Latest / Random Heathen Ramblings / Random Heathen Ramblings: S4, EP43 - Healing The Unholy

Transcript

Random Heathen Ramblings: S4, EP43 - Healing The Unholy · Random Heathen Ramblings

0:02
Hello everyone and welcome to the Random Heathen Ramlings
0:04
podcast where we discuss all sorts of things dramatic heathen
0:08
re related. My name is Jesse and I'm your
0:11
host. Let's get into it.
0:36
Good evening. Good morning.
0:38
Good day. Hello, everybody.
0:43
We're back like we never left. We're back here for one of the
0:48
few remaining episodes of season four of the of the Random
0:52
Heathen Ramblings podcast this week.
0:53
So thank you as always for tuning in.
0:57
For those of you on Patreon that are catching this in the video
1:00
format, thank you very much. Your support in that way is so
1:06
much appreciated. Hope you guys are having a good
1:09
holiday season or preparing for that.
1:11
I know you know for a lot of folks, you're going to start
1:13
thinking about your Yule Time celebrations.
1:17
For myself and our tribe, you know we've got.
1:21
A couple of months to go for that.
1:25
We do our Yule based around the historical reckoning of it.
1:29
But I know a lot of folks have, you know, other family
1:31
obligations and and in celebrations too that are just,
1:37
you know, about a month away at this point.
1:40
So while you're thinking about that or if you're thinking about
1:44
that, you know, maybe you've got some gift ideas that you're kind
1:51
of drawing a blank on. I would suggest that if you you
1:55
know, people got to wear clothes nowadays, they got to, they got
1:58
to have garments on. To cover up the bare essentials
2:03
and you can get some Midgard musings, clothing, apparel, and
2:07
and other such various accoutrements that have been
2:11
branded with my logo. The Midgard Musings Bind rune
2:14
over at Midgard Musings store.com and you get a 50%
2:20
discount if you shop any day or any time between now and
2:26
December 31st. So even if you are thinking of
2:30
getting something for someone as a Yule gift around the
2:35
historical observation of that you got a whole month left, a
2:41
little bit more like a month and a week or so of time to shop
2:46
there. To get the 50% off discount at
2:50
checkout, just use the code Yule 23.
2:53
That's Yu LE23 and a 50% savings will be applied to your order.
3:02
This is a worldwide offer, so I hope you guys take advantage of
3:07
that even as you're thinking of, you know, doing stuff for that
3:12
holiday or or the holidays this year.
3:19
I know it's a, it's a, it's a it's a touchy time of year or it
3:23
can be a touchy time of year. It's a tough time of year.
3:25
You know, there's a lot of stuff that just happens around this
3:28
time of year. People can kind of get into this
3:32
very, you know, reclusive sort of attitude or mindset.
3:37
You know, they want to draw inward and I kind of intend to
3:40
be one of them. You know what I mean?
3:43
And that's OK. We look, we look inwards, you
3:48
know, to our hearts, to our homes, to our tribes, instead
3:51
of, you know, going out and doing a whole bunch of stuff
3:53
maybe. We.
3:54
We. We.
3:54
Focus more on family so as you are thinking of.
3:59
Your family and and what to do. I wish you all the best, but
4:03
we're going to keep rocking and rolling here on the random Ethan
4:05
Ramblings podcast Now through the end of the year.
4:08
I might might only have just a couple more episodes left in me
4:12
for the season. I usually take a take a break
4:18
towards the end of the year because of the things that I
4:19
just mentioned. Right.
4:20
And you guys are out there doing your thing too.
4:25
So we shall see. You know, we're we're over 40
4:28
episodes. In for the Random Heathen
4:31
Ramblings podcast in season 4. You know, and if you count one
4:37
episode a week, there hasn't been a whole lot that has kept
4:43
me from, you know, putting out, if we if we did one episode
4:46
every week for the year, we'd have at least 52 episodes.
4:51
And I know we've got over 42. So not too shabby, you know, not
4:56
too shabby indeed, I would say. But anyway, let's get into the
5:00
topic of discussion. This week we had a guy who
5:04
Michael Thacker, you are one of our Yarl Tier patrons on
5:08
Patreon. So thank you for supporting me
5:11
here on Patreon and sharing the the question that you did to me
5:16
via e-mail. You know So as a reminder folks
5:19
you that are watching and listening by the way not not to.
5:22
You know not to take away from those of you who are listening.
5:26
Of course there's there's all the support that I can that I
5:29
can possibly thank you for regardless of how you absorb
5:32
this podcast. But yes, you can write into the
5:34
to the podcast. The e-mail is
5:37
midgardmusingstn@gmail.com. Or you can call in like Michael
5:42
did. At first he ran into like a
5:44
dead. Zone in the in the call.
5:46
So fortunately we couldn't salvage much of the audio to
5:49
share today on what his question was.
5:54
That number is 615-671-9832. If any of you folks out here
5:58
listening or watching, want to call in or leave a a suggestion
6:02
or a question or just anything at all, feel free to call in and
6:06
leave a voicemail and be happy to feature you on the on the
6:09
airwaves or the pod waves. OK, but Michael's question, you
6:17
know, after going through his voicemail, he sent an e-mail
6:20
after the fact and said he said how, how should we deal with
6:27
desecrated sacred space? You know, and I I thought,
6:33
that's a really great question, something that I haven't thought
6:36
of too deeply myself. But I can definitely, you know,
6:43
offer my own two cents. And of course, as always, this
6:46
is open for discussion for all of you folks too.
