Beowulf

A day late, but c'est la vie.

IRL, I am a high school English teacher. I teach a British literature course. This means I get to teach Beowulf! Now, I can say just about every English teacher loves to teach Beowulf, but I particularly enjoy it because it allows me to surreptitiously share my religion in the classroom. By that, I mean that it allows me to show students a different way of living and thinking, and I'm probably somewhat more equipped that some others to bring that way of living and thinking into the present and thereby connect students more personally to the text. (At least, that's what I like to tell myself. And to be clear, at no point do I mention my own spiritual path in class.)

So hear are some personal ramblings about Beowulf and the teaching of it.

Students always seem to love Beowulf. They feel accomplished because they are reading an old text and actually enjoying it, and they enjoy it because, as an epic, it follows certain textual constructs they are already quite familiar with through today's storytelling: the movies.

We do an activity tracing the hero cycle through different movies... The Incredibles and the new Batman trilogy fit perrrrfectlyyyy.

Since Beowulf brings up Christianity early in the text, it brings up the conversation of the difference between Paganism and Christianity. It also illustrates how literacy knowledge equates to power... it was monks who were interested in writing these stories down. Therefore, they got to put their Christian spin on it. We continue to track these Christian influences as we read.

I find that Beowulf and "The Battle of Maldon" (a shorter, nonfiction text we read before Beowulf) are prime vehicles to teach ethics. The situations are life-and-death and larger than life, but they aren't meant to be fully realistic... but those situations easily translate to smaller, everyday situations. What do you do when you hear a rumor your friend has betrayed you (as someone rides away on the leader's horse mid-battle in "Maldon")? Some in "Maldon" flee, some continue to fight. In Beowulf, all but one abandon him at the end. What do you do when the going gets rough? When you're alone? How does reputation precede you? What makes a hero? For this last one, I have a slideshow that compares Beowulf and the first responders on 9/11.

In addition, there are great, quotable words of wisdom in these texts that are easily digestible (at least in the translation in our textbook). I call them "prime material for Facebook status updates," but they are words that stick in the mind. And they have a better message than most other popular culture slogans the kids latch on to (YOLO, anyone?).

All great literature does the above things, but there's something about Beowulf that gets us every time...

Baking

I like to bake. I like measuring things. I like mixing things. I like the swing of an opening oven door. I like its heat in my face, which occasionally steams my glasses. I like the way the house smells when baking. I like finding unique recipes. I like when those recipes win my workplace's cook-off contests! I like honoring the gods through my kitchen efforts.

My religious use of baking began early in my path. When I was a teenager, baking was a constructive and inconspicuous way to mark the sabbats. Baking feeds my body, mind, and spirit. I enjoyed it, and in addition to sharing it with the gods I got to share it with my mom.

Now, as a Heathen, baking takes on a slightly larger role. I still like to cook something festive and seasonal for holidays. But now working in the kitchen feeds the energy in my home.

My home. I moved out of my parent's house this past summer, and I've certainly found myself baking more because this kitchen is mine. I know what spices are in the cupboards because I purchased and placed them there. I know what gadgets I do and don't have (current gadgets include a zester, egg separator, and parchment). I know that the oven tends to run a bit hot. Exercising those cupboards, gadgets, and oven builds frith and pleases the house wights. In maintaining my hearth, I honor the thought, skill, and care of my ancestors. (Referring to "cultural ancestors" here, not necessarily literal ones.)

Now which ancestor do I have to honor to ensure my cheesecake doesn't crack? :)

Ancestors

Ancestors are an integral part of Heathenry. You are a part of them and they are a part of you. The decisions they made lead directly to where you sit right now, and the decisions you make will likewise affect future generations.

Heathenry has given me a greater appreciation for the rich heritage and ancestors in my life. I never though about how lucky I was to have history in my family. In my grandmother's cedar chest is a wool bathing suit of my great grandfathers. She also has a diary of some great-grandmother's as well. We have the genealogy of the family back to when they came from Europe (accomplished before ancestry.com!), and a photograph of a great^nth-grandmother from the Civil War era.

We also have family and heritage traditions. We make applesauce every year; its pink color comes from leaving the skin on the apples. We freeze it, then eat it at most family or holiday meals, often still half frozen so it makes a delicious icy, slushy concoction. We also freeze corn. We buy fasnachts from the local gas station on Fasnacht Day and eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day.

These are all things I took for granted when I was younger, but my life would be the poorer without them. Thinking about the role of ancestors in Heathenry made me realize what gifts I already have! My ancestors are quite an active, vivid role in my family.

There is some unfinished business, however. I do not as of yet have an altar or shrine for ancestors, although I like the idea of one. I also have not as of yet come to terms with the idea of ancestors when I have no intention of furthering the family line myself at this point.

This doesn't really bother me, although I feel like it should. I've heard of the idea of anonymous, "cultural ancestors," but that doesn't quite seem the same thing for me. Who will remember me and my deeds when I am gone? Various friends and likely some of my students, to be sure. And I suppose I'll just have to be a presence in the lives of my younger brother and my little once-removed cousins (one toddling around now and one to be born this summer!).

Why Asatru?

My first post of the Pagan Blog Project! As luck would have it, my religion starts with an A, something I didn't think would come in handy before alphabetical topics. In this post, I hope to just introduce myself and my path.

Unfortunately, I have little recollection of how I got here. Specifically, how I came from being an "eclectic" Pagan to being Heathen (my preferred term instead of Asatru; more on that in a later post, perhaps). This lack of memory or record is a true regret of mine, something few and far between in my life.

I initially investigated Paganism / witchcraft because of Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. I kept a book of shadows, did some rituals and meditation and divination. I learned a lot but didn't quite stick at anything. After maybe, oh, four or five years--

--TIME OUT. Four or five years? And THAT was four or five years ago? Which means I've been this thing called Pagan for close to TEN years? As in, a DECADE? This has not sunk in yet. Obviously. Perhaps this is why people do professions and initiation rituals, so they don't feel like they've been involved in something for a whole decade with little to show for it. Hmph.--

After maybe, oh, four or five years, I somewhere stumbled upon Asatru. Although familiar with and intrigued by Druidry and Celtic reconstructionism before, something about Asatru made an impression. (I imagine Tolkein had something to do with this as well. [Did I mention I'm a literature nerd?])

I remember Asatru feeling more real than anything else I'd experienced. I hadn't really worshipped deities before, although I was interested in them and felt (and still do) a personal connection to Aphrodite. But the Norse gods hit something in me. The culture felt normal. These gods and this religion felt to me part of the real world. It didn't ask for intimate, sacred, "kumbaya" interactions with the gods all the time. This was something I never felt called to or felt I really experienced. In fact, Asatruar seemed of the opinion that the gods had better things to do and only came around on special occasions. I felt the same way! The Asatru emphasis on community and family and ancestors was new to me as well. I'd never realized it before, but I have a strong sense of these things, and Asatru has only made them stronger in my life. Asatru did not feel silly or fluffy, something I always feared I had been. I did not feel like an imposter.