Meditation

“Meditations – Side Identities” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Frigg and Freya’s Day

A side identity is what a person is known for in certain particular contexts.  They are things that identify who you are but they are not the primary thing you are known for or the secondary one.  To me, they make up a part of who you are but do not encompass who you are.  My side identities are important parts of who I am but they are only who I am part of the time. Some of them are however known and are what is known about me.

Along with this are some that I want to have as side identities but I am still working on them. Things that will help with living my life better as a human being and supplement the primary and secondary things I am.

Weightlifter:

I think I have this side identity already.  I lift at the gym a lot and I have received compliments both at work and at the gym about how much I lift and how I look the part.  For me, this is in part about health and of course, a lot of nutritional elements go along with this.   I am a Paleo nutrition follower but that is the part of weightlifting and the healthy living that goes along with it.

Hiker:

I do want to do more hiking and more walking.  This is something I want to be a long term activity, but you know you have arrived at an identity people have of you when they start asking you advice about it.  I get that with weightlifting, but not hiking, Yet. I have a lot to learn and a lot to do here before this is a true side identity.

Reader/Scholar:

I guess in part I have some expertise that people like to ask about here.  I have read a lot and still read some.  My decision to be a writer primarily comes with an understanding that a required side identity is being a reader. I don’t probably read as much as I should and that needs to change.  That said, I have read enough that friends come to me and ask about stuff I know.

Pagan:

While I am a pagan in the sense I follow their virtues, I doubt very much people consider me a pagan yet.  I want to embrace this a little more fully as part of my cultural identity and an embracing of my cultural heritage. I suppose there is also an element of telling my former Christian identity to kiss my ass. But mostly it is about getting in touch with my past to give me spiritual strength.

There are a couple of others I am considering.  My daughter and I had a recent conversation about coffee. She wants to learn latte art, but my interest is the coffee itself.  I have never been one to drink the stuff but Paleo allows for coffee. It would be nice to find some form of coffee that my palate would actually like and doesn’t have any sugar in it.  It would be an interesting challenge to be a ‘coffee enthusiast’ because I have never really enjoyed a coffee before, but I am still meditating on it. I can see an image of me the reader sitting in my reading chair with a cup of good joe by my side so it is possible.

I am figuring some others will crop up as interests that complement other things. Almost all things are subject to the time you are inspired to give them and willing to sacrifice.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“A New Pattern?” – Odin’s Eye

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day.    

Discussion:

When I started this blog, I intended Odin’s Eye to be about my spiritual journey.  Probably more about my change in spiritual viewpoint or vision.  The pattern I established was pretty straightforward at the time although I established it a month or two after I started:

Deism, Bible Problems, Humanism, Christianity Problems, Paganism, Religion Problems, The Wayfarer’s Spiritual Side, My Theological Objections to Christianity Revisited.

I also established that on every pagan holiday, I would stop and comment that week on it.  That has been a fun journey in and of itself.  But it is also about to come full circle with the closing of the first year of this blog on September 30th.  Fall begins on September 22 and the pagan holiday is Mabon or for Vikings – Haustblót.  After that, the cycle starts again on October 1st.  I intend to continue to talk about pagan holidays but I want to get as truly Viking as I can the second time around.

Outside this though, I have had a pretty good debate running with myself about changing the pattern of the posts for Odin’s Eye.  Most notably do I want to go through the whole Chrisitntity issues again?  I am thinking of saving all that for a book or two, so what really is the purpose of Odin’s Eye? Well, it is about spirituality and my spiritual journey. At the same time, it is a place to pose spiritual questions to myself and perhaps you the gentle reader.  I guess the main thing is to stop talking about the spiritual past and embrace the spiritual present and look to the spiritual future.

