating them as when I was a child. I wanted to live in Middle Earth-- at least, the nicer parts of this Other World. This was where the meaning of life was, in these dream-visions. If only I could stay in this blessed state forever.
One thing about Middle Earth was that it was so ancient. Ancientness, or timelessness, was an important part of the meaning. I can remember on a family vacation trip when we drove through a very rugged upland valley, and the trees were so real, and the rough rock-faces were so stark, and I got this powerful feeling of timeless gnarly ancientness, primeval majesty. And now I recall other times, while vacation-traveling, having similar experiences, or in bed-top reveries. There was a powerful mystical presence in wild Nature that you could experience sometimes, more real and meaningful than anything else. Nobody else seemed to know anything about it. All they cared about was human things like cars and houses and shopping, and entertaining yourself, having a good time.
But I wonder if there was a time when everybody had these intimations of ancient Being from Nature, a strong sense of the unique essence of particular nature-spots, of the ancient everness of them. And because few of us do, anymore-- we're so adapted to incessant flux and distraction and innovation and novelty and upgrading and stuff to cram our lives with-- we blithely, heedlessly destroy the Earth so we can have the good life for ourselves-- cars and houses and shopping and all the goods and experiences that make life worthwhile, that you've got to have-- what life is all about. So they say.
But give me the mystical-visionary experience of Ancient Being and Natural Mind in unspoiled Nature, not the ersatz monstrosity that passes for real life in the human world.
When adolescence changed my life, the "strangeness factor" came to the fore. I was drawn to almost everything that was uncanny, mysterious, odd-- in short, Romantic. I knew I was a weird kid; I even took pride in it. But there was so much that was strange about, if you looked for it-- especially in certain stretches of the public library shelves-- and it all blended not very well, and so there was tremendous teenaged cognitive dissonance confusion, to add to all the other traumas, one of which was from being a teenager in the Sixties, when too much was happening at once, too much to make sense of it all.
But Nature still loomed large in my inner life, and I still spent a lot of time wandering in the woods, or day-dreaming on my bed, remembering places, some of which I had never been. One of the great appeals of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was all the description of wild places-- in my romantic imagination transformed into otherworldly panoramas, with the sort of mystical states of mind illuminating them as when I was a child. I wanted to live in Middle Earth-- at least, the nicer parts of this Other World. This was where the meaning of life was, in these dream-visions. If only I could stay in this blessed state forever.
One thing about Middle Earth was that it was so ancient. Ancientness, or timelessness, was an important part of the meaning. I can remember on a family vacation trip when we drove through a very rugged upland valley, and the trees were so real, and the rough rock-faces were so stark, and I got this powerful feeling of timeless gnarly ancientness, primeval majesty. And now I recall other times, while vacation-traveling, having similar experiences, or in bed-top reveries. There was a powerful mystical presence in wild Nature that you could experience sometimes, more real and meaningful than anything else. Nobody else seemed to know anything about it. All they cared about was human things like cars and houses and shopping, and entertaining yourself, having a good time.
But I wonder if there was a time when everybody had these intimations of ancient Being from Nature, a strong sense of the unique essence of particular nature-spots, of the ancient everness of them. And because few of us do, anymore-- we're so adapted to incessant flux and distraction and innovation and novelty and upgrading and stuff to cram our lives with-- we blithely, heedlessly destroy the Earth so we can have the good life for ourselves-- cars and houses and shopping and all the goods and experiences that make life worthwhile, that you've got to have-- what life is all about. So they say.
But give me the mystical-visionary experience of Ancient Being and Natural Mind in unspoiled Nature, not the ersatz monstrosity that passes for real life in the human world.
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Role of the Alfs
There's an Anglo-Saxon word, "aelf-siden", which means "elvish influence". Under Christendom, elves tended to be feared. They certainly weren't Christian (and, so, of the Devil, right?). They attacked cattle and people with "elf-shot", which caused afflictions, and they were also responsible for nightmares (even of a sexual sort--"It was an elf, Father! Not me!!!"). And of course elves could always cast a glamour or a spell upon one for malign purposes. That sort of influence, then.
