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gods, heathen, heathenry, Lokean, Loki, Lyrics, norse, pagan, paganism, poetry, polytheist, spirituality

Story-Teller

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I am quiet, almost silent
As I contemplate the scale
Of all the worlds around me-
Oh, what stories I could tell!

I could perhaps regale you
With a trial I once endured
I could tell you of the shackles
My captors skillfully procured

I could share with you the horror,
The despair of loved ones lost
I could talk about the agony
Grief demands as its due cost

I am quiet, almost silent
As I contemplate the scale
Of all the worlds around me-
Oh, what stories I could tell!

There are many painful stories
That I might choose to tell
But pain can be addictive-
only laughter breaks its spell

So perhaps instead of quaking
With the agony that I feel
I’ll skim the surface of my stories
Find the one that most appeals

I am quiet, almost silent
As I contemplate the scale
Of all the worlds around me-
Oh, what stories I could tell!

I may perhaps regale you
With a time I spoke too true
Before I knew that honesty
Was respected by so few

I could tell you of the moment
That I saw friends’ faces change
When I shared their hidden motives
In a heated interchange

I am quiet, almost silent
As I contemplate the scale
Of all the worlds around me-
Oh, what stories I could tell!

There are many honest stories
That I might choose to tell
But truth can be quite violent
Unless laughter breaks its spell

So perhaps instead of shooting
Arrows made of honest words
I will rummage through my stories
Find the one that’s most absurd

I am quiet, almost silent
As I contemplate the scale
Of all the worlds around me-
Oh, what stories I could tell!

I might perhaps regale you
With a time I went disguised
As a bridesmaid to a wedding
In a plot that I devised

I could relay to you the horror
the giant wore upon his face
As he realized that his bride
Had been thoroughly replaced

I am quiet, almost silent
As I contemplate the scale
Of all the worlds around me-
Oh, what stories I could tell!

There are many funny stories
That I might choose to tell
But even laughter has a limit,
Even mirth can be dispelled

So perhaps instead of pulling
Pranks that aren’t quite jokes
I will remind you of a maxim
That has never been a hoax

All the stories that you know
And all the ones you don’t
Are all truth and lies together,
Bits of reality uncloaked

I am quiet, almost silent
As I contemplate the scale
Of all the worlds around me-
Oh, what stories I could tell!

This is a song I wrote for Loki for an indie album me and a friend are working on putting together. I’m not going to point out the allusions to the myths here, but anyone who has read the Norse myths should recognize the stories hinted at.

ancestors, caledonian, celtic, celts, halloween, heathenry, norse, picts, samhain

Samhain

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Since today is Samhain, it seems appropriate to discuss why I celebrate it, since I’m Heathen. There are a lot of Heathens who don’t celebrate Samhain which I can understand, as it’s not a Nordic holiday. There are others that do – Lucius honors Hela, as it is the day most sacred to Her.

It is, however, rare to find a Heathen who celebrates the holiday as Samhain – it doesn’t really fit into the Nordic calendar. For me, I celebrate it as Samhain because my ancestry is more Scottish than Nordic. As a descendant of the MacGregor clan, I have direct ancestral links to the Caledonians (generally referred to as Picts), so it makes sense for me to honor my ancestors during a Celtic holiday.

Interestingly enough, Tacitus suggested in Agricola that the Caledoninans, due to their reddish hair and large limbs, were of Germanic descent. In my ancestral background (I’ve seen the DNA report that they can do now; my uncle is a genealogist), I have both Scottish and Nordic blood.

Now, the reason I’m explaining why I celebrate Samhain is because my celebration of Celtic holidays tends to be something the general Heathen community absolutely hates. It’s okay if I celebrate the Norse holidays, but celebrating the Celtic ones is, in some way, dishonoring the Gods.

I’ve never agreed with that way of thinking. I also don’t think that to be Heathen it’s necessary to only honor the Norse Gods. I think that it requires a primary focus on the Norse Gods, but not an exclusive one, and that is one of the beliefs I hold that the general Heathen community may never accept as tenable. Considering my ancestry, however, and the fact that polytheistic traditions are by necessity ancestral ones, failing to celebrate Samhain would be an incredible insult to those who came before me.