My first step in revising the pattern was to eliminate the negative in a lot of ways and also to get rid post types that go over old ground.   This leaves:

Deism, Humanism, Paganism, The Wayfarer’s Spiritual Side

The more I thought about it though, the whole deism and humanism questions are pretty settled for me and boil down to two fundamental truths. 1) I hold the possibility of divine power or powers, and 2) I believe that to solve human problems, humans are going to have to do it themselves.  The powers might help or might not, better to be self-reliant first.  I am not sure I really need to discuss these anymore with myself.  I side very much with enlightenment thinking for my rational and more practical side. But eliminating these two posts leaves me with only two:

Paganism, The Wayfarer’s Spiritual Side

I don’t think that is sufficient enough of a rotation to keep me off my soapboxes.

It is really the whole Asatru and Pagan side I struggle with more. Getting a grip on the wisdom and intuition side of things that involve is the struggle now.  It is the nature of this struggle I would rather talk about now.

If I go the spirituality and paganism route the list of topics changes dramatically and gets quite long actually.  The thing is that some of my other post types handle a lot of this but what lies outside on the fringe where Odin’s Eye can help me come to a better understanding of these issues. I began to realize after while this topic is so big, and for me largely unexplored, there is really no way to establish a pattern.

So I am going to do something uncharacteristic for me.  Be open each week to any topic with only the boundary of it has to be something spiritual that is not necessarily covered by other things I do on the blog. I short these topics are going to come more from my times of meditations than a rational pattern that I simply follow.  I am opening myself up once a week to letting the topic be spiritual in nature and not chosen so much as it becomes an interest through meditation.

I am going to remove one filter for the Eye and replace it with another. Religion needs to go as it is negative in a sense, filtering out the religious aspects of things was a part of looking through the eye.  I no longer seek to do that, but discover the fuller spiritual truth of something.  I am going to replace religion with meditation.

Time to Look Through the Eye:

“To see the truth, change one eye for another”

Faith:

When I put any subject through the filter of faith, what I am asking at that point is what I believe about that subject?  The introduction tells people what I know about a particular subject, but faith is an exploration of what I believe about it. The idea is to set up where I am, then the other three filters follow which will possibly change that belief.

Meditation:

Meditation is the first filter.  It is calming my mind and opening up to what the powers, universe, whatever might inspire me to think about that topic.  Words, questions, thoughts, etc. that come from my times of meditation on the subject.  Then asking how these affect my beliefs about it.  It going to require me to keep my paper journal handy during every meditation session, but I think it will be worth it.

Theology:

Once I get to this question it is more about how this topic influences my understanding of the divine. Simple but a necessary question for me as someone who still practices theology. For me, the delving into the spiritual side of things is motivated in part by theology and understanding the divine.

Spirituality:

This is putting everything in a context filter.  How is my overall understanding of spirituality affected by this now?  Have my beliefs about this subject changed due ot putting it through my spiritual filters? What is my overall spiritual viewpoint now?  It is the bringing it altogether filter.

Conclusion:

I, of course, will have some concluding remarks about each subject and I might pose a few questions for you the gentle readers that might have a greater understanding of certain subjects I am struggling with. A good post wrapup will be what I am looking for here.

I am hoping these changes will be effective in helping all of us understand the spiritual side of life better.  Of Wolves and Ravens is about philosophy, but Odin’s Eye is about Spirituality and as such needs to have more spiritual methods of finding what to talk about.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Meditations – Secondary Identity: ?” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Woden’s (Odin) Day!

I am becoming very certain that my primary identity being a writer is solid the more I think about it.  Now the question of secondary identity or identities begins to present itself. It is a big question mark but it is made clearer by the simple fact I now can see it is something I do to make money and live not as my primary thing.

That, however, does not tell me what it should be but perhaps what I need to be is open to the possibilities instead of looking for certainty. Perhaps there is still this need to be meditatively open to what lies ahead and let things run their course as far as what I should be open to being seeing that this issue is not what compliments my writer career not the other way around.  It means that certain things need to be in place.

  1. I need time to write so the job I get must be not so time-consuming that I can’t write every day.
  2. I need something that pays well so I am not eating beans and rice if writing does not go well. I have lived too long to not have plans B, C to the end of the alphabet.
  3. It should be something that compliments writing if possible.

