minstrel: Re: Need some critique

[J. Michael Shew]

	WHOA!  Thomas!  I expected a little flame, not a flamethrower
aimed at everyone else!   Take a moment and drink this! (Mikal hands him a
stout and cleans up the blood with a swipe of his foot.)
	The Mindset of all religions is the modern one.  The believer
looks from his or her present day to the god(s) of choice.
	Few people would want to pray to the same concept of Odin (okay,
Odthin, if you want my spelling..) that was acceptable in say the time of
the Yinglings, or perhaps the date of the writings of Har.
	I myself have looked long and hard at the concepts of my own
faith, and found the "fatherly" figure I once thought was at the other end
of my prayers wasn't the one I now envision.  (I will not continue in this
vein as it is a religious concept, and this net really souldn't go there.)
	However, in researching my works, I try to see the image of that
time without the haze of modern concepts.  It is not always possible.  I
still have some trouble considering Odthin after translating the poetry I
have.  Still, it is worth the effort.
	My real comment was on the well meaning efforts I get from people
who try to help me with my research by handing me the modern texts for
Wicca, or other related faiths.  They may be legitamate today.  They may
work.  I pass no judgement on that.  But if I wanted to know the worship
practices of the time, I doubt most of the modern writers would consider
the sacrifice of a healthy horse, the spraying of the blood, and the
drinking of the cooked fluids to be appropriate for the modern
practitioner.  The Christians would have a hard time describing the
practice of slaughtering an animal and walking thru it's butched parts to
sanctify an oath to God as well.  But it is historical.
	Of course, I don't do these things...
	Mikal Hrafspa

____________________________________________________________________________
    Mikal the Ram; an annoying Bard of no redeeming qualities
__________________________(jshewkc at pei.edu)________________________________
	That he is bright, let no man boast
	But take good heed of his tounge
	The silent sage , will seldom need grief
	They are honored here in the hall
	A friend more faithful, you will never find
	Than a shrewd head on your shoulders
			The Hamaval  (translation mine)



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