6:51
But to to to read more into the e-mail, he says that he was, you
6:54
know, asking personally because recently.
6:57
Now bear in mind that this, this e-mail came to me at the
7:01
beginning of November, so almost a month ago.
7:07
And of course what he's talking about happened before he sent
7:10
the e-mail. So we're talking, you know,
7:12
around winter nights and even alludes that he says recently
7:17
had something happen. That that someone desecrated his
7:21
vey A vey, for those of you who don't know, is an Old Norse word
7:28
that kind of means like a like a Grove, you know, or or or sacred
7:34
place. It's it's usually meant to
7:36
describe a place away from everywhere else.
7:40
It is sanctified, it is set away, and it is outdoors, right?
7:43
It's not an indoor thing. It is an outdoor thing, he said.
7:49
It was desecrated the day before winter nights.
7:52
He says he went to prep for for ritual and there were beer cans
7:56
scattered everywhere, the firewood that was used up that
8:01
he had saved there. A few hand tools were stolen and
8:07
the altar setup was destroyed. He apparently he had set up some
8:13
Moss covered stones. Flat Moss covered stones or or a
8:20
boulder rather. A flat kind of a flat Moss
8:22
covered boulder was the was the the altar the Hager if you want
8:26
to call it such, but he had hand chiseled stone bowl.
8:31
That that he had, they had worked, and a piece of wood that
8:35
he had carved with names of several of the of the gods into
8:39
it, he says. Over the last few days, you
8:44
know, I've, I've taken to closing the Bay by burning all
8:50
objects and then you know, in that way returning them back to
8:54
the earth. But it brought up a question for
8:57
him as to, you know, how do we address or deal with the
9:04
desecration of sacred space? And I got to, you know, thinking
9:07
of like, that's one of those things, you know, you know, this
9:10
is a heathen podcast, you know, So granted, I talk.
9:13
About a lot of things. And and I've had guests on here
9:16
that we really don't specifically go into the the
9:20
heathen context of things or a heathen worldview of things.
9:24
But this seemed something that was very specific, you know to
9:31
to Heathenry because he's talking about Ave. you know and
9:34
and and and how do we address or deal with those times when
9:39
sacred spaces desecrated. Disrespected.
9:47
And so I thought it would be good to to 1st get an idea for
9:53
us all what we're talking about when we mean sacred space, right
9:58
We, And from a heathen context specifically.
10:03
All right, One of the things to to take into consideration is
10:07
the meaning of sacred and the meaning of holy.
10:13
And there are several words that.
10:18
Maybe not several, but, well, several in the sense that you
10:20
know, words that are cognate, you know, in in like in old, you
10:24
know, dramatic languages. So you know, if you're looking
10:25
at a word that was maybe, you know, an Old English word or Old
10:29
Frisian or Old Saxon, Old Norse, etcetera.
10:33
I mean, when I say several words, they're all cognate.
10:38
But there's, you know, a word for holy.
10:41
There's a word for sacred. And and I think when we talk
10:47
about sacredness or holiness, a lot of us tend to, you know,
10:53
come up with the thing that it's it's they're they're both one of
10:57
the same things. They're just different words
10:58
that mean the same thing. So to start with, you know what
11:05
is holy in a in a in a heathen context to be for something to
11:08
be holy it is to be set aside, but also whole and healthful.
11:16
Right. And for something to be made
11:21
whole or or kept whole, it needs to be you know again that that
11:25
that needs to be something that is maintained.
11:30
But so that is, that is one sense of of the word holy in in
11:37
some old Old Germanic tongues. The, the, the word, the Old
11:40
English. Word for it is is, is.
11:44
And I'll I'll put a word up on screen for you, those that are
11:47
watching. But it's it's it's whole league
11:49
and and the G at the end is silent.
11:54
So you just kind of read it as holy or holy and it sounds
11:59
almost just exactly like our modern English word holy.
12:03
There's, there's different again, there's different
12:05
Germanic words or or words of Germanic languages like I say
12:10
old, old Frisian, Old Saxon. Old high German, Old Norse,
12:14
etcetera. Things that are that that came
12:16
out of that old English word. But it's it's where we get our
12:21
word wholly from. And like I said it it, it means
12:28
to have been whole in in in the sense of healthy.
12:34
So when I think of, you know, desecration of holy space or or
12:38
having to heal something that is holy, it's like we need to
12:42
literally nurse it back to health.
12:47
If if something came in that to whatever degree made the place
12:52
that is holy that was set aside, that was whole, complete,
12:56
healthy in its existence as it was.
13:00
If something came in like other people and then did things like,
13:05
you know, with Michael's example, beer bottles.
13:09
And and stolen goods and and just disrespected the area.
13:13
You know burned all the wood, trashed it, left it in a state
13:16
of of turmoil. That is definitely an an illness
13:21
which is evil, right? You know we.
