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Sudden insight into Lavondyss "Bone Forest" story

(from my continuing mental wanderings before writing something) So Nin (ogam, first group, fifth letter) has the sense is related to a couple of different things in the Irish paradigm. A spear, from the second battle of Moytura, that killed Ruadan, son of Brighid (from the Tuath de) and Bres (a Fomorian). And a weaver's beam - a forked stick at its simplest, like a traditional stang (see Sacred Mask, Sacred Dance - Chas Clifton). And associated with the first keening - Brighid on losing Ruadan. And the ash tree from folklore.

Which brings me to the three or 4 page story in Lavondyss called "The Bone Forest.." A small black hole in a novel, it is, from a novel that at times seems more of an instruction manual on the British magical tradition than a novel. The story outline is simple

Lame hunter can't hunt
Meets up with a traveling outcast woman who he calls Ash
Ash casts 2 twigs to find the forest and one piece of bone to find the animal and instructs the hunter where to go
Hunter is successful. He give Ash a piece of the meat and feeds the village
The hunter rejuvenates
The cycle repeats until Ash draws a forest and animal that she says will kill him. (the bone is from her dead child which echoes the story of Tallis in the main part of the novel)
He goes anyway and is killed
She packs up saying that it is always this way, as the animal which is actually a rejected part of the hunter at some level prepares to destroy the village. The hunter only took and did not give back and thus sealed his doom.

On one level, this follows the man-separated-from-nature-takes-and-is-destroyed narrative. On an esoteric level, it is about failing to be in connection with the spiritual world and thus falling into the trap of ego-inflation. It was not enough to share a piece of meat with Ash for there was no acknowledgement, respect or honor. And so, it was uncontrolled fear - the ogam huath- that killed him in the end.

pagan values, latest line

It has been a hard work week and I have not been able to concentrate much for the hoohah. At least for the first pagan values post, the line I'm going to take is respect - specifically respect for the integrity of sentient beings and the rest of the natural world. I want to find a single word that means this, but its probably going to be fail. In searching, though, I did find this quite from William Robinson's The English Flower Garden:

The gardener should follow the true artist, however modestly, in his love for things as they are, in delight in natural form and beauty of flower and tree, if we are to be free from barren geometry, and if our gardens are ever to be pictures. The gardener has not the strenuous work of eye and hand that the artist has, but he has plenty of good work to do:—to choose from ten thousand beautiful living things ; to study their nature and adapt them to his soil and climate; to get the full expression of their beauty; to grow and place them well and in right relation to other things, which is a life-study in itself, in view of the great numbers of the flowers and flowering trees of the world. And as the artist's work is to see and keep for us some of the beauty of landscape, tree, or flower, so the gardener's should be to keep for us as far as may be, in the fulness of their natural beauty, the living things themselves. The artist gives us the fair image : the gardener is the trustee of a world of fair living things, to be kept with care and knowledge in necessary subordination to the conditions of his work. And as there is other and higher design than that of the decorator of flat surfaces with patterns, so there is an absolute and eternal difference between conventional form as he expresses it, and the true orms of cloud or hill, vale, stream, path, oak, palm and vine, reed and lily. And the first duty of all who care for the garden as a picture is to see these noble natural forms in every part of life and nature, and once they see them they will never mistake decorative patterns for art and beauty in a garden.

I think I'm just going to take this and run. Spiritual Gardening.

Introvert overload

A week of guests (who I truly love) son-unit's eagle ceremony and graduation, numerous official parties and an official breakfast. - I'm in introvert overload. That plus extreme work stress with what appears to be deep cuts on the horizon. I'm giving that one to Brighid. Perhaps I'll have enough clarity to start writing tomorrow.

Its funny though, that I woke up over the weekend and a poem and purpose were half-composed while I slept. I didn't plan that or outline it, it just happened. I may end up explaining it all after I write something instead of before I write something.

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(no subject)

Reconnecting with my outdoors practice seems to be helping clear the fog. Also leaving a walnut a day for the squirrels:-) If I'm going to write Green, I should probably be thoroughly reconnected to Green. Events this week (guests, school events, son-unit's Eagle ceremony, son-unit's graduation, work) are distracting me. I don't actually believe I'll be able to write much of anything until the smoke clears next Tuesday. Lots of time for things to percolate if I keep aware.

Pagan Values Month

Yes, June is pagan values month and I've promised to write on the topic here. And, if this were February, coming off a high energy conference with my spiritual life firing on all cylinders, this would have been easy. But doubt, that worm has found a way into psyche. It is a holy worm, since a pagan faith without doubt is not a pagan faith at all - at least for me. So the struggle to get clear may actually improve the end product. They say that vines have to struggle to produce good grapes for wine - we'll see if this follows the same paradigm.

So, I could take this essay (which will come out on Livejournal) a number of different ways. I believe fairly strongly that the core pagan value is direct relationship to Spirit(s) in all their manifestations. And that a corollary to that relationship is the foundation belief that individuals must not be constrained as they pursue these relationships. I could also take it another related way in that pagans are co-workers for good in the world - or at least most of us. That because our Gods are not all-powerful, they work through us to accomplish their aims in this world and that when our will and Their's coincides magic happens.

Another route would be the willingness to sacrifice. Actually, first the willingness to understand what sacrifice is and then being willing to do it to create good in the world. Or, perhaps "good" is not what I mean, but "Green" the planetary life force that brings new growth and restores the world.

Somehow, I think Pax had a different idea than any of the above. At the moment, I'm thinking that Green has the strongest draw for me backed up by relationship. More noodling as time goes by.

Current Music: Unbroken Chain

Start

I have lots of ideas for things that I'd like to write and spend a lot of time thinking about articles, blog entries, rituals, adult education courses, sermons and what have you. I'm going to see how using this blog for inter-galactic noodle space works. You will probably all drop me from your circle as a result of this;_0

I is here

The last time I had an empty blog, it ended up changing my life. We'll see where this goes.

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