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Today I saw all the amphibians!

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A start of shift prayer:

Gorfannon the Smith, guide my hand.

Amaethon of the Plough, give strength to my back.

Let me lose myself in my labours and find peace in my toil,

May my efforts be fruitful and my respite well earned.

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Standing between two continents.

This gap is where the North American and European tectonic plates are slowly pulling away from each other.

It's where the Vikings would meet to settle disputes.

These pictures were taken around 9/10am but it was still pitch black.

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Even the waterfalls are frozen

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Icelandic geyser

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Reykjavik mornings

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Cernunnos and Nodens

The duality of man

Two ancient Celtic gods who, thanks to the aural tradition of the Druids and the stabbing tradition of the Romans, we know very little about. But I've been thinking about what we do know about them and I have some speculation that has zero evidence but I'd like to share anyway.

To me they seem to be gods of different aspects of the same things. To quote Terry Pratchett, to be human is "To be the place where the Fallen Angel meets the Rising Ape," we aren't quite animals but nor are we divine. We have one foot in each camp.

Cernunnos represents our beastial side while Nodens represents our civilised side. Here's my reasoning:

Cernunnos is god of wildlife. Nodens is the god of dogs, our first domesticated animal.

Cernunnos is a god of fertility, or at least male virility. Nodens is a god of healing. One is the base lust that creates new life, the other is practiced learning that preserves existing life.

Nodens is a hunting/fishing god, as in the practical activities we do to sustain ourselves. Cernunnos is god of THE HUNT, as in the actual bloody thrill of the chase.

Another way to look at this last one would be; Cernunnos is a hunting god whereas Nodens is a war god. The two forms of violence man partakes in, one is arguably natural while the other man made. However, I feel the need to point out that Nodens isn't exactly a war god, he's a healer god, but the Roman soldiers in Britain associated him with Mars, a war god who from the perspective of a soldier had healer aspects.

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To my Life,

Do you hear the hunters howling?

Clad in the skins they ripped in my name?

Do not blame me.

I gave them the furs, but you gave them the cold.

I gave them the flame, but you gave them the fear.

I am the hunt, but you are the hunger!

They love me not and sing your praises,

But I put the spear where you gave no claws,

I put the arrow where you gave no speed,

And I offered an axe where you denied shelter.

An axe is an axe, an invitation only. Fell the tree or the elements fell you...

they love me not and sing your praises but all ends lead to me.

Yours, Death x

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