If you need motivation to do something today—do it to make your ancestors proud.
[Image description: A photo of a Black man wearing a hoodie which reads “Busy Making My Ancestors Proud”.]
(I can’t find a credit for this image—if you know who this person is, or who the photographer is, please let me know so I can add the proper credit.)
Archeologist Ragnar L. Børsheim has created a short video reconstruction of “The Gausel Queen” grave, showing what the grave goods would have looked like, and mixed in the photos of the actual artifacts from the museum.
From the summary: “Among the objects were oval brooches of giltet bronze an sliver, a third brooch of massive silver, two silver bracelets and some of the finest gilted bridle mounts we have. Remains of a horses cranium are evidence that the bridle was mounted on a horses head in the grave. The bridle mounts, together with a reliquary mount and av bronze bowl were of Irish origin. There were also three drinking horns with bronze mounts in the burial. ”
This one is just over two minutes, so you can watch it right now!
Børsheim has several other (longer) historic reconstruction videos on his Vimeo page, including an Iron Age farm, a medieval church interior, and a fiery Viking funeral!
The Weekly Insight from the Oracles for March 15, 2021 is live on my Patreon!
Many thanks to my delightful Patrons!
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[Image description: A teaser screenshot of this week’s Insight from the Oracles, with just a hint of the cards and runes showing.]
My prior devotional book is wonderful to look at, with a tooled leather cover, and a nice piece of bloodstone on the front:
But the paper is not equally wonderful. It does alright with a ballpoint pen, but it doesn’t work at all with fountain pens (my preferred writing tool) or calligraphy markers (for my forays into decorative art). The pages are stitched into the cover, so I can’t even substitute a different blank journal into the cover. Sigh.
I’ve tried, but it just does not spark joy.
(I’m also not wild about the snaps.)
Thanks to the wonderful artisans at Oberon Design, I have a new blank book to turn into my devotional.
The packaging is quite nice. It comes wrapped in heavy paper, with a notecard:
[Image description: A decorated notecard peeking out of the edge of brown paper wrapping on a book.]
When you pull out the notecard to read it, prior to unwrapping the journal, you find a gift—a charm that matches the button closure on your journal!
[Image description: The notecard with a silver charm on it.]
When you turn over the package to unwrap it, there’s another “thank you” note:
[Image description: A sticker with a drawing of a tree and the words “Oberon Design Thanks You” sits near the bottom of a brown paper wrapped rectangle.]
Then, once you unwrap the paper, the journal itself is revealed.
[Image description: A dark brown leather notebook with an embossed pattern of trees, and a silver button fastener.]
This the “Avenue of Trees” design, in chocolate brown leather. The button features an acorn. This design appeals to me because it speaks of Angrboda and the Iron Wood. Of all the amazing designs on the Oberon site, this is the one that jumped off the screen for me. Also, the blank journal refills can be ordered from Oberon, or purchased at a stationery store, since they’re a standard notebook size.
The paper is smooth and lovely, and tolerates everything I’ve tested on it, with no bleedthrough on the fountain pen inks, and just a bit on the calligraphy markers, so I’ll need to allow an extra blank page between my drawings. But that’s not a problem, because the paper is so wonderful for writing and drawing, it’s a pleasure to do so!
Which is good, because now I need to copy all of the prayers, poems, and other pieces that were in my prior book into this book.
Time to refill the fountain pens, and start writing!
The Cat and The Moon
—W. B. Yeats
The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.
