Do you know Habetrot?

While reading Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe my husband turned to me and asked me; Do you know Habetrot? I didn’t know her. So I googled her, oh my lucky stars did I want to know her. This story is quite different from where we have been before. I fell in love with Habetrot and her tribe of spinning spinsters…so here you go, I would encourage you to read the entire tale.

http://www.allfiberarts.com/library/poetry/blhabetrot-f.htm

In the beginning is a lovely woman child who is just not good at spinning. She is the outdoorsy type. Today we would call her a granola. It is not that she disdains the art of spinning, she really wants to please her mother and her society she just is not good at it. No amount of beatings and coercion can make her good at it. In the past when spinning was so important to the livelihood of the family this was a serious flaw, but nature is nature. In our current world we also have certain expectations of what girls should be or do. Sometimes they are just not that way like in our story. I really want my daughter to become a medical doctor, but that might not be her nature at all. She might really want to join a Harry Potter rockabilly band. I think this is a valuable lesson for mothers here in this story; girls do not always do what we would like them to do. Sometimes if the girl is resourceful and smart that is the best thing for her.

Upon the girls despair she runs into Habetrot next to the self-bored stone. Habetrot offers to help her. And she takes the lint with her to her group of earth spinning women. When the girl wakes up she hears Habetrot say “I’ve promised the yarn and Habetrot always keeps her promise”. I have wanted to write about promises for a while, but have yet to have the opportunity until now. As heathens we take pride in keeping our word. We hold our words sacred especially those spoken into the horn. Along with the words spoken externally as sacred so should the words spoken internally. Promises made to oneself should be as sacred as promises made to another person. If we as women cannot hold ourselves to the promises made internally how can anyone externally hold us to a promise made? Heathenry starts in the spirit first, then the hearth and then maybe the tribe if part of one. On this new moon be mindful of promises you make to yourself. If you say I will walk 5 miles today then do it. If you say I will learn how to make cheese this weekend then do it. Hold yourself to your own words. Be your own Thule!

In the beginning I asked if you knew Habetrot. I am still asking that question right now. Is she a spinning goddess? Is she an earth goddess? Is she a land wight? Is she a disir? Is she an old maid part of a tribe? Or is she all of those things? Myths and Symbols put her as a land wight. Some folklorists make her to be a goddess on par with Frau Holle. The spinning goddesses are a powerful lot, and should never be underestimated. Spinning is the work solely for women, and these goddesses are all about the divine feminine. I have never spun thread, and I can imagine very few modern women have spun. I would like to try it, as I get the impression the repeated monotonous motion would lend itself easily to travel between the worlds. The mind free to wander as the body stays to do the work. I think it would be a good experiment, so if any Heathenettes try this let me know. But back to Habetrot I think why Davidson puts her in the land wight bucket is because she lives under the self-bored stone. Which makes sense to us. But I am not sold on the idea of her being a land spirit. Whatever she is, she is a powerful motivator and leader. Which we could always use more of in Heathenry.

As a person who is less esoteric in my thinking than most Heathens what I see in Habetrot is a real person in a tribe. If we look at her in a tribal archetypal position, in my mind, it makes more sense. Not every woman will marry in a tribe, and some will marry and their husbands will die. If unmarried how would they support themselves? A few days ago I was browsing through craigslist and there was a posting for a free piece of cake! Wow a free piece of cake, so I clicked on the link. The woman who was giving away the free pieces of cake said she would travel anywhere in the metro area to give them a piece. The pieces of cake looked very good from the photograph. And then if you really liked the free piece of cake you could buy the whole cake for $20. This is when I thought of Habetrot. This is exactly what she did, secured an income for herself and the unmarried women. By knowing or spae that the girl would become the Lairds wife, she quickly took advantage of the situation. When the Laird did not want his new wife to become disfigured he gave Habetrot the contract! What a clever thing she did.

This story embodies the essence of my blog. This story is all about place in society. And making a place in society if there is not one yet created. The girl/now bride found her place as the Laird’s wife. This was perfect for her as she could be outdoors as much as she wanted and fulfill her true nature. She married a man who encouraged her to fulfill her true nature. Habetrot created a place for herself. Where some unmarried women became drains on their families Habetrot stood up made a career out of the divine feminine. Not all of us are spinners, not all of us are the wives of Laird’s, but there is a place for each and every one of us!

If I were to have a patron goddess….

