Feeling harried :(
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Rank: ? (4280)
Member #: 5260 |
I am feeling like I am being harried and harrassed by a female Asatru.
 A worshipper of Freyja. I've received angry emails.She didn't like me putting up a myth of Freyja and the Brisings (4 dwarves), particularly because she slept with the 4 dwarves, in order to gain the necklace, Brisingamen. This story is found in Sottr Thattr, written around 1400. Granted that the story is found to be influenced by Christianity, to satire the goddess. Nevertheless it is myth, regardless if she doesn't like or not.
Dreams are stories, but my life is just one bad dream. :P
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Rank: ? (4542)
Member #: 51 |
storyteller writes... She didn't like me putting up a myth of Freyja and the Brisings Did this happen at that other religion forum? (I forget the name.) You're right that a published myth is valid to post up like that but maybe it was the context, the point in the discussion, that gave it a bad smell for her. It's a pity we can't acknowledge that our gods have human failings. |
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Rank: ? (4280)
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Arizona writes... Did this happen at that other religion forum? Oh, know. I didn't meet her at a forum, she had emailed me after visiting my site. She does have her own forum, http://vanadis.forumer.com. It is clear that she has bad feeling towards Christianity (anti-Christian), and I really don't blame her. I have soft spot for pagan religions, and would like to see renewal and growth of Greek, Norse and Egyptian religions, because Christianity and Islam made these older religions die out. She is worshipper of Freyja, so she understandably she does like this late version of Brisingamen, where she is portrayed as a prostitute, although, I have never called Freyja one.
Dreams are stories, but my life is just one bad dream. :P
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Rank: ? (4542)
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It does sound pretty unreasonable to me that she should complain so bitterly. Your site is not a worship site, just an information site, so posting that published myth is the right thing to do for the sake of completeness.
I agree that paganism has a good deal of value and is worth keeping alive in some form. It should remain a valid option for spiritual development. The trouble was that people formed into communities based on religious beliefs and so religion was a political glue. Christianity wanted allegiance to the central powers, much as Rome had demanded allegiance from free citizens. Today we use nationality or nationhood as a basis for political allegiance. That has its own problems, of course. It's sometimes hard to feel really bonded with other Australians who have very different views and values from my own. Sometimes I feel closer to someone who lives on the other side of the world! The internet is allowing new global communities to form based on a particular point of view. This is causing tension with national boundaries. For example, you don't like John Howard but I do. We're both Australians: is that "glue" enough to overcome our different views of Howard? If we both fought on one side against another, what side would that be? What would our agreed-on enemy look like? Privately we can believe what we like but in community affairs, like national security, we need political cohesion or else we die. That's the political reality behind monotheism and religious intolerance. It's sad but true. |
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Rank: ? (200)
Member #: 9404 |
I haven't seen your article on Freyja... but it sounds like the conflict could be resolved by adding some additional information to the information site:
According to 'X', 'A' happend, but worshippers of 'abc'... something like that. Good luck! |
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Rank: ? (4280)
Member #: 5260 |
Actually, she wants me to leave it out altogether, which is precisely why I can't do it.
Myth is myth, regardless whether I dislike one version or not. Take the character Odysseus in Homer's The Odyssey as example. He is my favourite character in Greek mythology. But I don't the Odysseus in other stories, like in Euripides' "Trojan Women" and "Hecuba", and Sophocles' "Philoctetes". The original Odysseus seemed to be totally different character to that of later myths. Like it or not, I would tell both stories as fully as I can. I like the life story of Heracles, as told in summary form by Apollodorus, but he seemed to be different character in Apollonius' "Argonautica" (where he is gay) and Euripides' "Alcetis" (where he is seen as drunken fool). » Post edited 2007-07-05, 01:37pm by storyteller.
Dreams are stories, but my life is just one bad dream. :P
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Rank: ? (4542)
Member #: 51 |
This woman has no right to dictate to you what is right or wrong on your own site, storyteller. You should just ignore her, as politely as possible.
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Rank: ? (4280)
Member #: 5260 |
She has not made any new reply after a whole week of communication between us.
