Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Both I hold within me.

I bought this necklace when I turned 40. Whenever I need a reminder of quiet strength and wisdom, I wear it. I like the simple lines of the goddess icon and the stone looks as if she is holding all of the Universe in her hands. When I am talking to patients I sometimes use the image of dipping hands into a creek or the ocean. If you grab tightly in an attempt to hold onto the water, it slips through your fingers and is lost. But with hands open and submerged, you hold the entirety of the water in your hands. It's a metaphor, of course, for acceptance and non-attachment. So hard to remember when you want something badly.
My older son drew this on the whiteboard that is meant to hold a running grocery list and other notes. I haven't wanted to erase it.  Ragnarök is the epic battle foretold in Norse mythology which will bring out about the deaths of Odin, Thor, Freyr, Loki and other gods. It's an apocalyptic event, with natural disasters and then a regeneration of the world. A contrasting metaphor of painful, loss-filled conflict which leads to rebirth. Both themes have meaning for me - the need for peaceful acceptance and the growth born of struggle and loss.
When I discovered at Thanksgiving that my last name was of Viking origin, I had to think about what that meant to me.  They were not a peaceful people and did some rather awful things. But who doesn't have both good and bad in their family tree?  I count among my own forebears both slaveowners and slaves, for instance. So I wanted to look for what I could take from my own name, which I sign and say many times every day. The Normans, disreputable though they may have been, were fierce adventurers.  I added another talisman to my collection, a mjölnir - the hammer of Thor. I wear it when I need to remind myself to to venture out fearlessly.

24 comments:

  1. ah such timely observation and advice here. i thank you. and i add my root-toot-toot to your adventuresome courage.

    xoxoxo
    kj

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  2. ah i thought that was a thor hammer...that is way cool...and fierce adventures are the best eh? smiles...i really like your philosophy on the holding of water...its funny...i was just writing about that this evening and will post it tomorrow...though i probably wont say it as well...

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    1. The only adventures worth having are the fierce ones!

      I like the synchronicity of both of us writing on the same subject at the same time.

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  3. Symbols can be a good thing. Whenever I have doubts and need reminding of the important things in life I think about the Reiki symbols and precepts, it helps concentrate my mind.

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  4. We are all looking for something to hold on to. I hope this holiday season brings you some joy and peace. XO

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  5. I can certainly appreciate your talismans. There is something reassuring about having visual and tactile reminders of what is important to us.
    Also, love your son's whiteboard drawing! Shopping lists can go anywhere :)

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    1. He often draws something on there, and I move the list to a piece of paper.

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  6. My youngest wears a similar pendant, a Celtic knot. Though it's not relevant to your post, the Vikings were an interesting lot. Farmers and vintners in Iceland, explorers everywhere. Apparently a emissary from Europe went to Constantinople around 900 AD to warn about the Viking incursions, and was horrified to find the Emperor's bodyguards were Vikings. Another curious aspect is that in the areas they invaded and stayed, some islands and part of Normandy, within a few decades nothing remained of their culture. They tended to be absorbed by whatever group they were around long enough, with the only thing remaining being there genes.

    Happy holidays, I'm off to Seattle.

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    1. I have a Celtic knot as well. My own crew were from Normandy and then they moved on to England and Ireland.

      Have a good trip!

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  7. We had Vikings come to Ireland, that's the red hair thing :) I embrace my mother's clan more, they were the survivors, the brave ones who set out against incredible odds, banished from their long held island, forced inland for 100s of miles in appalling conditions. Massacred with very few survivors. I gain a lot of strength in pondering their lives.
    XO
    WWW

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    1. My folks were some of those, although we are all brown haired or blonde. But I'm a believer in embracing ALL parts of my history, because I know that any of us could have been any of them given the right/wrong circumstances.

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  8. I like that metaphor about holding water with your hands open and submerged rather than trying to grab it tightly. That applies to so many things in life. But keeping your hands open isn't always easy.

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    1. You're so right, and I am inclined to want to hold on tightly. It's a continuous lesson for me.

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  9. Does it mean anything that the Thor's hammer looks to me like it has a goofy smile?

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  10. You remind me of the energizer bunny --- takes a licking and keeps on ticking! Catching up on your posts I found myself nodding a lot. I guess trials just make us stronger? Either that or they'll kill us! And I'm not ready to go just yet.Communication should be easy when everyone speaks the same language, but it isn't. So I breathe and deal with life one moment at a time as much as possible.
    The cookies helped, the ones I mentioned, then more I made with a friend. If I could organize a tree I know I'd feel better --- and leave it up 'til Little Christmas. It will be nice, too, to have the OC home. Have a peaceful holiday with your sons.

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    1. I'm not ready to die just yet, either, so keeping on seems like the best bet. I hope that even after my kids have moved on with their lives, I'll put up a tree. It really does bring me comfort to sit in the living room by its lights.

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  11. Gorgeous necklaces, indeed. I'm very drawn to all things Viking--in my heritage, too. Tough as hammers, willing to push the boundaries of the world to expose new horizons...yea, that's us.

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    1. I like to think that came into play when I took on this old house - All those things I didn't know yet I could do, I did anyway.

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  12. I absolutely love this. Your sense of adventure, your intellectual dynamism, your determination to see the best, all of it is wonderful.

    As a peace-loving person who is also descended from Vikings, I've wondered too how to view my heritage. The high-spirited ethos of Norse mythology seems a good angle to take.

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    1. Well thank you! I think virtually all peoples have at least some violence - you can embrace the culture for what is good in it.

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