I don’t really want to write things down at this point as even possibilities. I don’t even want to brainstorm because I want to find this out by being open and meditating on it.

Now, I want to be clear that I will still be applying for jobs that I qualify for.  The issue at this point is not trying to direct this thing and be open to whatever does present itself. That said being proactive means looking for job opportunities and applying for them. But this might open my horizons as to applying for more things I might not have thought of as possibilities.  The issue now is to be open and available to any idea that will meet my criteria.

All that said, I still am meditating on Identity because Primary and Secondary aside, everything comes together in overall identity.  I am one me.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Meditations – Primary Identity: Writer” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / 2 Comments

Happy Mani’s Day

In the Last Rabyd Skald, I basically stated that I needed to probably do some meditations on who I am.  It is a question I have not been avoiding but struggling with since my departure from my former role as minister and Christian.  I would say the Chrisitan part being replaced by “Deistic Humanistic Pagan” has been pretty solid and that identity has not been hard to grab ahold of so much as the implications of that change are still something I am coming to terms with on a daily basis.  The real problem is my role as minister being replaced by what?

For a while, I have had this idea of being a business person of some sort and being a writer on the side.  It is a practical choice because money is a real thing that you need to live life. I also have to deal with the fact the ministry has left me broke and without any retirement to speak of, so there is a need to make some money to make up for that. But that is a rational decision and to be blunt only listens to one of my ravens – Reason.  What about Wisdom? It also brings up the question of will my wolves be satisfied with such a role? Will I truly be getting what I need or want?

So my meditations have turned inward.  What is the call of my heart and what is the course that is wisest as far as encompassing my whole being?

I have to give a shout out to a fellow blogger from the other side of the world (the internet is an amazing place isn’t it) who on my last post on this issue wrote that perhaps I should simply ask the universe and wait to see what happens. You can check her out at Myst Nokomis.  I know I have found her observations interesting and at times inspiring. She is actually a blogger that I read regularly.

My conception of what she said in my mind is a little different but I get what she means and so I said to myself.  “Perhaps it is time to just silence myself in meditation and listen.”

Oddly enough the first thought that struck me is one word “Writer”.  Now the trick to being open in meditation is not to recoil at the thoughts that come to mind.  I have often said I am a writer but I have always placed it secondary to what other things I am pursuing.  The thought I had in that meditation session was that perhaps I have this backward.  That ultimately I am a writer first and something else second to pay the bills.  That what I should be focusing on is my writing and then focussing on an occupation that is complementary to that. Something that harmonizes with being a writer, not making my writing harmonize with something else.  Writing becoming the melody of my life and what other things I do becoming harmony to use a musical analogy.

I think I might be on to something as this feeds my wolves and it seems a wiser course of action.  It still has rationality to it, because if end up doing something I hate, I will not make progress in it. Writing has always been a love and something I do to express myself fully.  People who meet me personally, never get the full story as I pull back into myself.  I have trust issues born from painful experiences.  When I write, that inhibition leaves. Like all INFJs it is my artistic/non-verbal way of expressing myself that is true.

The main issue then is to be about the business of being a writer and that involves a few things but most notably setting aside times to write above and beyond the blogging that are substantial  Like at least an hour or two a day. I guess what I should start to get in my mind is writing on this blog is kind of my writing warm-up.  Then its time to be working on some projects for publication.

I have long mentioned I am a big fan of the science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein.  In the book Grumbles from the Grave, a letter where he answered the question of why he wrote is preserved.  His three-fold answer was:

  1. Make Money
  2. Entertain Readers
  3. Make People Think

As I have meditated on this over the years in think he had the right of it.  The first priority of a writer is how to support himself and his family by writing, the other two are means to that because if no one likes what you write then they won’t buy it.  If they buy what you write you won’t really be impactful unless you throw something in that makes people think, it leads to long-term success.  This is the right priority, any other way is just high minded idealism that won’t amount to much in all three categories.

This change will require more meditation, but I think I am on the right path, it certain resonates with my wolves and ravens philosophy; better than some career, then a writing career as secondary.  I think this needs to be switched and then I can look at my identity from the proper perspective.

