day after Alban Arthan

This year, Winter Solstice occurred on the 21st of December. I was spending Yule time at southern Osthrobotnia with my family and our parents, just like we have done for many many years.

Next morning, on the 22.12. we went to our own forest to pick up christmas tree. The forest looked ethereal and fragile, it was very cold (-23C) and sky was clear and of purest blue, like a giant sapphire.

After the tree was chosen and picked up we drove through (almost) empty but beautiful countryside towards home. It is really sad that these peaceful lands, fields and forests are slowly abandoned as people get old at their farms and their children move in to cities. The connection to our roots withers away.

We stopped by at one corner of these fields and suddenly we could see the new sun rise from the distance, the first sun after the death of dark period. A bright and warm sun, full of promise of new lighter season, new life. At this very moment I surely felt the greatest joy and hopefulness and connectedness in to our earth than I have experienced during the entire year.

A spiritual moment.

food traditions

I recently purchased a large French cookbook, which has turned in to one of my favourite food books in my kitchen library. Food making traditions have long and deep roots in France. The recipes, like coq au vin were born in times when people did not have such an excessive and consuming lifestyle - they had to eat everything they managed to grow and catch. Of course, the food had to be tasty too and the only way to make it tasty was to prepare it slowly and really thinking what you were cooking for your family. Because the amount of ingredients available was then more limited than in today's supermarket, the foods became more inventive and cheaper than now, too.

Tv-ads make us believe nowadays that we are always in terrible rush and that's why we should buy their semi-finished products and not to do it all from the scratch. I am quite sure that we have much more free time than our ancestors. The relationship to food, or to be precise, how we respect our food in western culture has changed. We do not have to hunt our meat, pick herbs from nature or rely on self-grown vegetables. Some of us have never chance to see even corn fields or cows.

But of course, traditions can and must change, too. Even French have modernised some classic receipts, however, they still keep the most necessary, traditional parts still boiling slowly in the pots.

tapping into the well of unconsciousness

I have rehearsals with our band today. We practice together quite a lot, almost once a week. For every rehearsals, I will make some preliminary preparation; practice new songs at home, make some guitar exercices or adjust my equipment, guitar, synth tracks or effects. At rehearsals we usually go through a lot of songs, especially newer ones that may need more practice. This all is driven by artistic desire to create something new.

A lot of people know that artistic activity and creativity coincides with moon phase. I've felt this during whole of my life. I thought this thing again yesterday when moon was almost full and it was shining silvery through gloomy blanket of clouds. I was preparing my guitar effects for the rehearsals and it was almost too easy to slip in to creating in to new music in the dim lights of studio watching moon.

As moon grows bigger, the gates to unconsciousness, to the immortal source of myths and dreams open more and more and we feel togetherness with it and our immortality.

yule yule

Diminishing light makes thoughts concentrating on the nearing moment when light finally wins the dark. There are number of old traditions beneath current Christmas, most of them forgotten centuries ago, some of them, such as bringing in a green tree and celebrating around it in our living rooms, which still live as fragments attached in to our modern customs.

Yule is an old name for an ancient winter fest of germanian people. The name is clearly and older forefather of Finnish 'Joulu' (=Christmas). Yule reminds me of yule log. In old days, yule log was the largest log that was burnt in an open hearth as a last one during Yule evening and night. I guess yule log is unfamiliar to most of us. Keeping the plant of the druids, mistletoe hanging over the door, however, is one old still living tradition in some places.

We should keep the old ways alive like the generations before us have done.

the wrath of Rome

I made a short trip to Rome recently. I've never visited the town before and I was curious to see and feel it. History of the town is naturally interesting, once it was the most powerful city in the world and from there Julius Caesar led his troops taking over the lands of celtic people beyond. A city of wealth and plentifulness, of greedness which met it's less glorious end in year 476...maybe it was a warning example to the forthcoming generations of mandkind.

The plane landing was not perfect. It did not succeed at all. We could not land at all, indeed. The plane landed to Naples one and half hours later due to the unbeliavable thunderstorm which raged over Rome. I felt like all the wrath of Rome created during milleniums was sent to the sky above, sky where we tried landing.

About 4 hours later we were back in Rome and landed perfectly. City was massive and impressive, very ancient, but I will still remember that landing for a long time. The wrath of Rome.

During the trip, one evening, I was walking down a chain of streets trying to find Pantheon (temple consecrated to all gods). I did not remember what it looked like and continued for searching. At one market square I remember thinking "oh, mighty pillars" and like someone would have pushed me towards them, I walked under the outer roof of a large temple. It felt very friendly and inviting. The temple had enormous doors, but in the darkness I still could peek inside. The inner of the temple was glowing with otherworldy green. I can describe this only through a cover of age-old cartoon Alix.

This urge to walk towards this building appeared out of the blue, I did not expect it and it was very overwhelming.

In a terrace about 300 metres from the place, one friendly American couple told me that Pantheon that I was looking for was the building which I had just described. I could not believe my ears. I had not recognized it, instead I had felt it.

The pillars of Pantheon.

on diligence

It's nice to notice that by concentrating patiently on life's long projects, things will happen and you notice the needed progress. With my wife, I've renovated our house quite extensively this year. The main results is the almost ready new second floor. Now, just before it's almost ready, there are several small things that have to be done before we can move in there.

