Dear Don: Little John…

Dear Don,

Hope you had a good weekend… looking forward to the Harvest of Being. I seem to have been in the south a long time and I’m missing the hills.

I spent some time reading up on our Norse God this weekend. Found this… you’ve probably seen it; I know I’d seen it before but I hadn’t joined up the dots… didn’t have all the dots to join, I suppose, until we started this journey.

Then began I to bloom,
To be wise,
To grow and to thrive;
Word came to me
From word,
Deed came to me
From deed.

I also came upon a slightly different translation of Huginn’s name in MacKenzie … ‘reflection’ rather than ‘thought’… which although synonymous, throws yet another light on the matter of the Raven-god’s companions. In the same telling nine rune-charms were spoken of to match the nine herbs and nine worlds, though it does add the rider that there ‘are many others’.

The more we dig, the more we seem to be seeing correspondences between the systems and traditions, confirming the common understanding that spans both space and time. It does point to a unique source of inspiration for those who sought understanding and from whom the various mythologies devolved, rather than the simplistic view that all these things were merely personifications of the local environment and conditions. As with the Egyptian myths, the stories conceal so many levels of meaning to cater for the corresponding levels of understanding.

I have to wonder how much was known by how many at their origins, or if it is only with the passage of time and the growth of knowledge that these tales are able to unfold understanding for the many rather than the few.

I am also wondering how they accessed such complex knowledge and how closely it matches with what we seek to do today. I have a feeling that only the details were different.

On another note I looked up that article you mentioned… no idea if it is the current one, mind you, but came across this picture of John Bigg, the Dinton Hermit we came across when writing our adventures.

‘Little John’ springs to mind, of course. He was the guy who turned recluse after the regicide, his master having been one of the magistrates involved, and rumour putting Bigg as one of the executioners.

We visited the church at Dinton with the magnificent Norman tympanum but could never get in… and I showed you the ‘castle’ folly. So we have a local wild man… not sure he qualifies as an ‘anchorite’, but definitely ‘hairy’…