Just a blog note to end things: there will be a post later today for my serial: Space Tramp, but I might be doing these meditation posts in place of journal posts this week.  My identity has become an important issue and I want to make sure I get this right.  So you might see two posts today, Odin’s Day and Frigg and Freya’s Day.  One a post like this at 10 am and the other some fiction writing at 4 pm. At least for this week.  

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Taking A Few Deep Breaths” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sif’s Day

These last two weeks have been interesting and challenging. I was in the doctor’s office on Thursday and as always a little anxious. I was there for my routine checkup and consultation. But as I waited I did some thinking.  I have had the following experiences this last couple of weeks.

  1. I have had more denials from potential employers in the last ten days than in a couple months previously.  It’s like all the applications I filed came back with nulls.
  2. At my current employer, I was passed over for a job and it was given to someone with no experience whatsoever.
  3. I have had another bout with The Grey and while it was not severe. The cause was known, however.
  4. I have had a doctor’s appointment and while a lot of the news was good, there was some news that reminded me I am getting older.   And that sucks by the way.
  5. The End of August marks one year that my wife and I have been back together after our separation last summer and that has lead to some very reflective moments about my marriage.

This post is about taking a few deep breaths and looking at each of these a little reflectively and spiritually.

Deep Breath. 

I guess I have to say the whole job situation has caused me to look at the basic fact that I have not really discovered what my new identity is. It is in-process both practically and spiritually and so there is that.  Mostly though the practical concerns will start to become forefront issues in the next couple of months I don’t find something better. For now, though my meditations center on who am I?

Deep Breath.

The decision at work at first angered me and then I just felt disrespected. It was like really, could have slapped all of us from the department any harder, especially those of us that work hard over here and have management experience?  Then I took a breath, realized that this is not my place, I am in my heart looking to move on to something better, so I might as well get about it.

Deep Breath.

My bought with The Grey recently was brought about by a song played on the radio at work. It was my song to Miss Salty and it triggered the whole mess of feelings involved in that.  One thing they never seem to mention about being empathic is that emotions experienced in certain situations stay and lay dormant until something triggers them and then there you are all over again. Which triggers a whole lot of meditation on the problem.  My most recent meditations have led me to a question: What exactly is The Grey?

Depression?  It involves depression but there is that switch that goes off to protect me from the sadness so I feel nothing. In that state, am I depressed or something else entirely?  I think I might have had an introspective moment because of this that might lead to an awakening.   I hope so.

Deep Breath.

I took a lot of those deep breaths before I met my new doctor. I just passed 50 so the protocol becomes: ‘You need this test done, you need to start this medication as a diabetic.’  I am like – what is this malevolent magic that took place where all this was unnecessary at age 49 and 364 days but one day later, a whole list of evil fairies have comes and makes you vulnerable to a whole new crops of shit. I hope my new doctor is a good salesman and explains things well, because if you don’t sell me – Yeah, fuck that shit.

The problem is that all my health indicators indicate I am healthier than I was last year, but somehow my medicines need to be increased and new treatments engaged for possible problems down the road. I hate American medicine, they either engage in damage control after the fact or their definition of preventative medicine is purely put more pills in your body. Not my thoughts on how to approach my health.

Deep Breath.

I don’t take too much for granted when it regards my marriage.  Our reconciliation is in truth a work in progress. I simply acknowledge here that It still might not work, something I started when we first decided to go down this path to my family and something I remind myself of right now. I want it very much to work, don’t get me wrong. But I also acknowledge the struggle in my heart between how much do I have to give up as far as my personal happiness to stay married? I shouldn’t be looking at it that way should I, but I am, and that is very troubling to me.

  1. My wife and I have very different values now.  That is basically because I ‘fuck it’ to my former faith and she has not.  What is important to me is very different than what is important to her.  And it is growing more divided.
  2. Our goals are very different and trying to find common ground either involves a lot of compromises or straight up, from my perspective, me giving up a lot of my goals entirely.  I am growing weary of having to give up what I desire simply to make my family and friends happy, and that is exactly the state of mind I was in that caused me to walk away a year ago. Not good.
  3. I now know what aspects of a relationship with a woman I am missing and still desire. It creates a longing in my heart that I cannot seem to shake.

