Here is a quick Krampuslauf survival guide:

1. Try on your costume before you get on site (Like TODAY) make sure you can see make, sure your pieces fit and aren’t terribly uncomfortable. If you wear glasses make sure they work with you’re your mask or wear contacts. There will always be parts of a costume that are more delicate or require adjustments more frequently than others. If you know these areas ahead of time, you can better plan out how your Krampuslauf will go and be prepared to deal with any problems that arise.

2. You should also be aware of any areas of the costume that may injure you during wear. Moleskin (which can be found at places like Walgreens) is an amazing product that helps prevent rubs and sores… especially with regards to SHOES for instance.

3. Do you need a handler or helper? A handler is basically someone who helps a Krampus in a complex costume. Figure out if you’ll need help getting into your costume, or if you’ll need someone to help guide you during the walk. (Consider dressing someone up as a victim to guide you)

4. Please eat before you come, no fainting Krampus’ allowed

5. Please bring your own water, last year I bought two cases and only two bottles were used… While our Brethren in Canada and Germany worry about cold, we have worry about over heating. Try to just add the "hint" of fur, on the shoulders, arms and waist. Think Krampus on summer vacation.

6. Stay in the group and let the leader know if we need to slow down

7. Know your limits, don’t push yourself. Consider parking at the end of the walk at the Bliss ReBar so you don’t have to walk the route twice.

8. Be aware of where you are, we will be crossing streets and we don’t want anyone to get hit by a car.

9. Be prepared to have pictures taken of you, we will be moving slow in some places so that folks can snap some photos

10. Have Fun!

The Waffle Analogy

I know that I'm committing Social Justice heresy, and I'm going to be unfriended by people... But think about it, we are all struggling in our own boxes. Think of it like a waffle, we are in our own square. We have Black Lives Matter, gay people, trans people, feminists and other's that I'm missing. We are all fighting for our little box, trying to promote our ideas. We are divided, and a divided people can be conquered. Who's trying to conquer us? The very people that are supposed to be supporting Social Justice, the government.

The government does not have our best interest at heart. They are here to rape us, actually they've been raping us for a long time. I don't understand why no one can see we are being manipulated and turned against each other. What is the government going to do when cops continue to be gunned down? Marshal law? Curfews? We are being enslaved and we can't even see it. That's why I keep posting that quote from "A Brave New World."

As political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends compensatingly to increase. And the dictator will do well to encourage that freedom. In conjunction with the freedom to daydream under the influence of dope and movies and the radio, it will help to reconcile his subjects to the servitude which is their fate. -Aldous Huxley

Why is this happening? Switching gears here, didja ever ride a bike, skateboard or go cart down a hill? You may remember that right before the crash you got the "speed wobbles". You knew when this happened a crash was imminent. That's our economy now. The government is turning us against each other because when the economy tanks (taking peoples financial support with it) there will be anarchy and chaos. The government will need control and that's what it's doing it's positioning itself to seize control of US.

This is why it seems like small groups are screaming loudest. Trans people make up 0.03% of the population, black people are 13% of the population and there are recent studies that say only 3.8% of the US population is gay/lesbian/bi but it's commonly believed to be a much as 25%.

These voices scream loudest, and begin to break down the social structure. MGTOW vs feminism, either way neither camp wants to date or be married, no babies being born if men and women despise each other. Gay people will be married but not able to procreate. Black Lives Matter and pretty much all the Social Justice groups will stomp whitey into oblivion (YAY, the racist shit lords DIE!). Whoever is left will be slaves to the state. It's happened before... But we can't remember... but we can peak at what happened to Greece

"At root, Greece’s fiscal problems stem from a lack of revenue. As a percentage of GDP, Greece’s social spending expenditures were 10.3% in 1980, 19.3% in 2000 and 23.5% in 2011, whereas Germany’s social expenditures during these same times were 22.1%, 26.6% and 26.2%, respectively. In 2011, Greece was below the EU average of 24.9% in social expenditure. The real problem for Greece is that revenues are much less than expenditures"

(In 2014 US social spending expenditures were at 19.2% some what more than the 2.5% income.)

