B is for Baddies

We Pagans don't really do Good and Evil, at least not in such a fiercely black-and-white way as Christians. Even our darker deities aren't 'bad', just intense, or unforgiving, or destructive, or just plain misunderstood!

Hades, for example, is often portrayed as a Baddie. In the recent Clash of the Titans films he even tried to take over the world due to his jealousy and anger towards Zeus for tricking him into his role as guardian of the Underworld. This is nowhere near the impression I have of him from the research I have done into the Greek pantheon. For starters, nothing I read implied he was tricked, merely that the brothers (Zeus, Poseidon and Hades) drew lots for which domain they would watch over. In my opinion Hades got the toughest job of all. He watches over our loved ones once they've passed over, yet how often do we remember to thank or Honour him?

Loki, however, seems to have gathered quite a few fans in recent times, helped no doubt by the fabulous characterisation by Tom Hiddleston in the Thor and Avengers Assemble films. I've lost count of the Pagans I know who have named a cat or dog after him (but I've never heard of anyone naming their pet Hades?) and yet he is a deity that has shown true malice by tricking Hod to kill his brother Baldr. Even this act (which would quickly be labelled "evil" by many people) does not make him evil with a capital E. One of the wonderful things about Pagan Deities is the depth and complexity of their characters. Loki is not known as the Trickster God for nothing, but sometimes his shenanigans were to help his kin, one of my favourite examples being the time he and Thor dressed as women to retrieve Mjollnir from the Jotnar.

One of the (many) blessings of following a Pagan path is learning to see the varying shades between the black and white, to realise that (in the words of Stevie Wonder) there is good and bad in everyone. We've all walked through trials and traumas to arrive at Today, and sometimes these things leave scars. Examining our deities can help us remind us of this.

Snow! (or Frau Holda shakes her thang)

I bloody love snow!


Oslo 2012

Today the first snow of the year, and of the season, fell. It was only a very light dusting, and it was gone before long, but as I said earlier:

I bloody love snow!

All these photos were taken during my 40th birthday trip to Oslo last year. Now, they know how to do snow!

There was too little here to even scrape together for snowballs (but watch this space, because if we do get that much I have a little craft / charm / spell to share) but I took 3 spoonfuls and put them in a little glass dish on my altar.

My Special Hollow ~ Oslo 2012

The hollow in the last photo is a very special place for me. Whenever I am in Oslo I take some time out to sit here and connect with the Earth spirits. I find Norway a wonderful place for Earth meditations ~ the bare rocky bones of the earth are evident everywhere, and in winter the combination of my two favourite elements (Water and Earth) is magickal.

Snow has always held a special place in my heart, I guess in part because I have always lived on the south coast of the UK and we rarely enjoy it here. But also because I have a special soft spot in my heart for Frau Holda and the snowflake is one of her symbols.

Frau Holda is the Germanic Goddess of spinning, domestic chores, and children. She is host of the Wild Hunt, accompanied by Woden, and appears as either a beautiful golden-haired maiden or a crone-like old woman.

Here are some of my personal correspondences for her:

Symbols ~ Snowflake, white feather, spinning wheel
Crystal ~ Snowflake Obsidian,
Tree ~ Holly and Elder
Herbs ~ Elderflower and Elderberries
Attributes ~ Hard work, motherhood, wisdom
Sabbat ~ Yule
Colour ~ White, silver, ice-blue
Flower ~ Wild rose

You can read lots more about Frau Holda here, but rest assured I will be banging on about her a lot in this blog. She's awesome!

The Amazing Art of Emily Balivet

It's not often that I find pagan art that I really admire, but lately I'm just swooning over the artwork of the amazingly talented Emily Balivet.


Aphrodite

Her work is mainly pagan, fantasy, and faerie-based, and is inspired by Art Nouveau, pre-Raphaelite, and the 60's psychedelic art movement.


Beltane Reunion

As well as more general medieval and pagan images, she has a stunning array of Goddesses across several pantheons, including Celtic, Roman, Greek, and Hindu.


Saraswati

You can find a wide range of sizes and prices in her Etsy shop, from $3 ACEO Altar art, right up to $1500 original canvases. I treated myself to a greeting card sized print of the stunning Snow Queen, who just cried out Frau Holda (a goddess dear to my heart) to me.


Snow Queen

I can't wait til it comes and I can display it proudly on my altar! I think I may build a collection of these for the changing seasons. 

A is for Abundance

As I've started this blog so close to the New Year, I decided to join in on the 2013 Pagan Blog Project. Every fortnight participating bloggers will write a post specifically focusing on a letter of the alphabet. Today is the first of these posts.

I have had a lifelong struggle with pessimism. It's not so much that I'm a "glass-half-empty" kind of person, I'm more of the "you-have-a-glass?" kind. I guess it started out as a form of self-protection ~ if you think the worse will happen and it doesn't then that's a nice surprise, but if you expect everything to always go great, well then you're going to face a lot of disappointment. Over the years this has engulfed me in a cloud of negativity that is incredibly hard to shake off. After all, you can't just change the way your mind works overnight.

So one of the things I want to focus on this year is Abundance. I find it too easy to notice the things I believe are lacking in my life, and far too easy to overlook my blessings. For example, I often find myself moaning about the long commute to work and back, but I am lucky to have a well-paid job working with lovely people. Whenever I catch myself moaning about my life I will make a conscious effort to find a way to put a positive spin on the thought instead. Here are some examples:

It's raining again ~ the trees will get plenty to drink and there will be no hosepipe ban in the summer

I'm too fat ~ I am lucky to have more than enough food to eat

My house is really small ~ which makes it easier to keep warm

Something that I've noticed going around on Facebook, Pinterest etc. lately is a Memories Jar, and I'm going to use this to help me to remember all the wonderful things that happen. All you need to do is take a jar, and every time you have a lovely experience you write it down on a slip of paper and pop it in the jar. They don't have to be epic adventures, in fact it's better if they're not. After all it's easy to remember huge fun events like weddings, holidays, etc, but how about a cuddle on the sofa with a loved one, tea and cake with friends, achieving a particular goal such as weight loss? All these things can warm your heart and make you smile but can easily be eclipsed and forgotten over time. At the end of the year you open up the jar and get to relive all those wonderful memories.

 



This is my jar. I sprayed the lid pink because it's a cheery colour and it represents Love, a gentle affectionate love rather than a rudey passionate sort! The peacock memo block was a Christmas gift which lends itself perfectly to jotting down my happy memories.
I hope this will help me remember how blessed I am, how my life is filled with Abundance and Joy in so many small and special ways.