It would be Frau Holle. The original goddess of the wild hunt, and supreme earth mother. I love the story of Frau Holle because this is where a deity was allowed to live on in the consciousness of a people. Through the underestimation of the power of our mother goddesses. So sit back enjoy as we fall deep into our well of the unconscious feminine memory.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm024.html

After looking through so many tales I think the symbolism is fairly straight forward at the beginning here. We have our girl who has begun to bleed and transforms into a woman. When the reel was completely bloody that is when she is ushered into a parallel world. The world of the gods. This is the destiny of all women even if ignored. All women have the power to walk between the worlds, and I believe this is the power to walk between our conscious and unconscious selves. Jung made this popular, but this is not something new points out Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill: “The way so-called depth psychologists go on about the subconscious nowadays you'd swear they had invented it, or at the very least stumbled on a ghostly and ghastly continent where mankind had never previously set foot. Even the dogs in the street in West Kerry know that the "otherworld" exists, and that to be in and out of it constantly is the most natural thing in the world....”

In the parallel world the heroine comes across talking bread and talking apple trees. Our American psyche has labeled bread as an evil. Carbs are bad. I think it is funny that a unit of food is labeled as evil or bad, but that is my personal opinion. The wonder bread of the supermarket is not the most optimum source of nourishment. Most of the breads sold in grocery stores contain high fructose corn syrup which do a number on the liver. (Just to combat the HFCS advertising when HFCS is ingested the body thinks it is getting sugar and prepares the proper chemical release to handle the sugar. The problem is HFCS is significantly more sweet than sugar so the body cannot keep up thus damaging the liver. And HFCS in moderation is NOT the same as sugar don’t believe the advertising!) Bread made with whole grains and natural yeast is very nourishing and good for your body. Natural fermentation of bread produces enzymes that are very good for the body. Here is how to make your own sourdough starter using natural yeasts in your geographical area. *this is taken from Paul Pitchford’s Healing with Whole Foods

Sourdough Starter
1 cup water
1 cup whole-wheat flour

In a sterilized jar and with a sterilized spoon mix flour and water. Cover with a cotton cloth. Live airborne yeasts will begin to turn it sour. Stir daily with sterilized spoon for uniform fermentation. After 3 days your starter will be ready. Loosely cover with lid and store in a cool place

Sourdough Bread
14 cups whole-wheat flour
5 cups water
1 ½ t. salt
1 cup sourdough starter

Mix 7 cups flour with water, salt and starter. Add remaining flour slowly until dough becomes to thick to stir. Knead gently until smooth, uniform and elastic. Cover and let rise 2 hours in non metal bowl. Replenish starter. Knead dough again. Shape into 3 or 4 loaves. Cut shallow slits in top to keep from cracking. Place in oiled and floured bread pans. Cover let rise 4-6 hours. Place in cold oven with a pan of plain water on oven floor. Bake at 425 F for 15 min. Lower heat to 350 F continue cooking until golden about 45 minutes.

The newly bleeding girl now meets Frau Holle. From Frau Holle the girl refines her skills to make her a better bride. She is so industrious Frau Holle rewards her with a dowry. With the help of the earth mother she is magically transformed.

In a previous post I talked about the fact we do not have a ritual in modern society of a girl starting menstruation. Saying good bye to the girl we were. While reading Women’s work by Elizabeth Wayland Barber I came across the “string skirt”. Barber conjectures that the string skirt was symbolic of having reached menarche, but not menopause. Of childbearing age. This would be an awesome tradition to incorporate into our Heathen ways. The women of the tribe work on making a string skirt for the young girl who has reached puberty. Recognizing her new status in the community and blessing her with fertility for the future. Of course Frau Holle would be the one called upon.

Our young woman is ready now to walk among the conscious. She is ready to be part of society and find a mate. I think this is interesting as most teenage girls do seem to be sleep walking. I know I did. I barely remember 13-17. I see flashes of memory but always with a dark haze over them. I slept a lot, and when I was awake I still was asleep. In future posts I will talk about this stage of life as we have many tales that teach us about our sleeping phase.

The other daughter goes through the same process, and has very different results. This girl was not fit for marriage. Frau Holle can guide someone who is willing and ready, but she can’t guide someone who is lazy and unwilling to work. On a spirit level I think there is a lesson here. Those who dabble into a parallel world will end up with pitch or a curse. Those who are diligent in their work with be blessed with riches. We cannot think going to the world of the gods is going to be a walk in the park like the other daughter did, it takes hard diligent work.

In the end of spirit or of material the moral to all Heathen women is the same, the industrious woman will receive the blessing. A good solid Germanic moral. So happy baking and WAES HAEIL!!!