Deep Breath.

I think it is time to look within.  Discover who I am again and out of that might flow a lot of answers.  It is time to awaken and to take that first breath of who I am now.  It is time to find that person and become them.

Deep Breath.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Revival – Asatru (Part 5)” – The Pagan Pulpit

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sol’s Day

Announcements:

We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods, goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves and that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.

We also don’t take an offering here.  We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it.  Let’s be honest, offerings are not given to the divine powers, they are given to an organization to support it.  Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never sees a dime, farthing or peso of that money; it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.

Theme Song: ‘Herr Mannelig’ – Garmarna

Meditation:

 

Image may contain: 1 person, text that says 'Crazy World YOU DON'T HAVE A RIGHT TO THE CARDS YOU BELIEVE YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEALT. YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO PLAY THE HELL OUT OF THE ONES YOU'RE HOLDING.'

The situation is always changing and it is not always in your favor.  Regardless there is always the best way to play your hand and it is your obligation to find it.

Text:

See the source image

If you want more details about Asatru, I can’t recommend this book enough.

Sermon:

It is hard to say when the revival of the interest in Pagan Norse Religion really began. In some cases, we might say that it was preserved through family traditions and merging pagan traditions with Chrisitan ones. There was also a limited amount of writing done by historians and literature experts on Norse Mythology and religious practice.

Some argue that it was the early 20th century with the interest in Germanic ancient culture by the Germans that saw the start of it.  It is also a criticism that it might be colored by the Nazis but it is probably more likely to be the case of the Nazi’s using cultural trends to their advantage as far as PR.  Symbols and history are often coopted by those that rule to form a romanticism they tap into.  The romanticism though already existed because a lot of it can be traced back to the 19th century long before the nazi’s perverted the mythology and the Swastika.  I and many other people who study Asatru and history would say the chief deity of the Nazi party was Adolf Hitler himself, not Odin, Thor or Tyr.

In any case, in the last 70 years or so a revival of interest in ancient Northern European mythology has arisen.  Becoming more popular, as Diane Paxton observes, starting with the writings in England with Tolkein and CS Lewis. Robert E. Howard with Conan chimed in during the 1950s.  Is it any wonder that I have an interest in this mythology when what sparked my interest was these great writers and my own heritage.

In 1969, the same year I was born, the Odinist Fellowship was founded, followed by Viking Brotherhood in 1971 and Asatru Free Assembly in 1976.  All in America. In Iceland, Asatru became an accepted religion by their parliament in 1973 thus opening up the most direct route to a religious revival of ancient ways through Asatru.

What has followed has been a process of Norse paganism in Asatru arising and organizing into various groups. The 1990s saw a great deal of expansion and development. Publications and books are becoming more and more frequent.  I would say interest has been revived and increase due to the television series Vikings among many others.

For me, my personal story of ‘conversion’ to Asatru is a long one.  Like I said, I loved fantasy books from an early age. devouring CS Lewis, Tolkien, and Howard. Conan became a favorite hero of mine along with Gandalf.  I was a Dungeons and Dragons player and Dungeon Master for many years and that has this culture and religion as a large part of it.   The more I learned the more it fascinated me.  I suppose the crisis moment and conversion point would be me leaving Christianity for good last year and realizing my need for a new code of conduct.  I looked at many warrior codes, but Asatru appealed more than all of them because of this connection to my culture, history, and interests. My pagan tendencies tend to line up very much with Asatru.

This ends part one of my Asatru analysis.  Next will be a discussion of many of the Norse gods and goddesses and their significance to the followers of Asatru.