13:23
We we talk about these types of things in a in a very ancient
13:27
heathen or or elder heathen, arch heathen concept, these
13:30
these things all kind of tied to one another.
13:32
You know, if there's illness, there's sickness and there is,
13:35
there's evil afoot, something that caused that illness,
13:38
something that caused that sickness, is.
13:41
In the context and from the world view of of Archie then
13:44
something that is evil, that which is good for the tribe,
13:47
doesn't do things to undermine or or or put to detriment the
13:52
healthfulness, the holiness of the tribe, you know, so when
13:56
something happens like what we're describing today, you know
14:00
that that takes that away. It is, it is illness, it is
14:03
evilness and it is, you know, how do we deal with it now
14:07
Michael mentioned, you know that he had himself went to his, as
14:12
he puts it, closing the Bay, burning things and returning it
14:16
back to the earth. And I think in that context I
14:20
think that's a really good approach to take.
14:23
You know, if you're able to now I think most people who have
14:30
have the have the land or have the space outside either on
14:35
their property or near their property.
14:37
To set something up like this, of course, if they're going to
14:40
be having fires and ritual and all that out there, then they of
14:43
course would have the means to do what Michael's talking about,
14:47
right? Burning Always be safe and
14:49
careful of that, you know, of course, shouldn't have to say
14:51
it, but you know, here recently there's been, before we had
14:54
started getting some rain in our area, you know, it was really
14:57
dry. We had been, you know, months
14:58
without rain of any substantial amount without like a few little
15:01
sprinkles here there. And in the autumn months when
15:05
all the leaves are falling and it's.
15:07
Crispy and dry and it's, you know you light a spark and boom,
15:11
the whole woods go up in flames. You definitely don't want
15:14
something like that to happen. But anyway, when you know when
15:17
safe and when when capable of doing so, burn those items you
15:21
know, in a ritual in itself to sort of again kind of start over
15:25
from scratch, reclaim the holiness, the the whole
15:32
healthful state of that space once again by.
15:36
Kind of starting over and and clearing anything negative that
15:39
was there out. Some other things that I've
15:44
heard people mention and and some things that I've seen done
15:49
and from my own example or experiences I should say are.
15:53
You know when you when you have that space set.
15:58
You if if you're not proficient in the working of magical
16:02
charms, right? If that's if that if that's
16:04
something that you maybe haven't considered to use for warding
16:11
the space as a sort of keeper of the boundaries of the space,
16:17
that may not be something particularly heathen it's seen
16:24
across many different taking practices not just yeah sure you
16:30
know you may see it in you know Norse or dramatic practices but
16:35
you know to set. Wards, right?
16:38
And and and put things charms, whether they're hung, whether
16:42
they're implanted in the ground, carved right.
16:47
Different ways that you can go about doing it, but to put to
16:53
erect those charms and to put those wards up to.
16:57
Reduce the chances of something like that ever happening again.
17:00
Prevent it from ever happening and again keeping the outer
17:05
space or keeping that inner space again protected from those
17:10
outer therces, those outer forces, those outer you know
17:14
that that illness that would want to come and do damage to
17:20
your space. I say that because I've had
17:24
experience with the Bay that we used to use for our travel
17:31
activities and our rituals every year used to be on our former
17:35
Gothi's parents land and we would go out there prior to
17:40
whatever event that it was we were going to be observing,
17:43
right? So if it was Yule, whatever it
17:47
was, we would be out there about a month or so prior to be
17:51
reacquainted with the vaitier of the land to.
17:54
Clean up any, you know, blow downs, things from storms.
18:01
You know, if it had been over the winter and we were getting
18:03
ready for like our cigar bloat, right?
18:05
All of that growth. That comes in after the winter
18:08
months have, you know, maybe blown some trees down or things,
18:11
right. We would go in there, we would
18:12
just clean things up. Prepare the land back to to be
18:17
ready for ritual and and for people to be there.
18:20
Because for the majority of the time it was kept to to be what
18:26
it was. It was in the wild and and while
18:27
there was a space set within that area to be holy and to be
18:31
set aside and to be what it was for.
18:33
You know, it's not like we were out there every week or every
18:37
weekend even. So anyways, this one time I
18:42
don't remember what holy tide it was that we were about to be
18:46
preparing for. But we had a we had a or they
18:52
had had even before I started coming around a big ward that
18:56
was set kind of at the. I don't want to say it was might
19:01
be the north entrance to the Bay might have been repositioned to
19:06
the South entrance or the South point of the of the of the Bay.
19:12
The Bay was a circle or kind of almost like a horseshoe.
19:14
Not really a horseshoe, but like a.
19:17
A semi, not a semicircle, but it was like it was a circle but it
19:19
wasn't a closed off circle. So if you can imagine like this
19:23
and then it would come to a point and then kind of lead out
19:26
through the north along this pathway.
19:28
So it was circular, but it it didn't close off as a circle.
19:33
So in that southern portion of the circle was where I think the
19:37
the ward was was kept. But anyways it was it was in the
19:44
shape of an Algiese room, right? It was a huge cedar staff set
19:50
there and we came back there one day and for you know they'd had
19:53
it for years and then we came up there one day and it was it was
19:55
gone. Looked around it wasn't like the
19:58
wind knocked it over or something.
