Late Wodinic Wednesday Q&A
ok. So this week it’s a Thursday Q&A. Wednesday got a little bit out of hand and by the time I realized I hadn’t posted it was over. So, I’ll do my Reader Q&A. We can do it for Thor this week, He is, after all, called the “Deep-Minded One.” So, if you have questions on devotion, Heathenry, Northern Tradition, polytheism, theology, magic, divination, spirit work, or anything else you think I might be able to competently discuss, please feel free to post them in the comments. I”ll keep this open until 9pm EST tonight.
Posted on June 20, 2024, in Uncategorized and tagged Q&A, Reader Q&A, Wodinic Wednesday. Bookmark the permalink. 25 Comments.
Gangleri's Grove 
Thanks to a heads-up from another reader, I was able to snag a copy of Skalded Apples from HPB and have been able to read a bit of it, and it’s already wonderful, so thank you for putting it together!
My only question: any plans to ever reprint it? I know you have the novena to Idun coming up, but some of what I’ve most appreciated so far has been the emphasis on how this divine couple complements each other.
My blessings to all who welcome them,
Jeff
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I really don’t want to do an anthology like that particular book again. BUT, when I finally finish my Idunna devotional, I will include some material about Bragi as well. I”ll probably use some of my own material from “Skalded Apples” in addition to new material. I’m just moving slowly these days — some health issues, school, etc.
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Thank you, and fair enough! If you don’t mind, a couple of follow-up questions:
Cheers,
Jeff
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too much cat herding for sure. It’s also complicated when I have to file my own copyright (I obviously can’t copyright anyone else’s work and would not! but the legal paperwork is god awful, at least I find it so). I put that book out through asphodel press, which uses Lulu and I decided I didn’t want to use Lulu anymore for various reasons. To reprint, I’d have to get new releases from everyone involved and that’s unlikely. I”ve fallen out of contact with some of them, and others have been harassed for their friendship or work-ship (not a word but you get the idea) with me so I wouldn’t ask them to subject themselves to more doxxing and crap. Also, I’m confident that my novena book will be just as good. 🙂
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I dropped a comment on Idunn/Bragi below, it was meant for you but I goofed and so it doesn’t show as a reply comment to you, but rather as a reply to Galina’s post.
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Ah, okay, that all makes good sense, thank you for explaining! It’s a shame, though, as I always lament when good books are hard to get a hold of.
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I am sorry if this has been addressed on your blog already.
Are there any books or courses you would recommend for home study of Latin?
My two oldest kids surprised me by wanting to join their school’s Latin club. I thought it would be a good idea to tackle learning it as a family.
I hope you are recovering well and keep you in my prayers every day. Thank you for continuing to share your writing and reaching out to the polytheist community.
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Thank you very much for your prayers. that is very much appreciated.
For Latin (and kudos to your kids!), I really go old school. I like Wheelock’s Latin. There are lots of resources including, I think, a teacher’s guide. I think it’s good to get used to the grammar sooner rather than later.
I also like “Latin Via Ovid.”
there is a chasm between having learned all the grammar and finished the text and being able to translate. let them know that. it’s a hard chasm and it hurts to cross but one day, they’ll be reading Latin without pain. I recommend (again, I’m old school), after the texts are worked through, Caesar’s Gallic War and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In between, as the kids are working through the texts, there are a ton of books with short stories like the Minimus series. And there are novels in Latin, even translations of things like Winnie the Poo and Harry Potter.
regular study each day, even if only 20 mins is the key to success and memorizing grammar paradigms (I”m rusty these days!). it’s boring but pays dividends seriously. good luck!!!
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If I may, a little trick that has stuck with me from my first Latin class nearly 24 years ago: you can set the first declension endings to a song that I don’t know know the name to, but if you’ve ever eaten in a Mexican food restaurant, you likely know (poor textual rendition follows): “-a -ae -ae -am -a, -ae -arum -is -as -is” – most of the length is on the first two “ae”s and the first syllable of “-arum”, with “-is -as -is” sung fairly quickly. Just as effective, and even easier to convey without audio, you can do the second declension to the Mickey Mouse club theme: “-us -i -o, -um -o -i, -orum -is -os -is!”
Good luck to you and your kids!
Jeff
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oooh anything you can set to music is really good. it’s a fantastic way to memorize morphology. 🙂
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is the song
la cucaracha
la cucaracha
no me predecessor laminar
por que no tiene
por que no falta
una parta para andar.
(you’d think a song about a cockroach wouldn’t be used for food 😅)
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autocorrupt
*no me puede caminar
not: predecessor laminar
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Unfortunately, no, it’s not La Cucaracha, as that’s easy to name, and thus easy to find the tune to! The song I learned has a slower tempo.
It’s very frustrating, because if you were here, I’d just sing/hum it, and could get this across very easily. One of the drawbacks of text-based media!
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I am hoping, Jeff, that the novena book I’m working on will be even better. 🙂
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Thanks to you both for the Latin recommendations. Our local brick-and-mortar bookstore has a copy of Wheelock’s on the shelf, so we can bring that one home this weekend.
