(no subject)
Today I went out and stocked up on easily-portable long-life dried foods. I collected together, in one easily accessible place: water-purification tablets, basic first aid supplies, alcohol-based hand sanitiser, necessary medications, fuel, a spirit-stove.
Survivalist swine flu prep? Nope, camping. I lucked out a few months back and made contact with a really nice bunch of local heathens and pagans. They hold a regular pub moot, and have these camps a few times a year.
There will be ritual activity, but I'm not signed up to do any kind of clerical duty or whatever. I volunteered to help run the food stand thingy, nice practical stuff. I'm looking forward to it. I have some big old rituals coming up in the summer--including helping to ground-crew at least one person's somafera initiation. It's going to be quite an intense time, spiritually speaking, and while I'm glad of that and appreciate the honour, I'm also appreciative of the opportunity to do the more grounded, human sort of work. I think it's very easy to forget just how important that is.*
It'll also be good to get away and off into the woods for a bit. It's been pretty nice around here climate-wise, and this region has a lot to offer in terms of varied flora and fauna. Right now all the bluebells are out, and I go doo-lally for a nice bluebell wood. I seem to remember that the New Forest is home to the Early Purple Orchid, if memory serves-
Mostly though I am just looking forward to spending time with these people. I've met lots of the other attendees in the pub, but pub moots are... well, they are in the pub. People are either a bit lubricated or dashing off to work in the am. You get wedged behind a table and can't circulate. Conversations about the ins and outs of pagan worship grind to a halt when the bar staff come to pick up your empties. It's good, but less than ideal.
They are a very cool and accepting lot by and large. I've been told that some of the heathen contingent are critical of Loki-worship, but it's a case of reasonable minds differing rather than a serious source of strife. And there are others who feel differently, including one or two Lokean folks. I've found the UK heathens to be rather different in character from the Americans; UK folks seem to lean more toward the adaptive side, and don't place as much emphasis on group religious ritual. I'm sort of in the middle. On one hand, I think the down-to-earth UK approach has a lot going for it. On the other, I sometimes feel a need for the kind of shared worship that seems to get more emphasis Stateside, and wonder if we're not trying a little too hard to be sturdily irreverent. (Isn't it great, though, that there's such diversity of spiritual expression in heathenry, and that we have such unprecedented opportunities to learn from each other?)
Also I get to sleep in a tent and have legitimate reason to use a windup torch, spirit stove etc. Part of the joy of camping is playing with the gadgets.
*Having said all that, I have probably now doomed myself to end up wearing a pink hat with bells on and leading a round of orange Tang toasts.
Survivalist swine flu prep? Nope, camping. I lucked out a few months back and made contact with a really nice bunch of local heathens and pagans. They hold a regular pub moot, and have these camps a few times a year.
There will be ritual activity, but I'm not signed up to do any kind of clerical duty or whatever. I volunteered to help run the food stand thingy, nice practical stuff. I'm looking forward to it. I have some big old rituals coming up in the summer--including helping to ground-crew at least one person's somafera initiation. It's going to be quite an intense time, spiritually speaking, and while I'm glad of that and appreciate the honour, I'm also appreciative of the opportunity to do the more grounded, human sort of work. I think it's very easy to forget just how important that is.*
It'll also be good to get away and off into the woods for a bit. It's been pretty nice around here climate-wise, and this region has a lot to offer in terms of varied flora and fauna. Right now all the bluebells are out, and I go doo-lally for a nice bluebell wood. I seem to remember that the New Forest is home to the Early Purple Orchid, if memory serves-
Mostly though I am just looking forward to spending time with these people. I've met lots of the other attendees in the pub, but pub moots are... well, they are in the pub. People are either a bit lubricated or dashing off to work in the am. You get wedged behind a table and can't circulate. Conversations about the ins and outs of pagan worship grind to a halt when the bar staff come to pick up your empties. It's good, but less than ideal.
They are a very cool and accepting lot by and large. I've been told that some of the heathen contingent are critical of Loki-worship, but it's a case of reasonable minds differing rather than a serious source of strife. And there are others who feel differently, including one or two Lokean folks. I've found the UK heathens to be rather different in character from the Americans; UK folks seem to lean more toward the adaptive side, and don't place as much emphasis on group religious ritual. I'm sort of in the middle. On one hand, I think the down-to-earth UK approach has a lot going for it. On the other, I sometimes feel a need for the kind of shared worship that seems to get more emphasis Stateside, and wonder if we're not trying a little too hard to be sturdily irreverent. (Isn't it great, though, that there's such diversity of spiritual expression in heathenry, and that we have such unprecedented opportunities to learn from each other?)
Also I get to sleep in a tent and have legitimate reason to use a windup torch, spirit stove etc. Part of the joy of camping is playing with the gadgets.
*Having said all that, I have probably now doomed myself to end up wearing a pink hat with bells on and leading a round of orange Tang toasts.