20:00
It was just straight up gone. And anyway it was it was like a
20:03
7 or 8 foot long piece of wood or tall piece of wood, right.
20:06
It wasn't no small like hiking stick.
20:08
It was very obviously something set for.
20:14
A specific purpose. And it was gone.
20:17
Whoever had come by and through the area took it.
20:22
Now one could consider that desecration of sacred space,
20:25
even though maybe that person didn't know what it was.
20:28
I mean, you come across a big stone circle with a fire pit in
20:32
the middle of it and you see an altar, or what looks like an
20:36
altar of stones with various items and things on.
20:39
It. I mean, even if you're not Pagan
20:40
or you're not heathen, you got to know if you were to come
20:43
across something like that, that this is probably something or
20:45
some place that I shouldn't be unless invited and I should not
20:49
be messing around with anything here.
20:53
People are terrible sometimes and they don't think about their
20:57
actions and they just do things to be malicious.
20:59
And so whatever the case was, the staff was missing.
21:05
Now, another thing that one might say is that, well, the
21:10
fact that it was taken and that was the only thing that
21:13
happened, all right? Because as I recall, there was
21:16
no damage done to the Bay. There were no, you know, rocks
21:19
torn apart. You know out of their place that
21:22
the the altar, the the huger wasn't destroyed.
21:26
Everything else was where it should be.
21:27
It was just that staff that was missing.
21:29
One might say that the ward did its job right.
21:31
The thing that we had in place to ward out that that illness or
21:36
that evil took the took the attack and was.
21:40
Sacrifice, as it were, to keep the Bay protected.
21:47
And so we took it upon ourselves then to go and search for and
21:52
and and and find another ward, another staff, another item that
21:57
would be used to to bless the space and protect the space and
22:02
ceremonies thereafter. You know, so you know, you kind
22:07
of, again, you kind of have to look at the the what was done,
22:10
how much damage was received, what was, what was the outcome
22:15
of the desecration of the land or of the space.
22:18
And then what actions do you take?
22:19
And the actions you take as you rebuild you you start over.
22:24
All right. And you consider the fact that
22:28
if there weren't wards in place, let's put some in place.
22:31
Let's add to that magic. Let's, you know, if if we're not
22:34
good at it, let's find someone who is right.
22:36
Let's let's get something set up in that space to protect it when
22:43
we're not there, you know, and I always have to think too, you
22:48
know what I mean? Like everybody's situation is
22:51
different. Everybody's property is is set
22:54
up differently. I'm sure, you know, sometimes
22:56
you might have an acre or two of land.
23:00
That you think, yeah, this is my land and I can do, you know,
23:02
whatever I want to hear because it's, I own it, it's mine.
23:08
And then, you know, you've got neighbors that are butted up,
23:11
butted up right next to you that can either see everything or or
23:15
have easy access to it. And again, without knowing those
23:19
people well or without just knowing people in general well,
23:21
I mean again, anybody can traipse across anyone else's
23:24
land at any point in time and and just do whatever they feel
23:27
like, so. I think, you know one thing to
23:30
to bear in mind is that when we are establishing those those
23:34
spaces, when we are setting aside that that holy site, you
23:42
know that we're being respectful of our neighbors and that we're
23:46
you know maybe not doing anything that is going to invite
23:51
unsavory people I. Don't know.
23:55
Some folks might say, you know, well, it's it's, you know, it's
23:57
my freedom. It's my right.
23:58
I don't, I shouldn't. You know, I don't have to worry
24:00
about that. Again, every circumstance, every
24:04
space is going to be different. I'm sure you know.
24:07
So don't take what I'm saying and be like, you know, yeah, I
24:09
need to check with my neighbors first or are they cool with it,
24:12
right? You know, again, I don't, I
24:17
don't think that. I'm not trying to say that
24:20
that's what you should be doing. I'm just saying that be be be
24:25
aware, be considerate, right? Like you know if if you're in an
24:27
area where you know you're setting up stuff and you're
24:30
making it obviously heathen or obviously Pagan, you know you're
24:33
going to go all out and carve, you know, a 10 foot tall guard
24:35
God pole. You know and and and get blood
24:40
from your butcher or or have a a.
24:43
You know an actual bloat and you're going to soak the the God
24:47
pole with blood and. Everything.
24:48
And your neighbors next door are super, super Christian people.
24:51
Or, you know, whatever it's like if they're right.
24:55
There, you know like ah man, that's that's a bit that's
24:58
alarming and that could that could raise some red flags for
25:01
for you as the practitioner, for you and yours.
25:04
You know people do some strange things when when they're
25:09
ignorant of certain things, you know.
25:12
And again, so you know, all I'm saying is.
25:14
That you know, if if it's in a rural enough area and you got no
25:17
visible neighbors and you're, you know, kind of free to do
25:22
whatever you want without having to worry about people
25:24
accidentally or or purposely finding your space, then maybe
25:27
it's a little bit of a different story.
25:29
But if it's neighbors butted right, up to you.
25:32
And they have visibility to the thing that you're doing, and
25:35
they're obviously not that. They're they're the 180°
25:39
different thing, or whatever it is that you're doing.
25:44
Part of I think considering what what we do and how we do it is,
25:48
is realizing that we are doing it in modern times.