In 2010, U.S. financial rating agencies stamped Greek bonds with a 'junk' grade. As capital began drying up Greece was facing a liquidity crisis, forcing the government to begin seeking bailout funding. These bailouts, however, would come at a severe cost: austerity.

Read more: Understanding the Downfall of Greece's Economy | Investopedia 

Seven years in the US of zero interest rates, $3.7 trillion worth of Fed money printing and more than $6 trillion piled onto the public debt resulted in an economy still struggling to break 2.5 percent full-year growth
Why 2016 keeps getting uglier for the economy

Hey, but you might not believe me, 'cuz I'm just throwing numbers around. Here is some anecdotal evidence that might completely be out of place. Hollywood (the movie industry) is one of the most lucrative businesses in the USA, it makes lots of money on movies right? Why are they re-making/re-booting so many movies? Ghostbusters? Star Wars? Star Trek? They know we will spend $$$ to see them, even if it is to complain how bad they are. If there was money to risk they would be making more original movies.

Midsummer un Dingsege

Happy Midsummer... it's 114 degrees outside currently... Summer is beyond here!

This rite is a time to honor Sunna, Ziu(Tyr), Volla, Voll (Twin siblings to Frigg), Vorsetzer (Forseti) {son of Balder}.

Oddly the fact today is the time of the Thing, really fits into what is going on in my life right now. I have no intention of elaborating on that just now.

I'll have to get back to you on what I do for this particular holiday, Unfortunately as along with the last one, I'm a little behind the 8 ball...

We've lost four folks to excessive heat in the past few days, it's a little challenging to think of the "life giving properties" of the sun right now. Most people in the Southwest would just like to escape the sun right now.

However I'll leave you with a pretty picture of a Distelfink pendant that I purchased a few days ago:

A Distelfink is a stylized goldfinch, that frequently appears in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art. It represents happiness and good fortune.

Tales from the Hearse

So I own a hearse, and what follows are some tales of hearse adventure.

This passed weekend while driving the hearse on the way to N. Mountain park some guy held his fingers up making the sign of the cross (with a big grin on his face). Then on the way back I decided to take the Peck (roomies kid) to McDonald's. While in the drive through the cashier says to me, "oh I'm so sorry when did it happen?" Not understanding I asked, "when did what happen?" He sort of stammered and looked at the back of the hearse. Then I realized, I said, "oh, no one died, this is just my car." He seemed flustered but gave me my food and wished me a good day...

So I suppose I need another story, to make this a "some tales", right?

I drove my hearse out to HearseCon last year, which is in Denver. Thus I was on the road for some time, and I needed to take a short break from the drive. So I stopped at I guess what was once a store and restaurant. I popped the hood on the hearse to check the oil and have a look at the coolant. 

As I'm standing there with the hood popped, this church van drives by really slow. I swear that the van could have driven on two wheels as all the occupants faces were pressed up against the windows to take in the spectacle of a random hearse on parked in front of an abandoned building with the hood up.

Last year was my second year going to the Haunted Hearses Car Show at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. On the way out there I pulled over to get some snacks, and it was at night. So I sat down on the cement in front of the hearse to eat my snacks.

A car with two women pulls up and they get out and go in to the gas station to get snacks or cigarettes. When they come out they notice the car and then they see me. The ask if the car was mine, which I told them it was. They went through the list of questions, but one I think is the strangest one I've been asked thus far, "do you eat in there." Snacks in hand I tell them, "yes, it's just a car."

^^These are just a few stories, I'll try to update as time allows...

Oschdre a.k.a. Ostara

^ Our Altar ^

Yesterday was the second public Urglaawe ritual that I participated in, I lead this one. I'm alive to write this, so the gods must not have been too displeased.

