|
325 word min, 975 words max
Three short book reviews on 1 Indo-European studies title 1 preferred ethnic study (Hearth Culture) title 1 Modern Paganism title. Adequate/Meets Criteria Requirements: Correct books used Convinces reader that student has read the books Covers entire scope of books ********************* This is the third book required for the Dedicant path. The book I decided to read was Kinsella, Thomas and Louis Le Brocquy. The Táin: From the Irish Epic Táin BóCualinge. Oxford University Press, 2002. [ISBN: 0192803735, 9780192803733] ‘The Táin, or Cattle Raid, is the nearest approach to a great epic that Ireland has produced’ (Kinsella, vii). This is as good an introduction as any for this amazing tale. While the vast majority of Irish literature is lost some stories such as The Tain have survived but the origins of the Tain are deeply ancient. As this translator mentions, the language used of the earliest form of the story is dated to the eighth centry and some passages may be two centuries older. This is indeed an ancient tale. Upon completion of this story I was surprised at the overall complete lack of Christian themes as is so often the case with Celtic/Irish literature written down years after they had been Christianized. The tale of the Tain starts with a bedroom spat between husband and wife. Queen Medb and King Ailill start a “who has the most power/wealth/possessions” sort of spat that results in them both comparing each of their assets only to discover in the end that the King has only one thing that can best his wife, a prized Bull named Finnbennach. This sparks jealousy in Medb and she seeks out to find an equal to this bull for her own. She locates an equal The Brown Bull of Cuailnge but when she asks for a loan of this bull from Uster, they refuse. This incites Medb to war and she and her husband (who is not totally okay with helping his wife in this mission to obtain a bull that will set their assets equal) assemble a great army and the Tain Bo Cuailnge begins as they march on to Ulster to proquire this Bull. What follows is a lot of traveling, a lot of fighting and the encounter with the grand warrior Cúchulainn as prophesized by the woman Fedelm. Before the Tain, we learned of this warrior and how he was brought up and trained by one of the best warriors of all time, a woman, named Scáthach. The 17 year old Cúchulainn takes out thousands of Medb’s army single handedly (often with one of the Morrigan, the Goddess Nemain’s frenzied help) There is a pact made that Medb will send one of her warriors a day to face Cúchulainn and he slays each and every one with his super hero-like warrior talents. Often times Medb uses herself and the marriage to her beautiful daughter Finnabair as incentives to incite these warriors to fight against the boy, but each fall at the hands of Cúchulainn. At one point in the tale Cúchulainn encounters the Goddess Morrigan who requests him have sex with him. He declines saying he has wars to fight, not women to bed and she vows vengeance. She comes at him in three forms, a Wolf, an Eel and a Heifer to try and disrupt his winning streak in battle. She does not upset his fighting too terribly but he wounds her each time. Injuries that she later tricks him into healing her from. The epic ends shortly after Cúchulainn is forced to have a very emotional three day battle with his foster brother and dear friend Ferdiad. In the end Ferdiad is killed but Cúchulainn’s spirit and body is deeply wound in the process. The war between Medb and Ailill’s army and Ulstermen continues and Medeb does manage to bring the Brown Bull of Cuaineg back home only for him to fight Finnbennach, killing him and then dying himself. Rendering the entire tale….somewhat anti-climactic. Thousands of soldiers die over a bedroom spat between husband and wife, and in the end, neither win the spat. This epic is fantastic to me for several reasons. The first reason is that it is ripe with humor as well as with the reality of war. It is full of fantastic battle scenes that are far beyond the scope of reality and above all else, it is full of very strong women. Medb is portrayed, to me, as more powerful as a war leader than her husband Ailill. Cúchulainn and his foster brother Ferdiad are trained by the very powerful, female warrior Scáthach. Women are often sexualized in this tale but in nearly every case it is impossible to see them as purely submissive pretty little things which is very much so against the Christian idea of women. The Warrior Goddess’s the Morrigan, Nemain, and Badb are shown as strong goddesses of war as well. Although it was sometimes hard to keep up with all of the deaths at the hand of Cúchulainn (and they can seem very repetitive after a while), and with each death the naming of providences and locations in Ireland, it was an amazing tale of an ancient culture and I could imagine the story telling of the fantastical elements from generation to generation. I learned a lot I did not know from this epic and for that I am truly thankful I read it
0 Comments
500 words min, 1500 words max
Adequate/Meets Criteria requirements:
7: Nature Awareness Essay My connection to nature has been exceptionally strong ever since I was a little girl. I grew up on a farm away from neighbors or other children but we had acres of property full of trees and fields and amazing areas to explore. At all times, but especially in times of stress, sadness or frustration, I would run through the property against the wind, climb trees barefoot, collect countless wild flowers, catch salamanders, grasshoppers, field mice, garter snakes and frogs or simply lie in the grass and watch the clouds go by. I worked with my hands in a garden, and ran everywhere barefoot. I loved every bit of it and swore I would never live in a big city. I spent large portions of my adolescent years hiking, spelunking, camping, and traveling during the summer; I developed a deep passion for waterfalls and caves, the highest of places and the lowest of places. I thanked the rain for its ability to keep Oregon lush and green. As an adult, I moved to the city. I feared I would lose this connection to nature once I was surrounded by housing, businesses, cars and people but I discovered that there is a true blessing to Oregon. No matter the city you live, you are never more than 30 min from an untamed wilderness. From the heart of the city I could still visit the ocean, the mountains, the Columbia Gorge, caves and the desert. The rain still fell, even in the city, and the color green still ruled above all others along the roadsides. I had not lost my connection, but I had to learn to appreciate the small elements of nature when it was my only option. As a woman with anxiety issues, stress and countless other frustrations, nature helps me slow down. When I need to reset mentally, I only have to walk outside my home. It doesn't take much to help me connect. It can be as simple as a breeze hitting my cheek, noticing a spiderweb on a shrub by my front door, the “Caw!” of a crow (or any other bird), the firey colors of autumn leaves, the smell of wet earth, a flower coming into bloom, the warm sun or cool moonlight shining down on me, or a mollusk crossing the pavement. Any one of these tiny elements of nature is enough to calm me and I feel the intense, individual nature spirits all around me. I feel the nature spirits like a pulsing vibration, always there when I take the time to listen. I honor this relationship to the Nature Spirits, and to the Earth itself by making offerings often when I am out and about. I’ll water plants that are in need, I mourn trees cut down and animals unnaturally killed and I speak words of remembrance to them. I volunteer with organizations to help plant trees and clean up city and state parks. I get my hands dirty, so to speak, in offering of my physical self to the spirits of the land. I sing with them, I talk to them; I do not view nature as something for me to control, but for me to be a part of. I smile, laugh, and offer respect to all living things. Since starting the Dedicant Path, I have also started taking hikes into the forest and building natural shrines and mandalas with forest items as artistic offerings to the spirits. Another new addition to my practice is creating a space where I put out birdseed regularly for the avian species near my home. I am constantly trying to find ways in which my lifestyle can affect the environment in positive ways. I have started eating less meat cutting down the need for agricultural expansion cutting into forests. I have been eating mostly local in-season produce from markets that cut down on transport pollution and support local ecosystems. I have been using heat less in my own home to help cut down on the use of energy that is not green. I take public transit exclusively now to help cut down on CO2 emissions. I find any way to volunteer my self to nature restoration and spend a large amount of time identifying natural plants and teaching others. My lifestyle has had Nature Awareness at its forefront for the past decade, which is one reason ADF Druidry called to me in the first place. On a local level I can make a tremendous difference. As mentioned above, by supporting local agriculture and eating produce within season, I am cutting down the need for vast transport of foods. I can also make an effort to cut down as much trash as possible by refraining from disposable (individually packaged) items and choosing re-usable items instead. This cuts down on trash in our ever-expanding landfills. I can help by volunteering my time to ocean clean-ups, wildlife conservation areas, forestry centers, park restoration efforts. Even picking up litter is a big help. This year, much thanks to additional Nature focus with my Dedicant Path, I have Earth Day events scheduled the entire month of April. Also, I have started taking classes on plants as natural foods and medicines because I deeply feel that understanding the plants of earth the way our ancestors did is one of the most ancient roots of a modern druid. "Tree of Life grow strong within us." We are all children of the great Mother Earth and to show the virtue of Hospitality and the concept of "Ghosti," we need to tend to our reciprocal guest-host relationship. For if we fall short of being gracious guests in her beautiful home and warm loving arms then the repercussions will be dire on our end. 125 words min, 375 words max.