But those are things that have to be done, only after them we will have the two new living rooms. Autumn has been quite busy and it is not always to find time to do these small things. A while ago, we decided that we will just do these small things one by one, even though they'd be realised only in very small development steps.

The same set of rules apply when you are studying druidism, trying to explore new possibilities that learning new paths brings ahead. All the books I've read on druidism tell that only by being patient and practicing with diligence, concentrating, brings you results, what ever you are trying to achieve on your own path.

In my musical workings which are seamlessly wrapped within my mystical explorations, I've always tried to be honest me. I like to bring pure, primitive and forgotten, and spiritual dimensions in to my songs. And I've always tried to play in my own style. I concentrate on my strenghts and try not to copy anyone else's (who I might admire) style directly.

It's often funny and also quite wondrous to notice your own development. Yesterday, I listened few of our old synth tapes and I immediately knew how I should play them now in order to make them better. And those were tapes, I had recorded only two years ago. I believe that the diligent practice and concentrating on your own musical identity brings you nearer and nearer the pure universal source, from where the unconscius ideas pour.

Jethro Tull did not become Jethro Tull overnight, it took years and years of hard and diligent work.

ditch digging

Ditch behind my house (actually the sauna building) has been recently invaded by eager water plants. Yesterday one of my old neighbours was cutting plants on the other side of ditch. We had a small talk, the water had occassionally risen near his house (probably threatening his basement) and he was now doing some clearing in order to prevent possible flooding.

I promised to clear the ditch from my side (I'm sharing it with an other old couple who don't actually live there and visit that side only once a year). So I took care of my duty and cleared the ditch. Muddy work, but somehow very rewarding, the universal currents were in the right place.:)

This little event made me think again that I have always felt that I really prefer to live on the far edge side of the modern society. My now retired father worked over thirty years in practical agricultural work. For first six years of my life (before the school years) I had a chance to be part of that world. And his father (my grandfather) was a farmer. So, I think this lineage has always somehow affected within me and I've always felt strong belonging to this chain. Now I'm happily taking care of my garden and house, but I feel that there's something missing. I'd still like to live more of the land and take care of it. Would I become a farmer someday, why not?

the green loner

Harvest moon shined still very bright this morning.

Green colour's slowly decreasing all around, towards the year's dark turning point. Green man's old and a bit tired, his work is almost done.

At this point of year, I often see him as a lone, rolling, old, worn ball, who slowly tramples over hedgerows, walls and dead plants. Still carrying that torch of green within.

Holly King's gaining strength

Holly King, the archetype of darker and colder half of the year, is growing now stronger than the counterpart, Oak King, ruler of lighter and warmer season.

Northern lights were seen all over southern Finland last night. This morning I also noticed that end of the harvest time (Brown bear month) is nearing, there are still apples in trees, but most of them have already dropped (those which we have not eaten). Also, sky had some beautiful Cirrus clouds foretelling of a cold front coming during weekend.

natural curiosity

Children have a natural curiosity on nature.

They wonder tirelessly those things we "adults" often keep self-evident. My daughter, who is now 5 years old, is a keen birdwatcher. She collects nowadays every feather (no matter how dirty or small) she finds from a street or from a forest and keeps these treasures in a 'jewel box' in her room.

For different reasons, this capacity to wonder small things often diminishes when a human "grows up". I often think for different reasons why this happens. On the basis of what I've learnt recently (partly after reading some writings on Jungian psychology), mostly this differentiation from the wonders of our Mother Earth could be due to the overgrown egocentrity of a modern human mind. The products of industrialised society we have created, pull us like magnets to consume and to take advantage on short-lived enjoyments. We detach from surrounding natural universe and block within our self. Well, I guess everyone recognizes some of this occassionally in our own personal behaviour.

Don't let your consumer-ego take over, the birdwatcher's still hidden within every one of us.:)

near the balance of scales

This is my first blog entry here! I'm a Finnish musician and a backwoodsman (spiritualwise), so I consider myself as some kind of a druid.

I will write on a variety of subjects, subjects which are very 'grounded' or 'earthy', in other words, a bit of my inner world. I have a strong need to this as I write songs as my main hobby and it's often difficult to describe the related thoughts and philosophies behind the music. You see, I'm keeping also one other blog, diary of my band (you can check it under my profile), and I'm sure that these two blogs are going to have - and actually they should have - some interconnection, I guess we'll see it later.

We are nearing the balance of scales: In a couple of days, day and night are of equal length. Autumn Equinox, or Mabon (plus some other names are used too) will be held on the 22nd of September. The final struggle between lighter and darker half of the year will end to the victory of the latter and we float again towards Samhain and/or Halloween (+other names).

The word 'seasonal' describes this year cycle period well. Even though Autumn Equinox, one day in September, does not nowadays mean a thing for most of the people in humankind, we could at least try to adjust our diets in to seasonal products. All greens are now cheap, fresh and they're abundant. It's really the best time to bake apple pies and roast vegetable dishes or whatever you fancy.

I have a privilege to grow things in my own garden and I also have four apple trees (though don't have to "grow" them, as they do it by themselves). During September, I sometimes eat around 5-10 apples a day. As a little kid, I used to hide hours hiding in the garden shadows eating gooseberries. Thanks to this, I guess, my stomach is very resilient.