The rite we did was to the Oschdre, which for the practitioners of Urglaawe, is a triple goddess. The Oschdre consists of:
Helling: goddess of Daylight and the up springing light
Nacht: goddess of Darkness and the easingrest
Oschdra: She who stands between them

Here is a link to the lovely myth, involving the three goddesses, finches and the a hare.

While we did the rite, the children dyed eggs, that seemed to go over well. Next year we are thinking of having the children perform the myth, which I'm certain will be adorable! I'll have to get some fabric and make little cloaks!

I feel very honored because I was gifted a sickle at this rite. I hope I can uphold the traditions of Urglaawe and the Pennsylvania German Speaking people.

My Grove's standard practice is to have a Seer take an omen, basically what we need to do moving forward. I thought it was quite clever that my Grove mates came up with the idea to put runes inside plastic eggs. So during the offering portion of the ritual, the Seer presented a basket of eggs to different celebrants and the selected an egg. Then the Seer gathered them up, opened the eggs and interpreted the Omen.

I think the rite went well. The feed back I received was good, folks seemed to feel it was familiar or like "home." I think the Oschdre myth is the most beautiful Ostara tale I've heard.

Once the rite was over we had our shared meal (because we can't call it a "potluck" in Arizona anymore). Of course everyone brought something, some of us tried to come up with Deitch dishes. I had my room mate make soft pretzels and one of my Grove mates made Shoofly pie which is a traditional Deitch breakfast food, or so I am told. I gotta say that pie is to die for!

Quote of the day, "Yes, but that German is a different dalek than High German... I mean DIALECT"

Der Butzemann!

Argh so overwhelmed! Feeling like this honoring the year through Urglaawe is a bad idea! Must make piacular offerings so none of the Gods rip out vital organs...

A little background here I suppose, I'm sort of stumbling through this all but I posted on February 3rd, however really though from Groundhog Day to February 12th ish is a 12 day festival called Fasching.

So the first thing that happens is Groundhog Day, which I just saw a post recently where someone said that it was taken from legends around Brighid, nope not true. The Groundhog is much like Ratatosk who is a squirrel that runs up and down Yggdrasil bringing news of the nine worlds. Thus the Groundhog is an otherworldy messenger. Presumably he brought news of the up coming year in the past, but now we've reduced him to a meteorologist.

During this time of year female spirits are honored specifically Frigg, Gewwern (a.k.a. Gefjon) and Idise. I am going to do a meditation on each of them, before moving on from the 12 days of Fasching.

Now we come to our friend the Butzemann who is a scarecrow-golem. Oddly through D&D I am more knowledgeable about a golem which according to Jewish folklore is an animated anthropomorphic being, magically created entirely from inanimate matter. Thus the Butzemann is created and life is breathed into it at a ceremony known in English as the Ceremony of the Corn. Now once you have your Butzemann activated he protects your property and crops. He is also to be treated, as far as I can tell as a living creature. Offerings are made to him through out the year, but your Butzemann will be good only for so long. If he isn't destroyed before Halloween (Allelieweziel) he turns bad and runs amok destroying the crops he guarded for all the previous months. As well as just destroying the town you live in.

Now I had planned on making a sage man or Old Man Gloom as I have heard him called before, but after seeing some of the pictures online I decided to make one kind of like the others I saw.

Now it's important to give him a heart which I think is obvious, but I really don't know the Urglaawe reasoning behind it. It is also important to give him clothes and a name. (If you are thinking Dobby the House Elf here, you aren't alone). Again, he is considered a living being, and if you were being hospitable to a stranger that showed up nekkid, you'd give him clothes and food.

My Butzemann is stuffed with basil we had from previous years harvests, cotton, lint (hey it seemed like a good idea) and I cut some of my Brighid's cross from a few days ago and put it in there for good measure.

I made him clothes from scraps of other fabric projects laying around.

It's also important to give him a name (please see articles below regarding naming conventions)

Everyone, meet Atz der Nei Or Atz the New.