25:50
You know, we have to think about that with the people that we
25:55
might encounter or might have, you know, be a be a be of good
25:58
representation. You know, obviously live your
26:02
religion, you know, live your faith, live your life, you know,
26:05
if that's what you believe, then you should, you should live it
26:07
in that way. Just realize that, you know, if
26:11
you have people that don't know what it's all about and that are
26:14
worried about it, they maybe have concerns.
26:16
They might be, you know, seeking to do things that could tear
26:20
down the thing that you're trying to build.
26:24
So not saying that if you don't say anything to them or don't
26:32
include them or don't mention to them that all of a sudden you're
26:34
going to come out there one day and.
26:35
Everyone's going to be. Torn down because your neighbors
26:38
decided to do it. You can probably get into some.
26:42
Legitimate legal trouble for doing stuff like that.
26:45
I mean, that's trespassing, that's, you know, vandalism.
26:48
That's that's stuff like that. And you know, that's that's
26:51
another thing to consider too, because we are in modern times,
26:56
you know the laws that existed back in in Archie and times were
27:02
laws that that were built around the tribe.
27:06
You know what I mean? So the tribe was.
27:08
The law is it's. Essentially what I'm trying to
27:10
say in other words, if if you know you were belonging to one
27:16
tribe and you and you did something that was wrong in
27:20
another tribe, you your punishment, you know the thing
27:25
that you had to to worry about wasn't that tribe's laws.
27:28
It was your tribe's laws. You were under the law of your
27:31
tribe. It's different now.
27:33
I mean we have local, regional, federal, state, everybody, you
27:39
know, laws, let's say what is legal, what is not And so if and
27:48
especially with you know like here in North America or the
27:50
United States at least. You know, freedom of religion,
27:53
one of our constitutional rights.
27:55
You know, if you can prove that, you know whether you have, you
27:59
know, cameras set up or whatever, you can prove that
28:02
somebody came or somebody's came through and not only trespassed
28:08
on your land, but but. Maliciously behaved on on a on a
28:14
space of land that was considered a holy site or or
28:18
sacred ground. You might.
28:21
I don't know for sure because again the laws are are different
28:24
everywhere you go. But you might even have legal
28:28
backing to to to go to court with that and and to and to
28:31
prosecute someone you know and to take them to court and and to
28:34
seek damages you know. And I don't think that that's a
28:37
wrong thing to do, especially if you've, you know, taking the
28:41
time out of your life, out of your day, out of everything to
28:43
devote something like that. So importantly, you know your
28:46
your, your, your rights to practice, your, your religion
28:51
peacefully and freely shouldn't be infringed upon by anybody for
28:57
any reason. You know, so think we'll
29:02
probably take things different, you know different and different
29:04
measures. You know if if, if somebody's
29:07
Grover or Vey was was. Destroyed in a In a way like
29:11
Michael was describing, some people might go the distance of
29:15
setting up hidden cameras on that property.
29:17
So that way when they do rebuild and when they do put things back
29:22
in order, that need to be put in order that when, when, when that
29:26
illness is is fixed, right when that sickness is healed.
29:32
Now they want to put cameras out there to catch.
29:36
The person or persons that, that, that, that may come by the
29:39
next time, you know, So what? What can we do?
29:43
What? What should we do?
29:44
I mean, if you have the means and you want to do that, can you
29:49
do that? Yeah, sure you can.
29:52
You can go back and you can check your footage and if you
29:53
find the people that did it or you know you get, you catch them
29:57
doing it, then you can go to the law and, you know, pursue legal
30:03
action against them. That's one way of setting things
30:07
back in balance, you know. But I think for a lot of us, you
30:10
know, for the majority of us it's, you know, let's avoid that
30:15
whenever possible, right? We don't want to just kind of
30:18
keep to ourselves and do things that are holistic for ours and
30:23
and only ours. You know, we don't want any
30:25
added attention being being brought to us.
30:29
Now again, if it can't be, if it's something that can't be
30:32
rectified through, just a simple, you know, fix it and
30:35
and. You know, place your words and
30:37
believe in that sort of thing if it keeps.
30:40
Happening or you're or you're seeing a a let me call it a a
30:46
repeat offence to it. Then you definitely have
30:50
problems that you need to to look at.
30:52
Maybe on on more than just a a surface level of yeah, I got
30:55
vandals in the area. Maybe there's something else.
30:58
Maybe there's something about the land that the the the
31:01
spirits are not present. To to protect that space and
31:10
then those are some things to consider as well.
31:16
I did also want to mention that you know, there there's several
31:19
I talk about you know source material and and things and and
31:27
there was one source that I wanted to to call attention to
31:30
Paul, I believe his last name is.
31:34
Bauschitz, I'm saying that right.
31:37
He wrote a book called The Well in the Tree, OK And it's on one
31:46
of my recommended reading lists. I don't know if you can find his
31:49
book on Amazon or online anywhere, but here on the
31:54
screen, I'm just going to to show you a section of that book.