Parting Thought:

 

Image may contain: one or more people, beard and text

Paganism does have some bit of a ‘dark’ side.  In that, most of us will do terrible things if the ones we love are threatened.  There is no turn the other cheek or forgiveness without restitution.  And if the person opposing us doesn’t offer us restitution or threatens to take what is ours, then we can get such restitution by other means.  You might say justice has a different meaning to us.  Your best course of action in dealing with us is being honest and respectful and mind your own business.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“The Christian Invasion – Asatru (Part 4)” – The Pagan Pulpit

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day

Announcements:

We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods, goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves and that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.

We also don’t take an offering here.  We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it.  Let’s be honest, offerings are not given to the divine powers, they are given to an organization to support it.  Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never sees a dime, farthing or peso of that money; it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.

Theme Song:  “Viking War Song – Fehu” – Wardruna 

Meditation:

Image may contain: text

There have been a lot of really shitty things that were legal for people to do. Legal is no metric for right and wrong. Truth and Justice are not about what is legal.

Text:

See the source image

If you want more details about Asatru, I can’t recommend this book enough.

Sermon:

It is at this point, that I hope that why I am going through the history of the Germanic/Scandinavian religion that it will be clear why the modern movement of Asatru is necessary as a reconstructionist effort. The main cause is that the Christians were very good a wiping out paganism for the most part. It certainly made sure that whatever aspects of paganism that survived had to 1) go underground or 2) hide in the midst of Christian tradition.

As a former Christian pastor, I lived with a couple very terrible bits of historical revelation.  1) That the spread of Christianity was due in large part to missionary efforts that involved bribery, diplomacy and violence more than the truth of the religion as it stands on its own, and 2) That these tactics have continued to the present day.  There is what Jesus taught and what Christianity does to spread the faith, and they are miles apart. Light years really.

Paganism in the middle ages started to face a new invasion from a religion that was relentless in its missionary zeal.  The basic tactic of Christians was to approach a ruler and offer them salvation in the church. The offer was often sweetened by the fact if that ruler was facing an opponent that was difficult or wanted some sort of help in a conflict they were having with a neighbor, conversion to Christianity brought church financial support as well as the support of Chrisitan allies as they went after those ‘unwashed’ heathens.

Inside each new ruler’s country then the process would start of identifying pagan practices, making them illegal and then purging the pagan practices and if necessary the pagans themselves. There are stories that survive of the slaughter of heathens on a grand scale, destruction of pagan sacred sites and the seizing of pagan property which found its way either into the church’s hands or the ruler of the country. There came a tipping point in Europe where it was either join the church or die and many chose to join the church.  A few brave souls chose to die with honor along with their countrymen.

The problem for those who now follow Asatru with all this is that Christianity was very effective in wiping out a lot of the old ways to the point that much has been lost. Asatru is a reconstructionist movement at its heart trying to search out and find things that were lost and then restore them.

It is only recently in the history of the world that some countries have added the Norse/Germanic religions to their list of accepted state religions and thus opening up even the ability to try. For the most part up until then, pagan practices survived by bastardizing their practices by combining them with Christian ones.  See Easter’s bunny and Christmas’ trees and lights.  Or they went underground passed secretly from one generation to the next. Some things survived in ancient writings and mythology. This is why Asatru is necessary as it is trying to put back into place what has long been lost.

For myself, I knew all these things as a Christian for many years about what my faith had done but justified it.  Now, I call it out for what it is – gross hypocrisy.  I would also say that Christianity has acted in greed, malice, and lust but called it manifest destiny, the divine right of kings (government), and missionary zeal. They really should be ashamed of their history, but they go on merrily talking about how loving and humble they are and a force for ‘civilization’. There is nothing very civilized about running a sword through someone simply because they have a different faith than you.

The problem for me is I live with a Chrisitan and my family is mostly Christian.  They are good people and for the most part ignorant of their religion’s history.  That said, I know that their faith has blood on its hands going back quite a bit and in some contexts, they would, because of their faith, do some pretty shitty things to others. For Me, Asatru is about getting back to my spiritual roots before Christianity came into my ancestors’ lives and changed things.  It is about finding that which is lost and restoring it back to my weary soul.

