The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/icelandic)
Týr guides us, keeps faith with us, stays the course us, and never fails us. In the sometimes-wild world of the Norse deities, that stability and faithfulness can bring great comfort to those who seek it.
Sometimes, the Mead of Poetry works indirectly. An old rock ‘n’ roll song is stuck on repeat in my head, spinning unceasingly between my ears. Actually, it’s not even an entire song. It’s just a verse or a chorus or sometimes only a line or two. Someone else’s creative creation gets lodged in there, doing work on my mind that only I can hear.
Maybe it’s not such a great idea to turn to writers from 1,000, or 2,000, or 3,000 years before the United Nations publicly published the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for teachings on the universality of human rights.
Lyonel Perabo reviews Jackson Crawford’s “The Wanderer’s Havamal,” a translation of the Old Norse wisdom poem alongside several additional texts.
We know many people set a new year’s goal for learning a new language. We start with the best intentions, and, just like losing weight, language learning means commitment, time and concentration, with the last two commodities increasingly difficult to come by. But like any goal, this project can be tackled by breaking down the objectives into simpler pieces and recognizing both the frustration and the achievements inherent in the process. The Lukumi religion tells us that Orisha Elegguá speaks all languages and as the trickster he is also the source of all frustrations around communication. So, like in the Yoruba tradition, we first honor Elegguá before embarking on language learning, in this case, even exploring language learning. For any objective, staying focused on small accomplishments is important.