And today I am a little late, last time to early now late. We are preparing our way to moot in the Poconos so it has been more hectic than normal. I have read that this is a little known tale, but it was my favorite growing up. I would read and retell the story over and over. I remember playing pretend to this fairy tale also. So I will share my gem with you today. It is Snow White & Rose Red.
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rosered/index.html#THIRTY9RET
As we can see from the tale we are challenged with the same themes I have talked about before; duality of the sacred feminine, beast husbands, and transformation.
There are some very interesting other gems within this tale, that puzzled me as a child. The first aspect of the tale is the naming of the girls. The girls are named after 2 beautiful rose bushes on the land. It was the custom to plant roses on someone’s grave, so I can’t help be reminded of our Heathen custom of naming our children after our ancestors. If the tale just said Sara & Jane we would not have known that they took the names of ancestors, but snow white & rose red we are given a clue of ancestral reverence. I have raised a horn to my “little ancestors” our future children. Maybe the child is the reincarnation of the ancestor whose name it bears, or maybe its cellular memory causes the child to resemble the ancestor. Either way it is a beautiful blessing to have a “little ancestor”.
There are so many Rose myths about the creation of the red rose. But always the rose started out white and then was transformed into red. I have read the dog rose rosa canina was dedicated to the goddess Frigg. And to me this makes sense as most of the fairy tales are about making one suitable for marriage. So the goddess of marriage and motherhood would be a beautiful symbol in a tale. Our goddess representations are all around us we need to have a watchful eye.
The red rose is our modern symbol of love. Our lovers day is almost upon us. I have heard women say they do not like roses. Maybe they really feel that way I don’t know, but being presented with a bouquet of red roses, to me, is the essence of the divine feminine. Some say cut flowers are a waste of money. And being ever so vigilant of my families pocket book I can see how it would appear as a waste of money. Flowers cut or in a garden represent the cycle of life. And like I said, the divine feminine cycle of life. Budding, Blooming, Dying.
Roses were used as a protection for milk and butter. When I first read that I thought hmmm…most women are far removed from the farm. The milk most drink is pasteurized, as is the butter. I drink whole raw milk from a local farm. When I tell people I drink this milk they always tell me of so and so who caught some illness from raw milk. And it is very true raw milk can carry disease. But instead of caring for the cows/farms and making them clean the government has banned raw milk and pasteurized it. If you are interested in raw milk here is a very good resource to learn about it’s benefits. http://www.realmilk.com/
A note is made on surlalune which I found very interesting. The women sat around the hearth reading to each other. We may not think this is a big deal, but it really is. These ladies are educated. A very important lesson for Heathen women. Education is paramount. Our daughters must be educated. Not just in things domestic, but in maths, science, philosophy etc. This is what attracts the bear to his future mate.
Now we meet the evil dwarf. I have to say he is pretty evil. He says some really mean things to the girls. The bears approach to solving the dwarf problem and the girls approach are radically different. This is the difference between men and women. Sometimes women give and give and all they get in return is name calling. Why the girls kept helping this insolent dwarf mystified me as a child. And I am still a little perplexed, but when I look at the Women who love to much book on Amazon I see this is a big problem for women. When reading the story I get the impression the cycle would have continued forever. The dwarf is so ungrateful for them saving his life he even offers them up as sacrifice instead of himself.
As a society there are whole groups of people with this dwarf’s mentality. And I am sure there are many within your own families who act like this. In a wise woman seminar I went to once the whole lecture was how as women we can say no. By saying no we force others to stand on their own. The girls were constantly helping the dwarf out of his situations that he got himself into, until one day they could not help him anymore.
As a child I always thought it was so funny that out of nowhere the prince had a brother. Popped up “and rose red married the prince bears brother”. Where did he come from? Who is he? Why wasn’t he helping the bear hold on to his treasure in the first place? But it does not really matter in the end. If they are the same girl, or if they are separate girls they both found love in the end. And may you also find love!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
An apple a day keeps the trolls away
I am a little early as we still have about 36 hours before the moon is totally full. My weekend is chock full of activities so I need to write this today. Let’s start off with the delightful tea of vanilla rooibos & red clover to honor the full womb/moon. It sounds like a strange combination but it quite good and nourishing. I am going to write about the story ‘east of the sun west of the moon’ an enchanting Norwegian tale.