Parting Thought:

Image may contain: outdoor and text

An obvious note in Asatru.  Loyalty is, but not obedience. That belong to the religions that expect blind loyalty and servitude.  We are free people and respect and allegiance are earned.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Family ‘Pagan’? – Odin’s Eye – Paganism

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day.    

Discussion:

Them: “So you’re a pagan?”

Me: “Sort of, I have pagan tendencies”

Them: “Pagan tendencies?”

Me: “Yeah, I believe the pagan spiritual concepts are pretty interesting, but I am not much into religion anymore, so I am not into that part of it.”

I know this conversation because I have had it a couple times.  To say you are spiritual but think all religion is made up is a hard thing for people to grasp. I mean I have my rituals of meditation on the Nine Noble Virtues and my ritual of putting on my pendant for the day but that is pretty much it. Mostly I look at paganism spiritual concepts as a way to address the possibility of spiritual reality.  In truth, I lean toward the deist side of things with an unknowable divine creator(s). The paganism simply allows me to reach out with my own sense of love and spirituality and address the question of what that divine creator or creators might be.

The issue of course for my family is that they are mostly Christian with a few exceptions.  Mostly though I think they have trouble dealing with their long-time husband, father, and grandfather, who used to be a devout Chrisitan, who now doesn’t even go to church or even pray anymore. n short I have a far easier time adjusting to them than they do to me.

Time to Look Through the Eye:

“To see the truth, change one eye for another”

Faith:

My faith these days is more about lining up my spiritual philosophy of the Nine Noble Virtues with real life.  Living virtuously means more to me than the whole mythology of choice thing. I like the Norse myths but the idea that any of those gods actually exist is the real of fantasy and no better or worse than any other mythology out there.  For me, Norse mythology is closer to my ancestral roots and resonates with me more. But I ain’t praying to Odin or Thor. If there is any concept I like it is that we don’t pray to them.  If there is a divine power of some sort, I would rather have this attitude of standing with them rather than bowing before them.

The reality of my faith is that if there is a god or not is irrelevant to it.  If there is my pursuit of virtue should be honored. If there isn’t living by virtue in this world has its own rewards.  Either way, this is the reality f choice when it comes to faith.

Religion:

My pagan religious aspects are few:

  1. I meditate on the Nine Noble Virtues every morning along with my goals.
  2. I put my pendant around my neck for the day after taking my shower.  Mostly this marks the end of my morning routine.
  3. I try to view all of life as a large spiritual lesson.
  4. I celebrate holidays with my family and do it more with a pagan mindset, which is very easy as Christians have stolen most of the symbols for their holidays from the pagans.

I suppose you could add that I study pagan spirituality and religious practice as like reading about the Norse myths. I suppose if I were to ever join a Brethren it would be more for companionship and common interest. Not really all that different than most people in the church.

Theology:

Human beings are emotional, physical and rational.  My theology simply adds spiritual to the mix as a way of tying that all together.  There is a unified cohesion to things when you add the spiritual to me. That’s pretty much it.

Spirituality:

That spirituality is what gives me my pagan tendencies as I follow the basics of looking at life through a spiritual eye from time to time. Paganism is very much a matter of individual spiritual taste and I embrace that.  mY pagan tendencies fit me and who I am and that is pretty much Ok with every pagan I know.

Conclusion:

I guess i am content to be the family ‘pagan’ for now.  I don’t have too many problems with it. So far things are simply awkward when people want to talk about church and Jesus and I don’t really live in that context anymore.  Nor do I wish to ever again.

 

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Basic Pagan Principles: Recap” – The Pagan Pulpit

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day

Announcements:

We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods, goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves and that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.

We also don’t take an offering here.  We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it.  Let’s be honest, offerings are not given to the divine powers, they are given to an organization to support it.  Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never sees a dime, farthing or peso of that money; it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.

Theme Song: ‘Völuspá’ – Einar (Live @ Castlefest Winter Edition)

Nice to hear the song written by an artist sung by that same artist.  Guy has a great voice.

Meditation:

No photo description available.