31:58
And I'm going to read it out loud for all of the the
32:00
listeners too, So don't worry. But this is again, this is from
32:03
his book The Well and Tree, and it says, for the Germanic
32:05
people's space as it is encountered and perceived in the
32:11
created worlds of men and other beings, exist to any significant
32:16
degree only as a location or container for the occurrence of
32:20
action. The container is action, whether
32:24
of individual men, of men acting in consort or in opposition, of
32:29
men and monsters or whatever. Right.
32:31
So we're talking about what's what's being done in in an area,
32:35
right. So if it's ritual, if it's this,
32:37
that, whatever. But in all cases, immediate
32:40
actions are discontinuous and separable, deriving power and
32:46
structure from the past. And I just, I wanted to bring
32:52
that up because I thought it was well worth considering that, you
32:54
know, when you know we we we we talk about sacred space as
32:58
being. It's it's sacred for a reason.
33:01
It's it's holy for a reason. We're not just, you know, you
33:05
know, knocking over a few trees or or setting up a few stones.
33:12
You know we're. We're doing things of a
33:15
meaningful action to connect us with each other, right?
33:21
That when the tribe gathers in this space.
33:24
It is to. Connect with one another, but it
33:26
is also a way to connect. Or consort, as it were, whether
33:34
with or in opposition to other beings.
33:37
And and so we, we want to share that space with them.
33:41
The the whites of the land, the gods of of our, you know, holy
33:46
powers, we want to connect with them in that way.
33:49
And so that's why those spaces are set as holy as whole, like
33:58
complete healthy finding desecration of spaces can be a
34:03
really, really demoralizing sort of thing.
34:06
Like, I mean, I say demoralizing, but like it can
34:08
hurt real bad. Like you know to walk into your
34:11
space that you have had encounters with the gods or the
34:15
OR the whites of the land or your or your people.
34:17
You know, you you've shared meaningful moments of ritual.
34:21
It can be really disheartening to walk into a space and see it
34:25
in a state of unrest or in a state of disarray.
34:31
It it can really tear you up. And like I said, you know, for
34:37
for for me, when it happened at at our old vey, fortunately it
34:42
wasn't anything of too much. It wasn't too tore up.
34:46
It was, you know, we had a staff missing.
34:49
But again, we we thought about that.
34:50
Man, you know the the space, how long has it been missing?
34:55
You know, you start thinking about all those things, but
34:58
immediately the first thing that you go to is, is how do we go
35:01
about fixing this, How do we go about correcting this?
35:04
And one of the first things we did was again, we we went on the
35:07
hunt to to find something, what spoke to us, what nature could
35:12
provide, what the whites wanted to, to share with us as a means
35:16
of protecting the space again. And as I mentioned earlier on
35:20
the, you know the the old staff, the old ward was a was an algaes
35:24
room. It was a big cedar limb in the
35:26
shape of an algaes room. But we didn't go out looking for
35:29
another algaes room. We just kind of went out for a
35:34
walk and figured whatever it was that needed to be provided to us
35:40
would be provided. And as it turned out, it was a
35:43
feiyu room. That was the the staff of choice
35:47
that was presented to us to use. And the more I think of it, it
35:59
was either you or Cigarblo where that happened because I don't I
36:07
don't think I've been back there since the you know the members
36:13
of of our tribe have things have shifted.
36:16
Things have changed, you know, And so that they that space that
36:19
used to be accessible to us is not accessible to the tribe
36:24
anymore. We don't go there for our
36:27
things. We hold them elsewhere.
36:32
We hold them actually right here at my, my wife's in my house
36:37
until something else presents itself or until we have options,
36:44
you know, pursued. Because we have some options.
36:50
We have some, some things kind of out there to consider, just a
36:54
matter of doing the thing and and checking it all out.
36:57
Do we want to go there? Do we want to set up camp there?
36:59
Do we want to kind of create this as that home base, you
37:04
know, for the tribe, for for rituals and things.
37:07
Until then, you know, we have sacred space set here and what's
37:14
interesting about here for us is, you know, that sacred space
37:18
kind of. The where the house is, you know
37:24
inner yard. I'm going to talk about some
37:27
terms that are relevant to this because the inner and outer
37:34
worldview of of of dramatic peoples.
37:37
You know at the time elder heathens had this this pretty
37:41
clear cut separation between between the inner and the outer.
37:48
And what is in is is under law and it is under order, it is
37:52
under protection, it is, it is good and what is out is not.
37:56
It is the wild. It is outlaw.
37:59
It is outside of all of that and there were definitely.
38:02
Specific lines and barriers to. Separate those things.
38:07
And interestingly enough, you know our space does have literal
38:13
barriers, right? Like we've got a fence, a fence
38:16
row that. Keeps what is in in and keeps
38:20
certain things out that we want out.
38:25
And so it's an interesting like thing to to like to keep in
38:29
mind, you know and is that when we do our stuff and we have
38:34
ritual when we hold ritual it's you know sacred space has been
38:37
set and I've I've reset it several times.
38:39
You know when I say reset I mean and go out with fire and and and
38:44
do certain things the way that I do things my ritual cultic
38:47
practice right to to kind of re secure those relationships and
38:53
and and that might be something else to consider when we talk
38:58
about what can we do when sacred space is desecrated is
39:03
reestablish those bonds. You know maybe it's you know
39:06
been a while since you've been out there.
