A Disctinctly Heathen Problem

I've come to a very interesting realization the other day. We were having thunderstorms around my house, which sadly necessitates the unplugging of electronics and lack of internet to keep an Alchemist busy. Now, as some may know, I'm an Asatruar and live and work with the Norse gods. So I realized, that I had someone personal I could gripe too about this problem of lacking my internet due to thunderstorms.

And then I remembered that Thor only really makes storms like that when he's fighting with something. Like the forces of Chaos.

Well, so much for complaining. That's like telling the guy trying to keep you safe that he's being to noisy with his hand cannon.

And so I have come to peace with the storms that means I have to get off my computer.

So, why is this a thing distinctly Heathen? Well, when one is dealing with the Monotheistic God whose name is unknown to even his most trusted followers, it is hard to personify It/Him/Her. Indeed, the supposed omnipotence only contributes to the difficulty. After all, when everything is controlled by one entity, it stops being personal and becomes a simple part of a system. I'm sure there are many monotheists who would disagree with me and argue that the omniscience permits their god to be as personal in his duties, but I find that hard to grasp. Listening to many Monotheists talk, it seems they feel the distance too. With Jews, I've heard that such things are discussed, but among Christians and Muslims, on average, there is very much that distance.

So rejoice, my Heathen and Pagan folk, for we can know our gods far better than anyone else.

Days Fly

Well, running multiple blogs is a bit harder than I thought, but I'm thinking that has more to do at the moment with a busy schedule outside of this than it does actually maintaining my multiple sites. At least, I hope so, as I will hopefully be running even more in the future. That said, I must admit it is pretty fun to have many different places to share my thoughts on different subjects, though I'm sure a wise person would likely consolidate into as few as possible.

I'm not that wise.

Now, if I just had readers, that would be fun, lol.

Hopefully I'll be able to pic up more of my Magic and Alchemical studies soon. There's many things I wish to explore further. I like my work aligning the Norse gods and building a frame work to do alchemy from a Norse perspective, so hopefully I can start working on that more in the future. For now, though, I'll just leave this little post

An Experiment for Home

Studying the Zodiac is a very fun exercise that can also tell one a lot about a person. For instance, being a Scorpio, I have a water sign.

Water is Alchemically Wet and Cold. Water has been talked about at length by many and since I'm going to deal with it later, I'm not posting much on this right now.

Also, it is ruled by Mars and Pluto, which are matched by Aries and Hades in the Greek and Tyr and Hel in the Norse. Aries and Tyr are gods of war and glory. Hades and Hel are gods of death and the underworld who are vital to preserving life by keeping the dead from returning (a la Zombies). All of these deities often get looked down upon, though arguably Tyr has the best reputation. Aries has a bad one, at least in Athens, Greece, though Sparta is said to have liked him and Rome loved him. Hades and Hel get the worst treatment, Hel being viewed by many as an ugly monster. Still, Hades was one of the nicest Greek gods (or at least was less of a dick to mortals). Hel does look odd, being half normal skin tone and the other have the blue of a corpse, but I don't think she's all that ugly. Like Hades she hard-lines not letting the dead leave her realm, but it is by all accounts a very nice realm.

I'm not going to go into what this means in relation to my being, though there is an interesting correlation at least between the Gods and Goddess who rule my sign and me as a person and Scorpio.

Try it out for yourself.

On the Nature of Idols

This is something of a little known fact, but Abraham’s Father (yes the Abraham of the Israelite and Ishmaelite nations) was a maker of Idols. One day, Abraham was left in charge of the shop where his father’s idols were sold, and Abraham, in a monotheistic zeal, smashed all the idols but one and left the stick in the survivor’s hand. When his father returned, the poor man grew angry and asked what happened. Abraham replied that the large idol had smashed all the others. His father replied that this was impossible, as the idols were made of stone and wood, were not alive, and couldn’t do such things. Abraham said exactly and then asked his father why he worshiped them.

Every time I have heard this story, it is used to prove the genius and faith of Abraham, who realized there was only one true living god. After all, if idols are only base representations and have no power, why pray to them? Better to worship the single all powerful god, praise Abraham for his insight and wisdom.

Sadly, all I see is the ignorance of a boy who failed to understand the true nature of the idols. It is true, as his father said, that Idols are not living things in and of themselves. But those who pray to idols do not pray to the materials they are made of, but rather the being they represent. The idol functions as a visual aid to picture the being one is trying to communicate with and as I direct line to that being. To use a modern analogy, the Idol is a phone.

Little idols and symbols one carries around are like cell phones.

This becomes clear if we look at the function of both phones and idols. A phone is not a living thing, yet it connects you to a person who maybe two feet away, a state over, or on the other side of the world. So too are idols to their respective gods, who might be wandering around or in their homes in which ever place that may be. Praying to an idol served the same function for our ancient ancestors in communicating to their gods as a modern cell phone does for us in communicating with our friends.

Perhaps the story of Abraham is what most people make it out to be. Or maybe it’s the story of a son who failed to learn about his people’s ways from his father and learned something he thought was better. It surely is a story about the destruction of property and loss of business and hours of hard work for Abraham’s father. Still, let us not forget the story of the broken Idols, for they were but the first in a long line smashed by the followers of the monotheistic path. And like a broken phone, it made it that much harder to contact our friends the gods, which we are only now beginning to rebuild.