(no subject)

And then I guess I didn't post for a week again. So here are some things:

- I swear I haven't forgotten about the next saga post. It has just been simply too hot to sit with a computer on my lap for the time it takes to do a weekly recording. However! The temperature seems to be going down so if there's anyone out there who is waiting in suspense to find out what's going to happen to Gunnar and Hallgerd and Njal, you will find out soon.

- Tonight is the first meeting of the meetup group I started. We are meeting in a coffee shop and 5 people have RSVPed. I am nervous about it and will probably become more so as the day goes on, but I think it will be okay. Wish me luck!

- To distract myself from nervousness, I am embarking on a craft project. A religious craft project. See, the thing is, it is difficult to find altar statuary that I like. Especially once you go beyond wanted statues of Odin, Thor, Freyr, or Freyja. You want a statue of Nerthus, say (because I do), and your choices are either to repurpose some other kind of statue (which is a completely workable choice) or to make something yourself. Not really finding anything I liked for the purpose, I am making my own. And by "making my own" I mean that I bought some of those abstract wooden doll parts from a craft store and am painting them. I like fairly abstract religious statuary, really, and any statue of Nerthus is going to spend the majority of its time under a veil in any case. So I'm happy with it.

- Tomorrow, my sisters are coming over and we are going to the Lavender Festival in Sequim. Should be fun.


And those are the things of right now.

(no subject)

My meetup went so well! I had two people attend (out of the five who had RSVPed), which was fine. They were both awesome ladies who have some experience with other brands of paganism but none with heathenry and who were really interested in learning more about it. So we had a really great conversation about our religious histories and what we want out of the group - it was really productive, I think, and the things we want seem to mesh pretty well. Plus, they both seem like pretty cool people who would be fun to hang out with more. We exchanged some book recommendations and made tentative plans to meet up again soon, for a picnic and symbel*.

Also, I was not a total spaz and managed to act like a person who is fun to talk to and knows stuff about things. So I am both excited about a successful meeting and proud of myself. Hurrah!






*Symbel is the easier to organize of the two major heathen rituals since, basically, it's just a series of toasts. You take your mead or whatever and you pass it around the group and each person makes a toast. Most of the time in modern practice, there are three rounds - the first to the gods, the second to the ancestors, and the third is an open round where you can make a toast or a boast or swear an oath or sing a song or tell a story or what have you. It doesn't require a script or choreography or a lot of props, so it seems like a good thing to start with.