39:07
It's kind of one of the reasons why like I mentioned before that
39:10
when the, you know, when the tribe did go out to this place
39:14
at the Bay that we used to have, it wasn't, we didn't go out
39:17
there the day of the event and start setting up.
39:20
We went out there at least a month or so.
39:23
Prior to re establish that our connection with the Veytir to re
39:30
establish our bond to to reconnect with the land.
39:36
It could be, you know that when, when things happened, if space
39:38
was desecrated, it could be that.
39:40
Maybe the land felt neglected. You know, between the forces
39:47
that we share space with, you know us and them, right?
39:50
So if you're if your if your sacred space was desecrated,
39:53
maybe it's because and again without knowing specifics,
39:58
right. But maybe it's because they're
40:01
the the spirits that are native to that space didn't feel
40:04
connected to the people anymore, so.
40:07
You're like, what do we have to to worry about?
40:10
They're not coming out here. They're not doing anything.
40:12
They're not really putting in the work, right.
40:14
So what is there to? What is there to protect here?
40:18
What is there to even worry about?
40:24
I'm not saying that. They think that way or or or.
40:26
Whatever. I'm just again, thinking and
40:28
thinking out loud and kind of talking through this concept
40:30
because again, it's one of those concepts that are questions that
40:33
I hadn't really thought of. You know too much and just going
40:36
kind of going back based off of my experience and and maybe some
40:39
things here or there that we've you know kind of read or or or
40:42
found out in in in source materials you know the so the
40:50
well on the tree. If you guys want to check it out
40:52
by Paul Bauschitz, I'll I'll put his information like the name of
40:57
the book and if I could find a link for it.
40:59
I'll link it in the description or show notes if you guys are
41:02
listening and you want to check it out.
41:06
You can definitely do that, along with any other source
41:08
material that I come up with about things pertaining to the
41:13
sacred, the holy, those concepts.
41:18
Because again. You know what?
41:19
What? What do we do if sacred space is
41:20
desecrated? Well, what makes up sacred
41:22
space? We got to know those
41:24
definitions. We got to understand all of
41:33
that. There's a line from a book by
41:39
Kristen Kastrup called The Culture called Culture and
41:45
Society in Medieval Iceland. There's a line there that says
41:48
that when we turn to the layout of immediate space, it appears
41:53
that the most significant distinction pertaining to the
41:56
spatial arrangements of the farmstead was any ooty right
42:02
inside, outside. The border lines between the
42:05
farmstead as center and the world outside as periphery was
42:10
driven along the fence that surrounded the farm.
42:13
The opposition between Ingard and Utengard, inside and outside
42:18
fences respectively, had important socio legal
42:21
implications. Again, you look at.
42:28
The society at the time, right? And then the way the world was
42:31
at the time and how we read, Kind of.
42:34
Repurpose that, relive that, re reconstruct it in a way,
42:39
Nowadays we're trying to experience something now that
42:47
was experienced at a very specific point in time with a
42:52
very specific kind of people that saw the world in a very
42:56
specific way, you know, So adopting those worldviews coming
43:00
into that mindset now with the world the way it is.
43:04
It can be a challenge and it can be a difficult thing to to find
43:07
places for you know, not everything fits the way I see
43:11
it. At least.
43:16
You know we can mold and shape things to to kind of fit when
43:20
and as we need to. But yeah, I think, you know,
43:27
when we talk about the, you know, you know, I would love to
43:33
have a space, sacred space, right, That was created and set
43:41
away from the homestead, right, The farmstead, which this isn't
43:45
a farm, but the away from the homestead.
43:47
Someplace that I could go to. And a lot of us have that right.
43:51
A lot of us think of going out into nature, going to a specific
43:58
rock, a specific. Collection of trees, the river,
44:04
the mountains, we we call them. We call these things sacred.
44:09
There is a, there is an element of sacredness to all those
44:12
things. I I would, I would absolutely
44:15
agree that nature has sacredness, you know, as as part
44:23
of its. Thing You know it is, it is
44:26
definitely a a sacred place. You know, nature is we feel
44:32
often times, we feel often times closer to our gods, to our
44:40
ancestors when we are, you know, in nature.
44:48
But what happens if the next person that comes by is a you
44:51
know, the the place that you go to, that you find or feel, you
44:56
know, sacred? The degree of sacredness, what
44:59
happens the next person that comes through you know is, is is
45:02
high on on, on hard drugs, heroin, meth, speed, whatever,
45:09
you know, and they're out there getting high and then destroying
45:13
their bodies. They're they're they're not
45:14
having any sense of or degree or understanding of what sacred is
45:18
and they're just out there getting messed up.
45:23
Is that place sacred anymore? Have they not, then have they
45:26
desecrated? The space that you've thought in
45:31
the past was sacred. I don't see it that way.
45:35
Again, the, the, the, the, the, the description, the
45:38
separativeness, the the. Other.
45:40
World worldliness of sacred spaces is specific.
45:45
Things had to been done to to make that space sacred.
45:48
To make that space holy. Yes, nature and the and the
45:50
trees and and the mountains and the river and everything.
45:53
There is a there. Is there a spirit that exists
45:55
there? From my ass from my perspective
46:00
at least. But I feel like the way that
46:02
that what we're talking about here is and you know these the
46:05
the dramatic people specifically had a had a sense of holy is
46:09
within sacredness is within and and and there's outside of all
46:16
that that is not that you know so their worldview reflected.
