~ THE TURNING OF THE WHEEL ~

WINTERNACHT
SAMHAIN
2007

We have recently posted excerpts from the Fall/Winter 2007 issue. Get a taste of the newest incarnation of HEX Magazine at:
www.hexmagazine.com/harvest2-articles.htm

The Wild Hunt – Franz von Stuck

DIE WILDE JAGD

Last year, around this time, I started to tell the children in the house about Odin’s Wild Hunt that starts on Winternacht and continues until the end of Yule. My niece Taylor, almost 6 at the time, was immediately enrapt. The idea of a cavalcade of the dead on horse back, along with mad dogs and ghoul-like creatures led by a god and goddess—well, that was just the kind of story a kid wants to hear around Halloween. I was made to repeat my description of this motley procession in the form of storms over and over, around the house, out on walks, during the trick or treat rounds, when the winds howled and shook the trees at night…

My sister finally chastised me. She was not interested in her daughter understanding myth as a truth. This was a story, a fairy tale, and essentially it was a lie to portray it as real. “But it is real.’” I defended. “It lives in us; it is a part of who we are.”

Taylor, privy to the whole conversation, was not swayed. The Heathen blood in her veins would not be fooled. She continued to talk with me, usually out of earshot of her mother, about ‘Die Wilde Jagd.’ I felt a little guilty, but I just couldn’t bring myself to deny what I too believed. This summer, after we had finished calling for fairies in the root hollows of giant trees, she asked me again how long The Hunt made its rounds. I told her it had been over since the beginning of the year.
“That’s what I thought,” she said. “Noah (a Loki-type friend she had been spreading the folk tale to) said it was still going. He said he saw it on the news.” I assured her, broadcasters do not report on The Wild Hunt, but that it would undoubtedly be back in the middle of autumn.

And now, if you choose to listen, you can again hear the horn and the hounds…

-A. von Rautmann

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FLAMING GLÖGG

This quickly assembled Glögg combines wine and spirits to feed a lively flame. You warm the liquid in the kitchen but bring it out before guests to set afire, and then ladling the blazing punch over melting sugar cubes.

Inexpensive dry red wines work well as the base, but for variation, a specific varietal such as Zinfandel adds a nice touch.

1 bottle dry red wine
1 cup dry Sherry
1 cup Vodka [get the good stuff for everyone’s sake]
10–15 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
About 2/3 cup sugar cubes [It needs to be cubes—we tried organic, free-range sugar and it didn’t work very well]
About 3/4 cup each raisins and whole almonds [any dried fruit would do]

In an attractive 3-quart saucepan or kettle, combine wine, Sherry, vodka, cloves, and cinnamon stick. Place over moderate heat until just hot enough to still sip comfortably; do not boil!

Remove from heat and present for flaming before your guests (do not set the pan beneath anything that can catch on fire). Pile as many sugar cubes as possible on a slotted spoon or ladle and dip quickly into glögg. Lift out at once; hold a lit match close to surface of punch to set aflame. Then spoon glögg frequently over cubes to melt sugar and maintain flame. Agitating the liquid releases the flammable alcohol fumes. Add any remaining sugar [do not add too much; it gets too sweet really fast!] to ladle and melt using the same technique.

You can serve the glögg as it flames; keep it warm on a warming tray or over a candle until all is served. Add a few raisins and almonds to each cup. Offer small spoons if desired for scooping the nuts and fruit from the cups. Makes 5 cups or 10 1/2-sized servings.

Recipe adapted from the Sunset Scandinavian Cook Book and tested by Arrowyn and Jason Craban.

NOTE: We won’t lie, this takes some savvy, so practice first if you’re out to impress anyone!

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FREYA SAYS: “LISTEN TO GRANNY, TAKE YOUR FISH OIL!”

The concept that nurturing our bodies leads to health and satisfaction is hardly new or surprising. Even modern medicine has finally caught up with nature in using good nutrition to treat depression. Now, lo and behold, science is understanding that eating right also leads to happiness by bestowing more frequent and easily facilitated female orgasms!

The main points are:
– A diet low in carbohydrates like refined sugar, white flour, and potatoes
– High doses of fish oil supplements
– Eating lots of protein and good fats (monounsaturated fats including olive oil, and saturated fats like those found in dairy, meat, and poultry), and as many fruits and veggies as our hearts desire
– Cut the caffeine(1)

Seems Dr. Weston Price(2) knew what he was talking about. No wonder pre-industrial cultures seem to have live such idyllic lives! That which makes strong babies, makes a strong sex life. It only makes sense.

We understand that processed grains, refined sugars, and caffeine not only fail to nourish our bodies, but actually deplete them. This little news flash, however, should remind us all about the many facets of our lives effected by what we consume.

1. Marrena Lindberg, The Orgasmic Diet (Three Rivers Press, 2007)

2. Weston A. Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th ed. (La Mesa CA: The Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation Inc., 2003)

For more information on Dr. Price see:
www.westonaprice.org
www.price-pottenger.org

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• NAUTHIZ•

(Need) is constricting on the chest
although to the children of men it often becomes
a help and salvation nevertheless,
if they heed it in time.

~ Old English Rune Poem

Welcome adversity: What initially feels overwhelming, will instigate necessary changes that would be less appealing were we to remain cozy and static. Don’t fight it. Wake up. Pay attention. Learn your lessons.

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An image from Katia’s Living by the Dark Mist series that we found especially befitting this time of year. See more of Katia’s (HaateKaate) photography at her myspace page:
www.myspace.com/kaatehaate
or on our website:
www.hexmagazine.com/harvest2-artwork.htm
or in the most recent issue of HEX Magazine:
www.hexmagazine.com/subscribe.htm

Until Winter Solstice, may you and your
household be blessed and kept. Hail!
~HEX Magazine

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