She accused me of being a fraud mythologist and don't deserve to use the username of "myth.researcher" at gmail. She accuse me of slander because I have put Christian propaganda, and therefore a Christian sympathiser. She has even called me a "fool". She wants me to either remove the offending version from webpage, or leave Norse Myths to experts, like her. Her last email ask me if I even knew what mythology means, so I had directed her to a link in Timeless Myths (www.timelessmyths.com/faq.html), where I wrote about mythology in general. I have put her emails. She didn't leave me any name, so I have just put dates of her posts. » Post edited 2007-07-07, 02:53pm by storyteller.
Dreams are stories, but my life is just one bad dream. :P
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Rank: ? (4280)
Member #: 5260 |
Her are her messages, starting from the beginning.
June 20 writes... About the goddess Freya in Norse Mythology: The story about "Freya sleeping with four dwarves to get Brisingamen" was not written anywhere in Eddas and original myths. It was found in Sörla þáttr, a later work to praise the arrival of Christianity and bash pagan deities. Please give sources for what you write on your website and don't spread false information. Thank you. http://vanadis.forumer.com When I gave her my source, her next reply was: June 21 writes... The problem is Sottr Thattr is a much later work (can you say a story around 1400 "myth") do you understand the meaning of the word "myth". It's ancient story. Although Snorri wrote Prose Edda around 1200, he had good intentions, and quoted many from old myths. The "Freya and the dwarves" was not mentioned in both Eddas because it was made up much later by Christians to humiliate the foremost pagan Norse goddess. Sottr Thattr is clearly a work to bash pagan deities and praise the arrival of Christianity. You can't pick a tale from that and put it in "Norse Mythology" as a "fact". You are just embarrassing yourself by giving false informations. June 21 writes... You said you created the site for yourself? But by publishing it on the net, you are spreading false informations. You are expecting people to read it, right? You call yourself a myth-researcher. You must have asked "why" many times while reading the myths, right? Each of the original Norse myth has a meaning. They were created to explain things. What's the meaning of "Freya and the dwarves"? To humiliate Freya as a prostitute. Now, Freya isn't a real person. She was created to be worshipped by Norsemen. The real pagan Vikings surely couldn't humiliate their receiver of half the slain. The "Freya and the dwarves" was not in Poetic Edda. It wasn't in Prose Edda either. Loki didn't even mention it in his heaps of lies and insults in Lokasenna. Why? Because it was invented much later in Sörla þáttr, a christian story. Why can't Sörla þáttr be called a myth? - It was written much later in around 1400 (Eddas was around 9th -> 12th century, but they record the ancient tales which orally passed down, not inventing them). 1st century -> 14 century: 1300 years. - It was not about the gods, it just created a lame story (based on Gefjon's tale and the stealing of Brisingamen) to insult a pagan deity. And then used it as an excuse to start a story to praise Christianity. Freya wasn't a goddess in that story either. Norse Myths were created by Germanic peoples in around 1st century. Now, you considered a story written only 600 years ago by a christian (not a pagan Norseman) to praise Christianity a "Norse myth"? That's funny. Then if I write a dumb story about Odin, will you add that to your site as a myth? Try looking at some serious sources. They never include that silly tale in Norse Mythology, not because they don't know, but because it's just a christian story. It's not a myth at all. Christian people hated pagan Norse deities to guts. Every newly christianised people must insult pagan Norse deities first. You wrote it on your site as a "fact" : Freya acquired Brisingamen by sleeping with four dwarves. You don't even know what is a myth and what is an anti-pagan story. You can fool some kids, but to experts like me, they'll just laugh at you. You are embarrassing yourself. June 23 writes... Whatever. You failed to defend yourself that you don't even know what's "Norse" and what's "Myth".
Dreams are stories, but my life is just one bad dream. :P
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Rank: ? (4542)
Member #: 51 |
Forget it, storyteller, she's clearly a fool herself and an empty-headed trouble maker.
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Rank: ? (4280)
Member #: 5260 |
Well, it would seem that she is no longer wish to email me.
Dreams are stories, but my life is just one bad dream. :P
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