46:24
That if it was holy, it needed to be kept in.
46:25
We don't go outside of things. We don't go away from things.
46:29
We go in to things that are holy.
46:32
You know, we step in or we we approach it and we come into
46:37
that space that has been set, established as such.
46:47
So yeah, I mean, when I talk about, you know, I'd love to
46:50
have a space that I could go to that is.
46:51
Outside of the. Of the confines of the home it's
46:55
it's mainly just because where I live you know right now is is
46:59
there's neighbors and there's a lot of eyes and you know there's
47:03
traffic and and other external distractions and things that can
47:10
kind of take away from the mindset or the tone that you're
47:13
trying to to achieve when you're when you wanted to connect with.
47:19
You know whether it's with your ancestors, with this local
47:22
spirits of the land, with the gods, what have you right.
47:24
When you want to go and you want to do those things, there's a
47:26
there's a degree. Of privacy that you want to
47:29
have. And around here, there's just
47:30
not that unless you're inside. So there's, you know, there's
47:38
always a part of me that's like, man, you know, it'd be nice to
47:41
have a space for the tribe to be able to go kind of like we used
47:45
to have. That's a little bit outside of
47:48
the. The immediate eyes of the
47:53
neighbors, you know what I mean? Give us that privacy.
47:56
Give us that separativeness, or that separateness of of feeling
48:00
of being away from them, but close to to who we want to feel
48:04
close to. So yeah, I don't know, you know,
48:12
Michael and and anybody else listening and watching if if
48:16
what I talked about today kind of helped answer your question.
48:19
But thank you Michael for asking.
48:21
I hope that the ramblings of this week's episode gave you or
48:26
other things to think about and maybe you've come up with some
48:29
things yourself on what to do. But I definitely would agree
48:33
that you know what you need to do with the items that you
48:36
already had there is to, you know, inter them, give them back
48:43
to the earth, give them back to the sacred, give them back to
48:45
the holy to heal that land, to heal that space and start over
48:49
again. You know, 'cause obviously
48:51
whatever happened, that was. That that happened when you
48:54
weren't there was it was it was a disgrace.
48:58
You know what I mean? Like people shouldn't be going
49:00
to places that aren't theirs, using items that aren't theirs.
49:05
You know, burning firewood, taking tools, kicking things
49:08
over, leaving trash. I mean, that's just, that's a
49:11
disgrace. It's disgraceful.
49:14
And while they may not have known the religious nature or
49:17
the spiritual nature of your space, you know, we can't really
49:23
say for sure if they did or didn't.
49:24
You know, it's definitely a desecration in some in one form
49:31
or fashion. Now if it was intentional and
49:35
they and they did that, then you know probably take a whole
49:40
different approach with it on how you want to deal with it.
49:42
But live in modern times, you know we got to consider the
49:47
consequences of our actions and and and what that's going to do
49:50
for not just you but for for the people in your life, for
49:55
everybody that that you're connected to.
49:58
So I do hope that you know, talking about it at least opens
50:01
up some more discussion if you folks are listening and want to
50:05
write into the podcast or. You know e-mail it.
50:11
It's Midgard musings tn@gmail.com If you guys are
50:13
watching this on the on the Spotify, sorry.
50:15
On the Patreon page. Thank you for for for watching.
50:21
Comment down below what your thoughts are.
50:25
The guys that are listening want to get in on that.
50:27
It's just $1.00 that you can pay one time for one.
50:32
You know once you pay that you can watch any episodes that I
50:35
have already uploaded, but if you want to continue seeing them
50:39
every week. You know that $1.00 for a month
50:42
cycle will get you however many episodes I upload that month.
50:45
And if that's all you want to do, you're under no obligation
50:48
to continue. So you're you're welcome to, you
50:51
know, do it once and and be done with it.
50:54
Or you can keep doing that once a month $1.00 pledge and have
50:59
continuous access to all the content that I upload in video
51:03
format. So yeah, that gonna that's gonna
51:06
wrap it up for this week's episode.
51:08
And appreciate all you fine folks listening and watching.
51:13
If you did enjoy it, be sure to give it a like heart of follow
51:16
me. You know whatever up vote do the
51:18
thing that wherever it is you're watching shows your appreciation
51:22
for. And as always, I thank you for
51:24
that ongoing and constant support.
51:27
Don't forget for the Yule gifts and stuff that you want to get
51:30
maybe from the Midgard amusing store.
51:31
It's Midgard amusing store.com use code.
51:34
Yule 23, that's YUL 23 at checkout for a 50% discount on
51:39
your order. That is a worldwide thing.
51:42
So it doesn't matter where you are in Midgard, where you're
51:45
listening from. If you want to get something for
51:47
you or a loved one, you can do so and and get a 50% discount
51:51
now through the end of the year. All right.
51:55
So that brought again that wraps it up.
51:56
I'm going to say it that this one last time.
51:58
Thank you all so much for listening and watching today.
52:00
Hope you all enjoyed it till we talk again.
52:03
May the gods continue to notice you, and may your ancestors
52:07
smile upon you. See you next time.