The interesting thing about "siden", though, is that the dictionaries don't say what it derived from. I tended to think it was allied to Norse "seidhr" (~A-S "sidesa"), which was about exerting magical influence on others. But now I prefer to see it as allied as well to A-S "sidu" ="custom, virtuous conduct, morality", "sidian" ="to arrange, set right, order", and Norse "sidha" ="to mend, to improve one's life and manners".
In the Shaggy Mythos, the role of the Alfs is as ecological agents of a higher level of civilization than that of the general run of humans, and as such they seek to use their influence, by all means, magical or not, to stop humans from destroying the Biosphere and to form (with alfisch assistance, of course) a new Ecological Civilization, which is the only recourse to ultimate Dilgoth, an extinction event that's likely to bring down our present global civilization, and the human animal perhaps to its doom, and to either make the Earth a sterile husk or knock the Biosphere back to a drastically truncated form. This may seem like fantasy fiction sometimes ("This can't be real!"), but it is real, and the Mythos is a "real" fiction-- it's meant to be about the real crisis of global civilization now-- the human-caused destruction of the Biosphere-- which is happening now and will continue to happen. So the Mythos isn't meant to be taken as a mere fantasy, an entertainment. It's applicable to the grim reality of our time.
And as for Alfs, there must be a self-conscious, worldwide class of people who are, in effect, the Alfar, with the consciousness, the sense of responsibility, the determined will to act against the Ecocatastrophe and to form the Ecological Civilization in a prudent and effective manner. Someone must. This class of people exists already, of course, and their movement exists, and when you read the Eormennisch material of the Shaggy Mythos, you can do your own translation into real-world terms (with a little glossary help). If you are one of these people, these Alfar, then the Mythos is meant to be of use to you, as a spiritual support, as it is to me, in the struggle to save the Earth.
The interesting thing about "siden", though, is that the dictionaries don't say what it derived from. I tended to think it was allied to Norse "seidhr" (~A-S "sidesa"), which was about exerting magical influence on others. But now I prefer to see it as allied as well to A-S "sidu" ="custom, virtuous conduct, morality", "sidian" ="to arrange, set right, order", and Norse "sidha" ="to mend, to improve one's life and manners".
In the Shaggy Mythos, the role of the Alfs is as ecological agents of a higher level of civilization than that of the general run of humans, and as such they seek to use their influence, by all means, magical or not, to stop humans from destroying the Biosphere and to form (with alfisch assistance, of course) a new Ecological Civilization, which is the only recourse to ultimate Dilgoth, an extinction event that's likely to bring down our present global civilization, and the human animal perhaps to its doom, and to either make the Earth a sterile husk or knock the Biosphere back to a drastically truncated form. This may seem like fantasy fiction sometimes ("This can't be real!"), but it is real, and the Mythos is a "real" fiction-- it's meant to be about the real crisis of global civilization now-- the human-caused destruction of the Biosphere-- which is happening now and will continue to happen. So the Mythos isn't meant to be taken as a mere fantasy, an entertainment. It's applicable to the grim reality of our time.
And as for Alfs, there must be a self-conscious, worldwide class of people who are, in effect, the Alfar, with the consciousness, the sense of responsibility, the determined will to act against the Ecocatastrophe and to form the Ecological Civilization in a prudent and effective manner. Someone must. This class of people exists already, of course, and their movement exists, and when you read the Eormennisch material of the Shaggy Mythos, you can do your own translation into real-world terms (with a little glossary help). If you are one of these people, these Alfar, then the Mythos is meant to be of use to you, as a spiritual support, as it is to me, in the struggle to save the Earth.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The Wodhewyzer
(word-help below)
The Wodhewyzer wanders through the Land, having of it what it gives to him, what comes, to see and hear and smell and taste and feel. And this settles in his mind and in his marrow and brews a mead that seeps through his flesh and wants to go forth to drench the Land and all its kinds, and it sweats out and breathes out and as the Wodhewyzer walks, he sheds this drench, this bletsing, and with his fingers he flicks a mist of mead upon the luft, and the ground and the leafage, and all about him shines with the farben of Twyrymet. And there can be read many things that come not freely to the mind, like the mode and will of the Land-dragon, who shimmers half-seen in the bush, and the feelings of the kinds- growers and goers upon the Land. And he hears the song of the Land, so still on the luft.