Adequate/Meets Criteria Requirements: Subjective combined with objective approach [e.g., ["This is what it means (dictionary definition); this is what it means to me."] Note: Dictionary definitions will not be included as part of the word count. Dedicants may also include other virtues, if desired, and compare them to the nine. ************** Hospitality Our own Druidry Defintion: "Acting as both a gracious host and an appreciative guest, involving benevolence, friendliness, humor, and the honoring of "a gift for a gift." Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition: “given to generous and cordial reception of guests. Promising or suggesting generous and cordial welcome. Offering a pleasant or sustaining environment.” There is a word used in ADF that a year ago meant very little to me, but now means a great deal. That word pertains to this very virtue, and that word is “Ghosti”. The root word for both "guest" and "host" form the Indo-European word “ghos-ti”, and the concept of ghosti has become synonymous with how I view hospitality through the eyes of ADF ritual and worship. Hospitality is more than opening your home to strangers or loved ones and giving in good heart. Hospitality is far more than being a generous, compassionate host. “Ghosti” is defined as reciprocal duties of hospitality which extend much farther than that of host alone. At first, I struggled with this idea. Hospitality had always meant giving, and giving alone. This includes acts of kindness, when one is able to so, inviting friends over to celebrate holidays, giving friends and family refuge when they fall on hard times. But then I realized, throughout my life, I have cared for many people believing it my place to share kindness and hospitality. Some guests wore out their welcome quickly choosing not to respect me. Other guests did everything they could to show their gratitude and the balance between giving and receiving made the experience rewarding on both sides. One cannot experience a healthy hospitality relationship from only one side; it takes both. I believe this true of the Gods as well. If we spend all of our time asking them for advice and help, begging for signs and answers, wouldn't they start to feel taken advantage of, after a while? What benefit do they receive for these actions? In ADF ritual there is tremendous focus on making offerings/sacrifices to the Three Kindreds and to personal deities, before asking for an omen and blessing. In fact, the majority of the ADF ritual is all about making invocations and offerings. In doing so, we extend the balance of the guest-host relationship and show the virtue of hospitality.  4: Home Shrine My home shrine is ever changing. I feel compelled to rearrange elements for each High Day and have maintained that regular practice now for over 2 years now. Some elements stay permanent fixtures and others change as the wheel of the year does. Permanent fixtures on my shrine at this time include: *A deep copper bowl for a well to the Ancestors *A stone bowl for burning loose incense to the Gods and Goddesses. *A living Syngonium plant (named Sigmund) atop a pedestal as my World Tree to the Land Spirits and a leaf shaped bowl in front of the World tree for offerings of birdseed *My Divination method changes depending on the High Day but is generally always an Oracle or Tarot deck and I have recently taken to drawing one of the 9 ADF druidic virtues (on wooden tablets) for each High Day for specific focus/meditation until the next High Day. *I have a deep relationship with Spiders and always have a carved marble spider statue on my shrine. *There is a wooden pocket-sized token to Brigid permanently *There is a Crow Shaped taper candleholder in which I always place a black candle for The Morrigan. At Imbolc, I add milk, candles embedded in earth and Brigid's crosses, at Spring Equinox I add colored eggs, and flowers, at Beltane I add a Maypole that I have constructed, at Midsummer I add elements of the sun, and bright stones of Amber, at Lughnasadh I add weapons of a warrior, at Fall Equinox I add harvest fruits and the first changing autumn leaves, at Samhain I add various sacred animal bones, at Yule I add mistletoe and evergreen limbs, In the future, I plan to add statues of Danu, The Morrigan, Brigid, Ainé, and Airmid, it is my hope to also create two devotional shrines in my home to Brigid and The Morrigan as I work with them daily in my practice and not just for ritual work. Another area I hope to improve is more handcrafted, High Day specific ritual items.           |