happyheathenmom
February 14th, 2005, 06:52 AM
Greetings and salutations!
Where should I begin.. :) (forgive me if this gets a little long.. I tend to .. get a little detaily in my messages)
Well, I'm 28, I'm from Central IL, I'm married to a wonderful man, and we have a 2 year old son. I'm some-what new to Asatru, however not new to Paganism. I've been pagan for over 15 years, and in the past year I have discovered that Asatru is my correct path.
My beginnings in Paganism began with Wicca, and I considered myself Wiccan for four years (pretty much through high-school), then as more information became available to me about other pagan-paths and the like my path changed. I'm not sure why I initially decided Wicca was definately not "me", partially because of the pacifisticness (is that a word?) Cunningham spoke of often in his books, or partially because of some "wiccans" with whom I met locally that kind of soured my opinion a little. I'm not saying all Wiccans are pacifists by any means, and I'm not saying Wicca isn't a good thing for people to believe in, I'm not trying to say anything bad about it at all, it just wasn't me, which I think is understandable in general.
When I went to college I decided I was just a plain pagan, a "seeking pagan" if you will. I discovered Celtic paganism, and in time I read more and more about Druidry, and even though these 2 paths intrigued me.. it still was not what I was looking for. So what next, I asked myself. I was certain that my path was out there. I figured I would let it be up to the Gods themselves to decide. I didn't ask for anything to fall out of the sky, and hit me on the head for inspiration.. but that is about what happend. Over late last summer, I was at the library, just thumbing through some mythic literature, and a book about Nordic/Scandinavian myth kind of fell off the shelf. I scooped it up, and it looked pretty cool. I had always felt the knotwork of the Celts was really pretty, and I was kind of surprised the Vikings used it too. So I checked it out. Then after reading other myths and such of the norsemen, like some adaptations from the Eddas (I think my favorite was, and is, the story of Thor in drag to get back Mjollnir), I thought about Nordic paganism, "Gee what was that called? Oh.. yeah.. Asatru." I'd 'met' a gal online at AOL in a pagan chat room I frequented, and I knew she was Asatru, but we never really talked much of it.
I already knew of Asatru, I just never really read-up on it too much when I was in college, or any other point up until now; so I decided it was time to study up on Asatru, the religion with homework. Since then, a lot of things have become clear to me. All these years of being a seeker-pagan, the Gods were trying to tell me something, but silly me ignored their signs, or misinterpreted them. Like for some reason, with digital clocks, I would drive to the store, oblivious to the time, and glance up at a bank time and temp digital clock and it would be 3:33 (the number 9, which is also sacred to the Celtic peoples), or staying up late with my now 2 year old son when he wouldn't/couldn't sleep and not have looked at a clock for a couple hours, and then do a 'time-check' and there it was.. 3:33, or I would be at work, ask someone the time who would be wearing a digital watch and yeah.. you guessed it, 3:33, once I even got a bank-statement of my account info that said it was printed at 3:33 ROFL!! Now this 3:33 business seems rather silly to anyone else, but over 4 years of this happening, perhaps not every single day, but at least once or twice a week is downright ODD, sometimes it wouldn't happen for a few weeks, then all of a sudden there it was again. In fact, when I had my son, I had him in September, he was a preemie, almost 6 weeks early, I had him on 9/11/02, but I went into labor on 9/9/02!! (they tried to stop the labor, that's why I was in labor so long)
After reading the myths, and a book which was a cyclopedia of sorts of Nordic myth (basically a who's who and what's what of nordic myth), I realized how much more often the number 9 appeared. How Odin hung himself on Yggdrasil for 9 days and 9 nights to get the runes, the 9 worlds of Yggdrasil itself, and many many other references to the number 9, or a form of it (i.e. 18).
I also had a dream just before going to the library, one that I had temporarily forgotten about, but I jotted it down when I woke up because it was one of those "really real" dreams, it was of a woman in a long cloak or robe made of brownish feathers. She was standing in a forest clearing with her back to me on a hill, or a mountain, looking down. At the time I swear I did NOT know that Frigg (and Freya) both had cloaks made of hawk feathers. I assume it was Frigg because she is the only other Aesir allowed to sit on Odin's throne and look out to the 9 worlds. I happend to be bored flipping through my dream-journal and my jaw, needless to say, hit the proverbial floor.
So as I said, the signs from the Gods have done everything but whack me over the head (thank goodness Thor didn't accidentally think I was an Etin, jeez.. I would probably still have the bruises to prove it! ROFL), and for the most part I didn't "get it" til just recently.
Recently, over mother-nights (the 12 nights preceding Yule), I did a small simple blot (I'm still solitary, as no actual kindreds to my knowledge exist close by) and swore an Oath to Asatru. I'm pretty certain Frigg is my Matron Goddess, because of the dream I had. She seems a bit "high class" though, and I'm more of a 'get my hands dirty' kind of person. I guess she will be giving me a good wallup in the near future if she is truly my matron Goddess. LOL I am a more non-folkish (I do have Danish ancestry, but I really think that with reincarnation being a possibility, the Gods have the ultimate choice of who gets to be their children of faith.) and I am more of a Huggy-heathen. You Might Be A Huggy Heathen if.. (http://www.geocities.com/ingwibergo/huggy.html) This page is hilarious..
Here's an oldie but goodie also for a laugh:
Viking Kittens/Led Zepplin's Immigrant Song (http://users.wolfcrews.com/toys/vikings/)
It's good to be here! I hope I can get to know ya'll, and vice-versa.