 

Text:

Source: http://exotic-pets.yoexpert.com/exotic-pets-general/what-are-some-of-the-basic-principles-of-paganism-2192.html

Sermon:

The above link will take you back to the original source for many of my thoughts on this series.

To recap the basic pagan principles:

  1. Responsibility of Belief – That the responsibility for what you believe about religion and spirituality lies with you and you alone.
  2. Full Personal Responsibility – That you and you alone are fully responsible for your actions and personal development.
  3. Everything is Sacred – That everything in life has a spiritual quality to it and sacredness to it.  You should respect that.
  4. Freedom of Choosing a Diety – That what diety you create and follow is your own choice.
  5. Scope of Consciousness – That consciousness is greater than the five senses, that there is a spiritual part of consciousness that exists.

When I say I have pagan tendencies to people this is what I mean.  As a deist, I am very much rational about the whole faith and religion question. Knowing that nearly all of what is termed religion is made up by human beings so pick what you want (Principles #1 and 4).  My humanist side though states that we alone are responsible as human beings (Principle # 2). My pagan side says that spirituality exists and therefore I need to respect the spiritual quality of all things (Principles #3 and #5).

I have personally enjoyed this series and meditating on its principles.  It has been enlightening, to say the least.  Next up will be me going through a book on Asatru I have been reading and digesting.

Parting Thought:

 

Image may contain: one or more people, text that says 'ç±³ Never push a loyal person to the point where they no longer give a damn Proud Odin's Sons'

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Basic Pagan Principles: Scope of Consciousness” – The Pagan Pulpit

/ Ed Raby Sr / 1 Comment

 

Happy Sun’s Day

Announcements:

We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods, goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves and that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.

We also don’t take an offering here.  We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it.  Let’s be honest, offerings are not given to the divine powers, they are given to an organization to support it.  Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never sees a dime, farthing or peso of that money; it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.

Theme Song: “Fulga” – SKALD

Translation: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/fl%C3%BAga-fly.html

A fun little song here.

Meditation:

Image may contain: 1 person, text

Text:

Most pagan religions believe that consciousness extends far beyond the restraints of human form and physical existence. All life forms contain some level of consciousness, from the smallest insect to the giant redwood trees growing in the forest. Furthermore, consciousness does not end when we die, rather it survives death and exists simultaneously on multiple levels of reality.

Source: http://exotic-pets.yoexpert.com/exotic-pets-general/what-are-some-of-the-basic-principles-of-paganism-2192.html

Sermon:

Working the idea, pagans simply acknowledge there is something out there that is spiritual in nature beyond our normal five senses and reason to understand. That there is a part of existence that extends beyond biology and chemistry. That our own consciousness goes beyond our physical form.

Some pagans go to the point that saying every living thing has this as well.  Others go even further and extend the idea to everything that exists, that everything has a spiritual side to it and spiritual reality.

This part of pagan belief also extends to the idea of life after death.  There are so many different views here it is difficult to make any general statements and the author of our text wisely noted that pagans say we exist beyond death in a multitude of differnt levels.

I believe in science and reason.  There be no denying that science and reason are powerful tools in learning to live in this world effectively.  To learn how to achieve what we want and need very much requires reason and knowledge.  I, however, do not think that reason or science addresses all reality.   That there is something more to know is one of the tenents of science and perhaps we simply haven’t figured out how to measure the reality of consciousness.

The one thing for sure we can say is that science cannot explain a lot of things yet if they are honest and perhaps these things may be considered spiritual in the sense they remain mysteries. Once discovered the rational scientific people may discover that there is a spiritual side to man after all; they simply didn’t have a way to observe or measure it.

The reason I remain a pagan in this regard is that I hold open to the possibility of a spiritual reality that cannot be understood by normal means.  There is something more to love than biology. Something more to attraction than physics. Something more to the beauty that the eye of the beholder. I still think that without this idea of a spiritual reality, you have a very dead meaning to a life where life’s only purpose is life itself.  So I wander as a seeker looking for it.

Parting Thought:

Image may contain: text

Learn to be wise and you will always be free.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!