And this is what the Wodhewyzer gives back to the Land. And in his wake you may catch slightly a trace of this shine about you, if you walk his way.
Wodhewyzer= inspired sage.
kinds= species.
drench= fluid.
bletsing= blessing.
luft= air.
farben= colors.
Twyrymet= space blended of Edhli(Nature) and Immynd(imagination)= Edhli-immynd.
mode= inner feeling of heart, soul, spirit.
The Wodhewyzer wanders through the Land, having of it what it gives to him, what comes, to see and hear and smell and taste and feel. And this settles in his mind and in his marrow and brews a mead that seeps through his flesh and wants to go forth to drench the Land and all its kinds, and it sweats out and breathes out and as the Wodhewyzer walks, he sheds this drench, this bletsing, and with his fingers he flicks a mist of mead upon the luft, and the ground and the leafage, and all about him shines with the farben of Twyrymet. And there can be read many things that come not freely to the mind, like the mode and will of the Land-dragon, who shimmers half-seen in the bush, and the feelings of the kinds- growers and goers upon the Land. And he hears the song of the Land, so still on the luft.
And this is what the Wodhewyzer gives back to the Land. And in his wake you may catch slightly a trace of this shine about you, if you walk his way.
Wodhewyzer= inspired sage.
kinds= species.
drench= fluid.
bletsing= blessing.
luft= air.
farben= colors.
Twyrymet= space blended of Edhli(Nature) and Immynd(imagination)= Edhli-immynd.
mode= inner feeling of heart, soul, spirit.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
What Lurks Within the Earthy Sowel
(word-help below)
The Sowel seats in the Marrow-bed, most strongly in the rich ground of the Brain-marrow.
The Sowel is the Ur-mind, and so it is feelsome and fleshly, the fat rootstock of the Self.
In its heavy, warm, dark depth is our Derlic Self and our nearness to all Life, all growthly things, now and ere-now.
All things are melded in the Sowel, but not lost so, for there is a guiding knowing embedded in its heart that keeps them all fast, and it handles them together as is done, for it is one with the Edhli-verden. And so the need of all living things together is heard by this heartsome beingness.
It is the Lodestone here of which I tell, whose guiding hand upon the Sowel is felt by us betimes, and if we listen in stillness, we too will feel, we will know, how to be, how to go. And so the Life-drang will urge us forward and the Nennen charge us, and we can do good and right for the Sake of Edhli and all Life-kinds from our earthy Sowel.
Sowel= soul.
Ur-mind= original psyche.
Derlic= animal.
Edhli-verden= the Realm of Nature.
Life-drang= life-force.
Nennen= energy.
The Sowel seats in the Marrow-bed, most strongly in the rich ground of the Brain-marrow.
The Sowel is the Ur-mind, and so it is feelsome and fleshly, the fat rootstock of the Self.
In its heavy, warm, dark depth is our Derlic Self and our nearness to all Life, all growthly things, now and ere-now.
All things are melded in the Sowel, but not lost so, for there is a guiding knowing embedded in its heart that keeps them all fast, and it handles them together as is done, for it is one with the Edhli-verden. And so the need of all living things together is heard by this heartsome beingness.
It is the Lodestone here of which I tell, whose guiding hand upon the Sowel is felt by us betimes, and if we listen in stillness, we too will feel, we will know, how to be, how to go. And so the Life-drang will urge us forward and the Nennen charge us, and we can do good and right for the Sake of Edhli and all Life-kinds from our earthy Sowel.
Sowel= soul.
Ur-mind= original psyche.
Derlic= animal.
Edhli-verden= the Realm of Nature.
Life-drang= life-force.
Nennen= energy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)