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/index.html
Above is an annotated version, I don’t always agree with the notes but they are interesting none the less. This story is very complex and there are many layers to the tale. As with many of the tales we have been given this tale is about the transition from girlhood to motherhood. We start off with an arranged marriage. Not just any arranged marriage, but a marriage to a beast. This is no longer part of the paradigm of western women, but we can all imagine what it must have been like to be forced into marriage. I can imagine to a young girl any man would be a beast of sorts. This kind of tale like beauty and the beast teach the girl men can change into decent human beings.
For so many years I have heard physiologists say do not try to change a man. Wouldn’t that be nice. But any Heathen woman truly connected to her folk soul knows we have to change our men. If we didn’t we would be living in filthy homes and have Budweiser breakfasts; true beasts. A strong Heathen woman can take a beast man and make him into a civilized man. I have seen it time and time again. Men I thought would never settle down, once the right woman came along they did change and became house bound. Not only did they become house bound they told me they were happy! My Heathen husband has made remarkable transformation for the better. He is a true gentleman, but it took a lot of work and nagging. My husband says to me quit nagging me, and I say back to him if I didn’t love you I wouldn’t nag. A woman who loves her husband wants to see him transform to be the best he can be, and we nag for it.
Our Lass riding on the back of her new beast husband on her way to a faraway place. I have read many a commentary about the sexual nature of this. I am not sure I agree with it, but it could be the moving from girl to sexual girl with the symbolism of riding on the beasts back.
As our Lass settles into the castle it is not a normal place, and she has never seen her husband although lying next to him in bed. I have to think this is a retelling of the Psyche and Cupid tale by the northwomen. Her mother convinces her to look upon her husband.
This is what most modern interpretations take from the story. And most equate this to adultery. I get the feeling though this is a broader spectrum than just adultery. It is anything we refuse to face as women. And all of us do this in our lives. We choose, and I will state this again WE CHOOSE to live in darkness. We may not know we have made the choice, but we have. Adultery is the easiest, because when our partner is unfaithful we know it, but many times choose not to address it. But there are many other things that we ignore instead of deal with. I was 5 months pregnant, I was sitting in my car and I thought to myself wow this is weird my pants still fit me. A week later I was walking around at a county fair and I felt wetness. I thought to myself wow I must be sweating a lot. What I knew, but refused to hold a candle to, my baby was dead. A week later I was forced to deal with the fact. The mother is the one who counsels us to look where we fear to tread. The divine mother who knows it is better to deal with something now rather than wait for it to blow up. She appears to be a nag, but like I said earlier she would not nag if she did not love. The beast is afraid of her, he is afraid of her wisdom and tries to prevent the Lass from talking to her mother. No one can stop the concern from our Disir, they will speak and if we listen we will be rewarded.
Our Lass travels to find her lost love. She is given 3 things by 3 crones. A golden Apple. A golden carding comb. A golden spindle. The 3 things to make a perfect wife. Fertility, Physical Beauty and domestic excellence. From this story I see another transition in the divine feminine moving from being sexual to being wife. This fits in with our model today. We are sexual long before we are wife. The awakening of the sexual part of our being helps in the transition to the domestic part of our beings.
The golden apple. We love our golden apples as they make us think of Idunna. The beautiful goddess. Here is a wassail from North Somerset to the apple tree you can say the next time you pass one or are in an orchard:
Old Apple Tree, we wassail thee
And hoping thou wilt bear
For the Lord doth know, where we shall be,
Till apples come another year
To bear well and bloom well,
So merry let us be
Let every man take off his hat
And shout to the Old Apple Tree
Old Apple Tree, we wassail thee
And hoping thou wilt bear
Hats full, caps full, three-bushel bags full
And a little heap under the stairs
I will touch briefly on the troll bride because there is a beautiful story for the duality of bride I will talk about in a later time. Here we shown the duality of the feminine she is both troll bride and beautiful bride. As we all are. We cannot be beautiful bride all of the time, especially when we hold a candle to something we have chosen not to see. Every woman then becomes Troll. Some women cause thousands of dollars of damage, but we all know the feeling of being cheated on and what it does to our personalities.
Through the domestic wonders of our beautiful bride she is able to win the prince and bear children. Our tale is about transformation. Men can transform yes, but usually always with the help of a woman. A woman transforms on her own through examining her own person, examining her shadow her troll. Let us all celebrate the journey to transformation!