-In frith!
Where should I begin.. :) (forgive me if this gets a little long.. I tend to .. get a little detaily in my messages)
Well, I'm 28, I'm from Central IL, I'm married to a wonderful man, and we have a 2 year old son. I'm some-what new to Asatru, however not new to Paganism. I've been pagan for over 15 years, and in the past year I have discovered that Asatru is my correct path.
My beginnings in Paganism began with Wicca, and I considered myself Wiccan for four years (pretty much through high-school), then as more information became available to me about other pagan-paths and the like my path changed. I'm not sure why I initially decided Wicca was definately not "me", partially because of the pacifisticness (is that a word?) Cunningham spoke of often in his books, or partially because of some "wiccans" with whom I met locally that kind of soured my opinion a little. I'm not saying all Wiccans are pacifists by any means, and I'm not saying Wicca isn't a good thing for people to believe in, I'm not trying to say anything bad about it at all, it just wasn't me, which I think is understandable in general.
When I went to college I decided I was just a plain pagan, a "seeking pagan" if you will. I discovered Celtic paganism, and in time I read more and more about Druidry, and even though these 2 paths intrigued me.. it still was not what I was looking for. So what next, I asked myself. I was certain that my path was out there. I figured I would let it be up to the Gods themselves to decide. I didn't ask for anything to fall out of the sky, and hit me on the head for inspiration.. but that is about what happend. Over late last summer, I was at the library, just thumbing through some mythic literature, and a book about Nordic/Scandinavian myth kind of fell off the shelf. I scooped it up, and it looked pretty cool. I had always felt the knotwork of the Celts was really pretty, and I was kind of surprised the Vikings used it too. So I checked it out. Then after reading other myths and such of the norsemen, like some adaptations from the Eddas (I think my favorite was, and is, the story of Thor in drag to get back Mjollnir), I thought about Nordic paganism, "Gee what was that called? Oh.. yeah.. Asatru." I'd 'met' a gal online at AOL in a pagan chat room I frequented, and I knew she was Asatru, but we never really talked much of it.
I already knew of Asatru, I just never really read-up on it too much when I was in college, or any other point up until now; so I decided it was time to study up on Asatru, the religion with homework. Since then, a lot of things have become clear to me. All these years of being a seeker-pagan, the Gods were trying to tell me something, but silly me ignored their signs, or misinterpreted them. Like for some reason, with digital clocks, I would drive to the store, oblivious to the time, and glance up at a bank time and temp digital clock and it would be 3:33 (the number 9, which is also sacred to the Celtic peoples), or staying up late with my now 2 year old son when he wouldn't/couldn't sleep and not have looked at a clock for a couple hours, and then do a 'time-check' and there it was.. 3:33, or I would be at work, ask someone the time who would be wearing a digital watch and yeah.. you guessed it, 3:33, once I even got a bank-statement of my account info that said it was printed at 3:33 ROFL!! Now this 3:33 business seems rather silly to anyone else, but over 4 years of this happening, perhaps not every single day, but at least once or twice a week is downright ODD, sometimes it wouldn't happen for a few weeks, then all of a sudden there it was again. In fact, when I had my son, I had him in September, he was a preemie, almost 6 weeks early, I had him on 9/11/02, but I went into labor on 9/9/02!! (they tried to stop the labor, that's why I was in labor so long)
After reading the myths, and a book which was a cyclopedia of sorts of Nordic myth (basically a who's who and what's what of nordic myth), I realized how much more often the number 9 appeared. How Odin hung himself on Yggdrasil for 9 days and 9 nights to get the runes, the 9 worlds of Yggdrasil itself, and many many other references to the number 9, or a form of it (i.e. 18).
I also had a dream just before going to the library, one that I had temporarily forgotten about, but I jotted it down when I woke up because it was one of those "really real" dreams, it was of a woman in a long cloak or robe made of brownish feathers. She was standing in a forest clearing with her back to me on a hill, or a mountain, looking down. At the time I swear I did NOT know that Frigg (and Freya) both had cloaks made of hawk feathers. I assume it was Frigg because she is the only other Aesir allowed to sit on Odin's throne and look out to the 9 worlds. I happend to be bored flipping through my dream-journal and my jaw, needless to say, hit the proverbial floor.
So as I said, the signs from the Gods have done everything but whack me over the head (thank goodness Thor didn't accidentally think I was an Etin, jeez.. I would probably still have the bruises to prove it! ROFL), and for the most part I didn't "get it" til just recently.
Recently, over mother-nights (the 12 nights preceding Yule), I did a small simple blot (I'm still solitary, as no actual kindreds to my knowledge exist close by) and swore an Oath to Asatru. I'm pretty certain Frigg is my Matron Goddess, because of the dream I had. She seems a bit "high class" though, and I'm more of a 'get my hands dirty' kind of person. I guess she will be giving me a good wallup in the near future if she is truly my matron Goddess. LOL I am a more non-folkish (I do have Danish ancestry, but I really think that with reincarnation being a possibility, the Gods have the ultimate choice of who gets to be their children of faith.) and I am more of a Huggy-heathen. You Might Be A Huggy Heathen if.. (http://www.geocities.com/ingwibergo/huggy.html) This page is hilarious..
Here's an oldie but goodie also for a laugh:
Viking Kittens/Led Zepplin's Immigrant Song (http://users.wolfcrews.com/toys/vikings/)
It's good to be here! I hope I can get to know ya'll, and vice-versa.
-In frith!