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!)

Whats in a name?

So even though the drag queens won, FaceBook is requesting my real name... Sh!t, Skullarix is as real a name as any I go by. I don't want to give it to them. However now that I've spent about two days with out said FB, I am really realizing how isolating it is. There are 5 groups that I am owner or moderator of, that are either gone or not being monitored. Countless people that I would really like to keep in touch with, up coming events that I would like to go to that I'm now cut off from.

At the same time that I am missing my "friends" I am realizing who my real friends are, the people who are texting me out of the blue asking how I'm doing.

Geez remember back in the day when NO ONE and I mean no one went by their real names on the 'net? It was all internet handles? What happened? Not that I am terribly prone to believing on conspiracies, but it kind of smacks of being cataloged. NSA linking us all together, traffic cameras tracking where we go. 1984 was a warning not a guide!!!!!!

So I am at a cross roads, while I have enjoyed social media for years now, starting with LiveJournal and ending with FB. Should I stay or should I go? Should I just leave it all gone or should I continue on? I was thinking of nuking my internet presence in a couple years anyway... maybe now is the time.

ADF Resignation

I volunteer for a lot of things, pretty much this is ADF’s fault (if there was only one good thing that came from my membership). You learn a lot of things while volunteering.

I had volunteered for the local Irish Festival break down, and there were these red canopies that belonged to the city of Phoenix. We had to move this canopies from the middle of the park into the fenced off portion a.k.a. courtyard of the Irish Cultural Center. One would think this is not an issue until you have the added news of, “you can’t break them down and they are really heavy.” I didn’t think that would be a problem, I mean how heavy could they be, right?

One by one I saw my fellow volunteers, the old timers who had been volunteering for years, “find” something else to do, some even laughed at me. I didn’t think too much of it, until three other people and me had to heft one of these monsters. It was taxing and just generally sucked.

The important lesson I learned that day, if the other volunteers are laughing and disappearing on you, find some other task to do.

ADF is the same as those damnable red canopies. Former members tried to tell me, they tried to warn me about the truth of ADF and I didn’t listen. I looked at the Vision statement and believed: https://www.adf.org/about/basics/vision.html

I use to wonder how people could drop out of the pagan community; it’s always been the furthest thing from my mind once I entered the community. Now I know, my heart is heavy and I feel spent.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this, especially since the Grove took on four new members recently. All the ADF nay sayers were right. It’s not a place to be, run by a bunch of stuffy old bearded Druidy types that want to be the first Druid Catholic Church.

Somehow ADF has forgotten about the pagan community at large, and have decided to embark on a journey that makes ADF everything pagans abhor, an organized religion. Though anyone who raises a concern about this issue are malcontents that have problem with authority. Just who the fuck do they think makes up the pagan community that they are pulling members from?

From the Mother Grove meeting notes from April 30, 2015:

Motion to change the bylaws:

   Article 5, Section 3, Subsection 1 Archdruid (AD), add number 8. "The Arch Druid must be an Active ADF Priest".

   Article 5, Section 3, Subsection 2 Vice Archdruid (VAD), add number 6. "The Vice Arch Druid must be an Active ADF Priest".

  * Motion by Jean, Seconded by Kelly

  * It was pointed out that this is not the best place to change the bylaws, it should be in Section 4, Subsection 5, Item 7.

  * Motion amended to be:

  * Change Section 4, Subsection 4, Item 7, qualifications of the AD and VAD

    From:

      Candidates for Archdruid or Vice Archdruid must have their Dedicant's Path completed.

    To:

      Candidates for Archdruid or Vice Archdruid must be ordained members of ADF Clergy in good standing, i.e. Active ADF Priests.

  * Amended motion by Jean, accepted by Kelly.

  * Point raised of what would happen if we lost all clergy due to some disaster.

  * It was pointed out that if a clergy member cannot be found to lead the church, is it really a church?

  * Point raised we are limiting who can run, and limiting choice by our members.

  * Point raised that we may be better served at times by a secular leader

  * It was stated that the Administrator is supposed to take care of the administrative.

  * It was pointed out that a significant portion of the AD's job is administrative, not just spiritual.

  * It was pointed out that this is being done with no input from the members.  It is likely most don't care, but a change this large really should have the input of the members.

  * 7 yes (Kirk, Jean, Flip, Kelly, Jeffery, Barbara, Sean), 2 no (Robb, Sharon), 0 abstain, 0 no vote

  * Motion Passed

(If you are a member, go check it out here: https://www.adf.org/members/blogs/mg/20150430)

A change like this should have at least been brought to the membership for thoughtful consideration and input. OH but that last little bit I highlighted? We the unwashed masses won’t care.

Well I care, because I know some of ADF’s priests, and I wouldn’t follow them across the road! There are ADF members who have merely completed their Dedicants Path, that I would gladly pipe into Hell. (Yeah, with the extra L.)

A friend of mine made a comment regarding ADF on her FB page and this was the response from Rev. Jeffrey Wyndham (Ian Corrigan) (former Arch Druid and current member of Stone Creed Grove in OH):

ADF is always managed by a committee elected from the membership - really by a series of committees, with varying powers. The central Board of Directors is tasked with preserving and directing the vision of the org, and elected by the membership to do just that. As in most elected leaderships, the officers are not elected to "do the will of the membership" (that is simply not part of the mission) but rather to protect and develop the org, its goals and the procedures that sustain it. There is not the slightest reason to think that a vote of the membership at large would be better able to guide the org than the decisions of a committed and informed Board.

I was still sitting on the MG when the AD/VAD vote was cast, though I am no longer a voting member. The MG seats turn over regularly - this election saw major offices change hands. There is no 'MG party' that is influencing the org, and the MG are not separate in any way from "the membership".

If a member doesn't like the current regime, but supports the work of the org, I advise hanging around - the AD chair itself will be an open-seat election next year.

You ever smash your thumb/elbow/knee and that pain reverberates though your entire body? Yep that is exactly what happened when I read that sentence. I cannot believe that he believes that. WTF do I vote for? ADF has gone completely mad!

The sense many of us members feel is that ADF is moving to only allow priests to lead Groves, and that the rest of us are just followers. NO ADF PRIEST can talk to my gods on MY behalf better than I can, and fuck you for thinking that ADF. As pagans we are all our own priests, wasn’t that kind of the point when most of us departed from the main stream religions?

I’ve been a Sr. Druid, I lead my Grove for three years. I was your FACE ADF, I was your FACE! I towed the party line, I missed family events to do ADF high days. I have literally bled, sweated and cried for ADF for the last seven years. I feel as if ADF is completely disregarding me because I’m NOT a priest. Somehow seven years of hard work being the FACE of ADF was for nothing. I am completely heartbroken that something I loved and supported had dumped me in the trash.

I only see two options, I can become a priest of ADF (even though I am already legally ordained) or I can quit. Frankly the thought of becoming a priest now wearies me, there was a time when I was going to work in that direction. Then once I became a priest, I’m sure that the rest of the "old boy's club" priests would brow beat me into complying with what they wanted anyway.

I know that ADF doesn’t care, because I’m just a piss ant out here in the bumb fuck Southwest, but some people remember me, I’m the one with the Mohawk and a hearse.