I love the song ideas. And it is great to know that there is so much in print, classic and modern, to practice reading. We still do story time with the younger kids every night, we can throw in a few minutes of story books in Latin.
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Also, there are a ton of Latin YouTube videos that can help. 🙂
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Hello, again! Hope you are fine.
I’ve read devotees claiming they belong to a God or Goddess, like you, belonging to Odin. I think it’s a beautiful and clear way to express the nature of their relationship. I know I would use the expression if I reach that point.
So, I recently heard the story of an ancestor of mine, a Christian woman who “belonged to” a saint. It was interesting for me to hear such an expression in a monotheistic framework. I’m from South America, but I’ve also found the same expression in English, again applied to saints.
By any chance, do you know if this kind of expression originated inside a certain tradition? Does it imply specific vows in your personal case, or other cases you may know about? I’m interested in studying the theolinguistics operating behind such expressions when applied in polytheistic and monotheistic frameworks.
Thank you! Have a nice week!
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Oh that’s fascinating! I haven’t heard that before (it’s likely something that started later than I work). My guess is that either A) it was the saint after which she was named or B) she had a very, very special devotion to that saint.
I honestly don’t know what this would involve in English with a saint. When school starts up again, I”ll ask around. I”ll bet one of my profs will know. Do you know roughly dates for when you saw this in English? I suspect that what it involved depended on each devotee. Oh…this is going to send me down a research hole lol. Ping me in a couple of weeks on it, ok?
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Thank you!
I’m pretty sure the English instance I read was from first half of 20th century. Unfortunately, I’m not sure where did I find it, since I read it some time ago.
In my grand-grandmother’s case, she was indeed especially devoted to St. Sebastian, so it most likely is B. That was in a Catholic South American hispanic context, though. And of course expressed in Spanish. I’ll be sure to ask my mother about the specifics these days. I was only told my grand-grandmother had devotions to multiple saints, but that she used to say she belonged to St. Sebastian, not the other saints.
Thank you, again! I’ll contact you if I get more information or if I remember the source of the English expression.
Have a nice weekend!
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thinking on this, the only time I’ve heard something like this is with a Ukrainian Mofar’ (a type of spirit worker) who had a binding alliance with a particular saint and that impacted his work. I don’t know that he said he ‘belonged to that saint,” but it was close. I’ll look into this.
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S. asked me via email what I thought about the LA law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools in that state. Here is my answer (I tried emailing directly but I’m having email issues lately):
“I am waiting to see the supreme court battle that is going to follow. I think putting the ten commandments in schools is wrong, but I also think it’s so blatantly non-constitutional that I can’t see it not ending up in the supreme court. While many find our current supreme court conservative, I would not bet on this particular ruling in Louisiana surviving a SCOTUS run. The intention here is probably to get it to SCOTUS though. What i’d be concerned about is what Louisiana lawmakers will be trying to get through once this particular law does reach SCOTUS.”
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the weird thing is scotus years ago when a similar law was challenged struck the law down for separation of Church and State.
Texas Has “In God We Trust” signs on the lawbooks, funded by Patriot Mobile PAC which has been taking over our school boards. they’re trying to get 10 commandments now passed.
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You might be interested to know that one of Idunn’s kennings is ásu leikum (Gods’ delight). This refers to the goddess, but may also point to a tie of her role as a hostess overseeing entertainments including those involving performing artists known as leikarar (entertainers, jugglers, musicians, etc). For the curious, you may want to read and ruminate on Terry Gunnell’s “The Rights of the Player” or some of his other writings that explores the role of leikarar. There is also inherent in this heiti possible sexual nuances too, with delight also touching upon physical pleasure.
Thinking of Bragi as a bard, or entertainer probably ties in part to that kenning.
Another kenning for her is öl-Gefnar (ale Goddess, beer waitress).
Those names make me think if mead halls, sumbles, the mead of inspiration, and more.
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Thank you for this! I was actually familiar with those, and have thought on them somewhat, especially as Idunn’s connections with the sensual and as an ale-server/host have been prominent in some of my meditations. One thing I most enjoyed about Maria Kvilhaug’s The Goddess Idhunn was a fairly comprehensive list of kennings/heiti with translations (including those from Hrafnagaldr Odhins).
I had not made the connection between being a good host and providing the kind of entertainment of which Bragi is the God, though, so thank you for making that connection explicit!
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If we look back to the Nordic Bronze Age, we see acrobats in sculpture and glyphs, clothing seeming to echo the Egtved Girl burial. Kiviks Kibg Grave seems to have glyphs with religious procession, possibly rites that seem to echo in later archaeological finds like the Oseburg Ship Tapestry. Procession seemed to have music or entertainers. One might perceive that ritual offerings like Idunnas apples, and the sacred ale energize the gods with vitality.
We know explicitly there were songs sung for a seidrkonna, so that with the tapestry suggests they were probably songs for other rites too.
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