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/index.html
Above is an annotated version, I don’t always agree with the notes but they are interesting none the less. This story is very complex and there are many layers to the tale. As with many of the tales we have been given this tale is about the transition from girlhood to motherhood. We start off with an arranged marriage. Not just any arranged marriage, but a marriage to a beast. This is no longer part of the paradigm of western women, but we can all imagine what it must have been like to be forced into marriage. I can imagine to a young girl any man would be a beast of sorts. This kind of tale like beauty and the beast teach the girl men can change into decent human beings.
For so many years I have heard physiologists say do not try to change a man. Wouldn’t that be nice. But any Heathen woman truly connected to her folk soul knows we have to change our men. If we didn’t we would be living in filthy homes and have Budweiser breakfasts; true beasts. A strong Heathen woman can take a beast man and make him into a civilized man. I have seen it time and time again. Men I thought would never settle down, once the right woman came along they did change and became house bound. Not only did they become house bound they told me they were happy! My Heathen husband has made remarkable transformation for the better. He is a true gentleman, but it took a lot of work and nagging. My husband says to me quit nagging me, and I say back to him if I didn’t love you I wouldn’t nag. A woman who loves her husband wants to see him transform to be the best he can be, and we nag for it.
Our Lass riding on the back of her new beast husband on her way to a faraway place. I have read many a commentary about the sexual nature of this. I am not sure I agree with it, but it could be the moving from girl to sexual girl with the symbolism of riding on the beasts back.
As our Lass settles into the castle it is not a normal place, and she has never seen her husband although lying next to him in bed. I have to think this is a retelling of the Psyche and Cupid tale by the northwomen. Her mother convinces her to look upon her husband.
This is what most modern interpretations take from the story. And most equate this to adultery. I get the feeling though this is a broader spectrum than just adultery. It is anything we refuse to face as women. And all of us do this in our lives. We choose, and I will state this again WE CHOOSE to live in darkness. We may not know we have made the choice, but we have. Adultery is the easiest, because when our partner is unfaithful we know it, but many times choose not to address it. But there are many other things that we ignore instead of deal with. I was 5 months pregnant, I was sitting in my car and I thought to myself wow this is weird my pants still fit me. A week later I was walking around at a county fair and I felt wetness. I thought to myself wow I must be sweating a lot. What I knew, but refused to hold a candle to, my baby was dead. A week later I was forced to deal with the fact. The mother is the one who counsels us to look where we fear to tread. The divine mother who knows it is better to deal with something now rather than wait for it to blow up. She appears to be a nag, but like I said earlier she would not nag if she did not love. The beast is afraid of her, he is afraid of her wisdom and tries to prevent the Lass from talking to her mother. No one can stop the concern from our Disir, they will speak and if we listen we will be rewarded.
Our Lass travels to find her lost love. She is given 3 things by 3 crones. A golden Apple. A golden carding comb. A golden spindle. The 3 things to make a perfect wife. Fertility, Physical Beauty and domestic excellence. From this story I see another transition in the divine feminine moving from being sexual to being wife. This fits in with our model today. We are sexual long before we are wife. The awakening of the sexual part of our being helps in the transition to the domestic part of our beings.
The golden apple. We love our golden apples as they make us think of Idunna. The beautiful goddess. Here is a wassail from North Somerset to the apple tree you can say the next time you pass one or are in an orchard:
Old Apple Tree, we wassail thee
And hoping thou wilt bear
For the Lord doth know, where we shall be,
Till apples come another year
To bear well and bloom well,
So merry let us be
Let every man take off his hat
And shout to the Old Apple Tree
Old Apple Tree, we wassail thee
And hoping thou wilt bear
Hats full, caps full, three-bushel bags full
And a little heap under the stairs
I will touch briefly on the troll bride because there is a beautiful story for the duality of bride I will talk about in a later time. Here we shown the duality of the feminine she is both troll bride and beautiful bride. As we all are. We cannot be beautiful bride all of the time, especially when we hold a candle to something we have chosen not to see. Every woman then becomes Troll. Some women cause thousands of dollars of damage, but we all know the feeling of being cheated on and what it does to our personalities.
Through the domestic wonders of our beautiful bride she is able to win the prince and bear children. Our tale is about transformation. Men can transform yes, but usually always with the help of a woman. A woman transforms on her own through examining her own person, examining her shadow her troll. Let us all celebrate the journey to transformation!
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