Grundsau Burrow: “B” IS FOR BUTZEMANN: THE PAGAN EXPERIENCE
https://grundsauburrow.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/b-is-for-butzemann-the-pagan-experience/

Butzemann Naming Convention
http://urglaawe.blogspot.com/2012/02/butzemann-naming-convention.html

Late Grundsaudaag! ARGH!

So, Imbolg completed for the Grove... but unfortunately I have not prepared for Grundsaudaag! Blargh! I'm hoping to pull something together for this weekend. Here's kind of the idea of what's going on... but it kind of appears that my usual Urglaawe resources on the 'net are currently down. It's a good challenge...

Groundhog Day is a multi-faceted event featuring the honoring of Frigg and Gewwern, cleaning the hearth, honoring female energies and ancestors, and engaging with the spirit of the Otherworldly Messenger (the Groundhog), who, like Ratatosk on the Norse Yggdrasil, runs among the "worlds" through his complex burrow.

Sometimes it would be better if I was a...

Drag Queen... They have all the best stuff, and those boys can do make up better than any woman I know! I love Drag Queens, I loved the movie, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar.

Right now however I'm questioning how the great FB can decide to collect real names after "Drag queens win right to go by preferred names".

Facebook’s chief product officer, Chris Cox said one Facebook user reported several hundred accounts as fake, which prompted their incorporation into the company’s weekly fake names report. He said that 99% of the accounts that make that report are “bad actors doing bad things” like impersonating and bullying, and said nobody at Facebook had noticed the pattern of one person reporting specific types of accounts.

I'm not impersonating or bullying anyone, I don't know how my account would have been reported. I had around 500 friends, so if someone did report me, I would never figure out who it was. My theory is that they pull a chunk of names in and flag them and send the dreaded "change your name" e-mails.

*sigh* Since the dawn of the internet NO ONE has gone by their real name 'cept for celebrities and news people.

I guess Zuckerberg is going to change all the rules, and you HAVE to go by your real names.

See I think they are missing a great financial opportunity here, they could just charge you to go by an alternative name! I'd probably pay if it was a reasonable fee. Every time you wanted to change your name you could pay the fee again.

Meh, what do I know?

Still here...Urglaawe??

Yep, I'm still here, no FB yet. I guess this is a form of social media isn't it.

Regardless, I just spent the morning creating  calendar, of my hearse and hearse related adventures. It was pretty fun to look back at my pictures from last year and make something that I will enjoy moving forward.

Perhaps I am old fashioned still, enjoy paper calendars. It's sort of like a mini Christmas at the end of every month. Then you get to look at this, hopeful, cool image for a month.

Some of the images I selected were probably not the most artistic or beautiful, but they trigger a memory for me of a fun trip or something fun I was doing... I'm thinking I should do this every year!

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Urglaawe...

So I've been kicking this idea around for a year, and I'm totally stealing it from my friend at the Nerdy Druid blog, I think. I'll have to look it up later. Anyway, the IDEA was to celebrate a full year's worth of holidays in the Urglaawe tradition.

"Skullarix, what is that?"

I'm so glad you asked in the most brief text, it is the Pennsylvania Dutch/German/Deitch Heathen tradition.

Sort of out of left field, I know! Hey, let me Google that for you: http://www.urglaawe.org/Englisch.html

I was going to start last month but I was intimidated by all the YULE traditions. As a Celt, and yes I still think of myself as a Celt, that has never changed. For another blog post, I should list out what I think is "Celtic" I find that it differs from most people.

As a Celt, we don't have many Yule traditions in particular. In fact this time of year I often feel cut off from my gods and traditions. Not so much this year, but I feel I was drawn into the muggle Hexmas drama a little more than I like.

So all that being said, here is a list of the common holidays... I guess I need to prep for Groundhog day or Grundsaudaag.

Yuul around the winter solstice
Grundsaudaag onFebruary 2
Oschdre at the vernal equinox
Walpurgisnacht on April 30
Midsummer near thesummer solstice
Hoietfescht in late July or early August
Erntfescht at the autumn equinox
Allelieweziel at Halloween

Slàinte mhath!
(Good health!)