dru1db4rd

It's interesting.

In Irish mythology, Nuada is king of the Tuatha de Danann until he loses his hand, thus becoming imperfect, blemished, and unfit to be king. Lugh takes over at this point.

In Norse mythology, Tyr and Odin are both imperfect - Tyr is missing a hand, Odin an eye. Yet they both rule at different points throughout the history of the Aesir. They are also notably the only scarred deities in the pantheon (that I am aware of).

I wonder why the difference. The Irish attitude suggests, to me, that you have to be perfect to truly rule, which is in keeping with mythological attitudes I've come across. After all, we wouldn't want to give absolute power to a mere mortal, someone imperfect, because imperfection is magnified when power is added to it.

Tyr's sacrifice was a demonstration of his honorable attitude, his willingness to "take one for the team," to ensure that a dangerous beast would be caged. It is the essence of the martyr. Odin's sacrifice, on the other hand, was a personal choice, an exchange for drinking from the Well of Wisdom. It demonstrates Odin's willingness to sacrifice anything for the power he craved.

So...the Irish ask the impossible of their leaders (being that perfection is a paradox), whereas the Norse are willing to accept imperfection so long as their leaders are principled, or perhaps, so long as they know what it means to sacrifice something dear to them for the greater good, or in furtherance of their goals (the second is likely more accurate, since Tyr was still making his sacrifice in accordance with his goals - his goals just happened to coincide with those of the rest of the Aesir).

I wonder what the significance of this is.

Land-wights. Nature spirits. The fey. Whatever they are.

What are they? How many are there? How prevalent are they? How should they be honored? Is it fair to assume that the land spirits can be honored in the way that suits your tradition of choice, or should you be the one to bend and honor them as they are accustomed to being honored? Are they different from region to region? Is an oak spirit in Ireland the same sort of thing you'd find in an oak spirit in the northeastern US? How about a maple spirit? Or a grass spirit?

In other words, let's assume (for the sake of argument) that I'm following a CR path. Is it appropriate to look upon the nature spirits as fey and interact with them accordingly, or should I instead look to the local Native American traditions for guidance?

I've been waffling about hunting for a couple of years now. I haven't been confused about whether or not I think it's okay, mind you; I've no problem with it as a concept or a practice. I just haven't been able to decide if it's something that I would do, personally.

I got to thinking about it, recently, however, and I came up with a perspective. It'll take a little space to explain, so I'm putting it behind ( this cut. )

If you're reading this, it's because you've decided to opt in to my spiritual quest filter. These posts will always have [Gnosis] in the subject line. I chose that word because of its reference to the essential esoteric spiritual truth that leads to salvation. I seek my own personal gnosis, so I think it fitting.

The first of these posts are going to center around what I think now. They are the control group, the baseline which will allow me to discern any changes to my ideas that result from this quest. I'll be making these posts when I have the time and inclination; I'll try to keep any off-topic content out of them.


( Let us begin with history... )

Thus concludes the baseline, at least, until I think of more to say.

Hi.

If you're here, it's probably because I've told you about this journal. If you just happened to stumble upon it randomly, that's equally good.

What you'll see here will be a bunch of posts regarding my spirituality, my faith, my religious beliefs, however you want to describe it. I'm trying to rediscover those beliefs and test them against my experiences. I'm trying to figure out just what it is I believe.

Most of these entries won't contain much in the way of information that could be used to identify me, so the entries will probably be public, for the most part. If you want to friend me, go right ahead. Please feel free to comment as you see fit. I'm not seeking approval, but if you have insight you'd like to offer, then by all means.

A few of the early posts were posted in my other journal. Everything after those will be new, and only posted here.