~ THE TURNING OF THE WHEEL ~
Loaf Feast 2010
* New Hex Website is Here! *
That’s right folks, The Hex Harvest is in! We’ve been hard at work rebuilding the website to feature mountains of online content, book and music reviews, and a more interactive format…and here it is!
Exciting times for Hex Magazine!
Please let us know what you think:
hexmagazine.com
* * * * * *
Der Sommer (1607) by Abel Grimmer
Harvest Tide
Well the scarecrow has done his job well
And the tide of harvest is begun
All heavy and rich and gold
But prepare for the cold to come
Yes, we’ve work ahead
To race the cold wind’s call
To fight off the rats and the thieves
To take our year’s return
Now we’re all rejoicing
The harvest it is done
Slaughter some animals
Aye we’ll bless our holy haul
Dear Frey and Freya
Dear Eir and Idunn
Dear Thorr and Jord
Sif Bless us this harvest’s good
Well winter is coming
You better rug up my dears
It’ll gnaw at you like a wolf
It’ll sharpen your fears
You know it will be hard
Some will not survive
But have hope to bear past Yule
Into Eostre’s light
* * * * * *
•EIHWAZ•
Old English Rune Poem
Eoh (Yew) is on the outside an unsmooth tree,
hard in the earth holding fast, fire’s keeper,
by roots buttressed, a joy on the estate
Old Icelandic Rune Poem
Yr (Yew) is a bent bow
and fragile iron
and arrow’s Farbauti
Old Norse Rune Poem
Yr (Yew) is the winter-greenest wood; and is
found wanting, when it burns, to ignite
~ Rune poem translations by Sweyn Plowright
http://www.mackaos.com.au/Rune-Net/Primer/
The yew has something of a steadfast quality – “hard in the earth,” “winter-greenest,” “by roots buttressed.” To me this represents the power of life to endure reversal and suffering, to overcome winter in all its forms.
Yet nothing comes from nothing. If we do not replenish ourselves then we will not endure when things become rough. This point is highlighted by the intersection of my drawing Eihwaz for the harvest tide, for Loaf Feast.
When we complete a harvest process, gathering in the yield of our efforts, we are building up our ability to survive and flourish. To me, life is an ongoing harvest process. Each goal we achieve becomes a given once we have it, for already the next has emerged. Once each piece of the puzzle of life comes into place we find it hard to imagine how we got along before we had it.
The “bent bow” of our desire and intention is therefore an eternal moment. The steadfast, seeming stillness of the yew is an illusion – for always in that stillness is the tension waiting to be released into bowshot; or put another way, yew “[wants], when it burns, to ignite.” Yew, that ancient and lush victor over time and winter, seems settled and solid, yet always there is motion, cycles within cycles, an irrepressible impulse to grow or transform.
When times of stagnation loom it can feel that we are stuck, lost, without hope. It can feel that our feet are mired in the ground, our horizons lost in mist. Yet beneath the bark, the earth, our skin, there is always the bent bow of change fermenting. You cannot directly see the tension of the bow that propels the arrow until after the shot is away and you see in its new straightness just how contorted the weapon was. Likewise we cannot always see the shape our lives are to take in the dark preludes before change and externally manifested growth unfurl.
Hence the value of a good harvest, of making sure we establish patterns of life that nourish our bodies and spirits. It might take a little more ‘up front’ effort to prepare sauerkraut (or other health foods), or get into a habit of regular meditation or exercise, or to practice one’s chosen art, or to read soul-feeding books…but the dividends far outstrip the investment.
Think about the possible harvests in your life, the things you do or could do that might nourish you beneath your unsmooth yew surface. The well buttressed tree gains its solidity from its dynamism, and similarly we gain our depth and substance when we keep our minds, emotions, and bodies in movement, drawing in small daily harvests, the often simple yet essential things that keep us sane and well and growing despite the threat of cold winter air that begins to be hinted at with the harvest season.
And in all this, we would be well served to respect the sacrifice entailed in every harvest – something loses its life that we might live, one path must be sacrificed if we are to explore another. The yew is long lived, but deadly poisonous – life and death are not far apart, and we would be well served to let this aspect of Eihwaz teach us gratitude and reverence for all that sustains us…and all that we sustain.
* * * * * *
By the Hum of Ullr’s Bow: Winter Songs Compilation CD is still available!
Bands on the compilation CD include:
• A Minority of One • Allerseelen • Andrew King • At the Head of the Woods • Beastianity • Hamramr • Irij • Ironwood • Ruhr Hunter • Sangre Cavallum • Sieben • Steve von Till • Svarrogh • Waldteufel • Wardruna
(You can read more about the artists here: http://hexmagazine.com/harvest/winter-songs-cd/).
: Issue Three Almost Gone!:
Issues One, Two, Four, & Five are sold out!
Limited numbers of Hex Issue Three (and also Issue Six of course) remain…
Order at: www.hexmagazine.com/subscribe.htm
* * * * * *
Until Autumn Equinox, may you and your household be blessed and kept. Hail!
~ HEX Magazine
* * * * * *
We are currently looking for:
• submissions
• funding
If you are interested in applying or have any suggestions,
contact: info@hexmagazine.com
* * * * * *
Due date for Spring 2011 submissions
is Autumn Equinox 2010
Support your community while exposing like-minded
folk to your goods and services…
Advertisements must be relevant to HEX readers, and inclined toward a Heathen aesthetic. Prices listedare for completed AD files. If you need additional graphic design, we can help. Just contact us about our design fee.
AD space is now available in the newsletter for $10 a run.
Contact info@hexmagazine.com if you are interested.
>I< HEX >I<
> Please forward to all interested and relevant parties <
Leave a Reply