The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/category/living/page/11)
Friday’s opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics was wild and sparked Christian outrage over a scene that had nothing to do with Christianity, but did have to do with Paganism and portrayals of deities.
Over the past week, Democrats have giddily celebrated the ascension of Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket. That’s great, but it doesn’t deal with the issue of elderly leaders in this nation of ours. Maybe the tale of Egil Skallagrimsson, the Viking poet who lived to old age, has something to teach us here.
I was twenty-one, and that was the first time I had ever seen the ocean. I slept that night as close to the window as I could, straining my ears for the sound of waves. The ocean was a poetic trope, the longing of Tolkien’s elves, a setting for adventure and tragedy. I loved the idea of it, and I wanted to be lulled into sleep like the heroes of my favorite books, but that was all I knew of the water.
Sunshine invited me to have lunch with her at the soup kitchen, which had become a central part of her daily life. Some people there had become like family to her, although she had to hide her spiritual identity while she was among them. Like many Witches and Pagans, she is adept at giving neutral responses to the abundance of Christian greetings and commentary that are frequently offered in American communities.
Exhausted, sweaty, and painfully hungry, I take my back into the gravel road of what must be Sōdra Ugglarp. On the horizon a long earthen-colored brick building stands against the deep blue sky, like a wall. In front of it, I notice a concrete-pit filled with horse manure. Closest to me, nearly as long as the barn, lies the stone ship, shaped by dozens of massive standing stones, like teeth of a giant rising from the green earth.