A Song for Mother's Night

The Mothers´ Night of Yule

Stanza 1
The mother´s night of Yule has come,
Another wheel is turning,
To Asgard´s hall we strike a call:
Come join us and share in your learning.

Chorus:
Hail, hail to the Ase and Van,
Your might and main known to every man.
Come, come to our hallowed hall
And join us for drink and boasting.

Stanza 2
The wall between our fallen kin
and us is ever thinning,
We feel their might course through the night
The web of wyrd we are spinning.

Stanza 3
Together stand we, lovéd kin,
Our hearts and strength are we bringing.
As Yule draws nigh, our spirits high
Will fly on the love of our singing.


© Karl Donaldsson
Tune: Greensleeves

Six Days til Mother's Night

I'm looking forward to Mother's Night on the 20th, just my personal, quiet celebration--like I do most things--a Mother's song (to the tune of Greensleeves) I found and a pine candle I bought. For a display, I thought I'd bring in a few sprigs (I'm not big on denuding my trees) of evergreen and add some apples and nuts from the grocery store. Frigg, Freya, Idun and Sunna will be the honored goddesses, and I will ask blessings on all the grandmothers, mothers, daughters and sisters I know. If that's not good mojo, I don't know what is.

About Idun (Idunn, Iduna, Idhuna): Ramblings

Idun ("She Who Renews") is the Norse goddess of youth, who grows the magic apples of immortality that keep the gods young. Her husband Bragi was god of poetry.

Remember Pagan immortality doesn't mean "forever pacing in heaven." It's about the never-ending cycles of renewal and death that we observe and in which we participate. Despite all the fearmongering, ancient and modern, there's no uncertainty in spring and winter; ya gotta love that. And when the sun and earth runs out, there are other stars, and when the stars all run out, there is still the universe, and when the universe runs out, there is rest and another universe. Do your worst, you dirty, carbon dioxide polluters, you can't outdo the gods!

But about Idun...

Loki, the god of mischief and fire, was once responsible for arranging Her abduction by the giant Thajazi. Without Her apples, the gods soon began to age, and threatened Loki until He agreed to rescue Her, which He accomplished by borrowing Freyja's falcon robe and fleeing with Idun who He had changed to a nut. (This story must be a season-cycle tale; there are lots of them like this, apple to nut, etc.)

Some say that Gerd the Giantess is another aspect of Idun. Freyr brought her eleven golden apples and Draupnir. Sunna may also appear as the aspect Gerd, whose beautiful white arms, raised aloft, illuminated sea and sky. Freyr could see her from a great distance and fell in love.

As we are in love when the morning sun rises or when She returns from southern climes as She will begin to do on Mother's Night, gracing us with her light and warmth a little more each day. Even in the coldest winter, the longest night (literally), she holds the promise of renewal. I'd say that's a miracle or...humankind's propensity for hope. In either case, it's worth celebrating.

End of Ramble.

Somehow Marie Osmond Found Her Way Onto My Blog

...it must have been love. Being Mormon (or Catholic or Heathen or Jewish) does not wholly define each or any of us! It's the reason I don't care for the word "religion," because it tends to categorize people into slots. We are so much more, and our individual, personal beliefs so much more subtle and complex than these religion packages. Marie Osmond shows what a classy lady and a good mom she is. Read here.

Distaff

Frigga Spinning the Clouds

by J.C. Dollman

I learned something absolutely novel to me today. I googled the word "distaff" and was quite surprised to discover that, consistent with its domestic use as a noun, it is also an adjective, describing the female side of a family. It just goes to show how deeply interwoven was this activity of spinning and weaving in the role of women among my European ancestors.

A saga reader like myself knows how valuable the products of weaving were, because men used ells of cloth in trade in the same way they traded marks of gold. Cloth was even used for compensation at the death of a kinsman. A man who didn't have a wife to weave cloth for him was a poor man indeed. Farming, fishing and husbandry kept meat and bread on the table, but weaving represented wealth. In many ways, women, Germanic and Scandinavian in particular, ruled the roost, but weaving was their particular domain. A man, too, could run the farm as many women did, maybe even own the keys to the house, but only women spun and wove.

More than once I've run across the idea that it is a sign of a woman's favor if she produces a set of clothing for a man. Throughout the sagas, too, the quality and color of a person's clothing is indicative of his status. Red (or colored) duds represent a wealthy or high-born man. In one tale, a man's character is condemned because he cut away a soiled bit of his cloak and tossed it away. The Icelanders considered him a wasteful lout and vain.

When my ancestors contemplated the nature of their goddesses, they necessarily pictured them as spinners and weavers. Frigg, for example, spins the threads which the Norns weave into the fates of men. Frigg's symbol is the distaff. I learned something else new; I learned that another word for distaff is "rock." Frigg is the heavenly spinner, and the constellation Orion is named "Friggjar Rockr," Frigg's distaff. That puts a whole new spin on things, yes?

Violence against Women

Kim Gandy writes about women and violence and the recent high-profile cases. Just a reminder, too, that Joe Biden was a champion of the VAWA.

NOW provides the current statistics on violence against women and calls them, appropriately, shocking. Unlike an email I received a few days ago, the links are functional and lead to legitimate sites with responsible numbers.

It's my opinion that if we elimated all violence against women, peace and prosperity would follow. It's in the method and means.

For Love and Happiness and Hope!

Dedicated to Krissy and Tina. I'll never forget the fun we had. You made me love you.

Thanks to Tracie the Red for finding this.

Two Presidents

Like the blogger who wrote, "[...] Feministe’s post, so good i had to just post it here and FULLY credit them. why? because i couldn’t guarantee readers would go there and the visual image is just too important.. [...]"
.
These two images were juxtaposed by Feministe and all credit goes there.

The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003: And the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009:
Another commenter at Feministe said, "Next time, a woman in that chair." Indeed.