Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Voices of the Norns - What To Do?


Detail Present day altar, New Orleans - Smoke


Dear Norns,

I am right now in a sort of a searching phase. There are many things in my life which create resistance, that eat much of my energy. I often find myself alone in a vacuum with the question; what am I supposed to do? I'm grouping for guidance, something that gives me the feeling that if I do the right things and work harder everything will work out for the better, as long as I keep at it. I have tried many sounding boards, both in my immediate surroundings and with people outside of my personal sphere, but I still find myself feeling helpless and alone. Do I really have to fight this hard? And if so, how long? I did have a hope that I would find deeper connection and context in the geographical location I have now chosen to build my life, or at least that things would become somewhat easier. But I remain a stranger that guest plays a little here and there without feeling that I belong. So, what am I supposed to do?

Hugs
Emilia


Little sparrow,

We hug you back. We do, we do, and ask ourselves; Why do you have to work so hard? Why do you have to? Do you? 

Beyond survival there are few things people have to do. There are meaning and goals. Those are yours to create. Here's a non-secret that is easy to forget. Places have souls too. Souls of places are slow and not very easy to charm, but they are seldom fickle like people are fickle. Oh, people ... not a bad race, we don't say that at all. But so much ado, so much running around, making noises, shattering endlessly, breaking sacred bonds pretending they were never there in the first place.

Do you know what the Protestant motto is? It is: if shit happens all I have to do is work harder and it will work out. This is not necessarily true. Not always. The Catholic motto is: if shit happens it's probably my fault. That is not necessarily true ... either.

Talk to this place you think you've chosen (you might want to wait until you're free from human company for this) and ask if it wants you? Be respectful. Root your own soul. You will want know this; calm people gravitate to people that have calm souls. The fickle ones fall away, which isn't a big loss. Most people are a lot of work. Especially these days when the languages of places - earthenware and birds - are so seldom used. Speak that language and perhaps somewhere there you can find answers to the right question which is not what to do. It is; what do you want?

With outmost blessings
The Norns

Detail Present day altar, New Orleans - Flowers

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Voices of the Norns - Past, Present and Future - an Offering

It has been quiet on this blog for awhile. I found myself in the world of not knowing what to share. The written word can be used for so many things and not all are suitable for immediate flaunting.. Creative writing has to take it's time and will, hopefully, be shared eventually. Private journal writing is for the most part, well, private. Nobody really wants to know the rambling of my journal pages. You just have to trust me on that one. It's beyond mad alert. It's tedious. Meanwhile, while the fictional stories in the making are slowly, painfully slowly to be honest, being created and private journal pages keep suffering I find myself thinking of what to share. Which undoubtedly leads to - why share?

Now, that is a good question. Or rather, for any writer, the question. As I would happily, chappily said in writing classes of old - everyone has something to share. Write, just write ... jada, jada. Easy to preach, is it not? When we talk to others we know the way all too well.

When Michael and I published The Echo World we had a natural venue. Nobody questions why you should write in a magazine, you just do. Not even myself. Truth is, I miss The Echo World. Not the deadlines, they are as the name implies, deadly. Not the deliveries, or scraping around for suitable material, nor the technical issues. I don't miss those parts much at all, but I do miss the given venue.


Echoes from The Echo World days, Magic Land

The Echo World was a creature, an all-consuming bratty little bastard with a tender heart. Leftover copies of the last issue are presently forming into new creatures of paper-mache. Painfully slowly I might add. All is well in the world and it keeps revolving, unfolding and evolving.

When I met the voodoo queen of New Orleans the first time (there might be more than one voodoo queen here but for me there is only one, an eighty plus miracle of a woman who runs the Voodoo Spiritual temple. Her name is Miriam.) she repeated in a sing-song voice for no apparent reason, "The past echoes forward. Isn't that great? We don't have to dwell on the past because the past echoes forward."

I have been thinking about what parts of The Echo World I truly do miss and would like to echo forward. One part that was great fun was Voices of the Norns - Past, Present and Future. I have decided to reawaken Voices of the Norns. Simply because I feel like it. Or, perhaps closer to the truth, because I missed them lately. And they are, for quite natural reasons, never far away.

Voices of the Norns - Past, Present and Future was featured in The Echo World over its last years and some were republished on this blog. If you are curious click the links: 

Voices of the Norns - Past, Present, and Future - The Worlds

Voices of the Norns: Past, Present and Future - The Voice





I invite you to ask questions to the Norns and see what they come up with. This is an offering, FREE of charge and for our mutual curiosity. There are only a few things to consider:

The Norns are cryptic and sometimes harsh. Do not ask a question you do not want an answer to. I will give the answer as close to the words I am given as possible. If you're ready to play, fire away. Send your question to sofiakarinaxelsson@gmail.com. 

I will choose questions, edit down if need be and proofread. That is my only charge. The Norns will do the rest. They usually do.

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