Wizard Women of Winter

As Huldre live cozy inside the mountains and woods, so we live cozy inside our homes. This Thanksgiving weekend brought the first real accumulation of snow here in MN, and with it a lot of thankfulness for the new windows I had installed in my 100 year old home this year. Huldre don't probably have to worry too much about drafty windows, but I, having my feet in two worlds, am finding the balance between flicking a little magic around and practically meeting my physical needs with heavy new drapes.

The universe has confirmed yet again its support of my cross-world existence, encouraging me to continue exercising balance, with an unexpected and relatively large check in the mail. I think it was delivered by one of my sisters-under-the-hill… Whomever brought it, it allows me to proceed into winter with my needs met. This is one Wizard Women of Winter who is finding cross-world living an ever awe-inspiring magical, if sometimes emotionally challenging, way of living.

Until next time…

Maren

Huldre Eventyr - Tales of the Nordic Earth Folk

Huldre, I imagine, spent many long hours crafting stories as the churned butter, or kneaded dough, or stitched their cloth. I imagine that Huldre had as many stories about the "Over-landers" as the Scandinavian people did about the "Fair-Folk in the Mountainside". Unfortunately I have not found a true Huldre tale, but rather I have unearthed many human tales - stories about the Huldre.

So here it is mid-November, and all of my neices and nephews will shortly be recieving the newest installments of my interpretations of scandinavian fairy tales... Oh wait, I have yet to finish writting them! I've got three complete, out of twelve which I comitted to retelling in this chap book style. (You can see them at http://www.karitauring.com/HuldreEventyr.htm ) They will make fine gifts for my neices and nephews this Holiday.

Christmas presents are always a wonder for me. It has become so material, so needlessly complicated, this winter giftgiving holiday. What happened to brown paper packages tied up with string? Now we have purple and gold foil paper printed with images of other packages tied up with shimmering rafia! Very fancy, and yet it still winds up in the same place - a large (often black) garbage bag. I much prefer home made gifts to store bought ones... Something about the gift of the givers time, energy, creativity and love seems much more fulfilling. And this season, in particular, is one where I'm finding it to be more financially prudent to create gifts rather than purchase them! I'm sure my four neices and two nephews will enjoy reading stories retold by their very own Auntie Maren, perhaps even as much as the new video game or fashion doll they receive from someone else.

I wonder how the "Fair folk under the Mountainside" would have dealt with Holiday marketing... Perhaps that is another reason we see them so rarely these days... Maybe I'll have further insights next time. For now...

~Maren

Heads in the Ice

The seeds of creation are in the ice, the more we are water, the more we are everything. Huldre genetic code is readable through intermingling with Neandrathol...Ah...Lilith's daughters are everywhere. The Plieades...seven sisters, Mave the one we all call Mama, Ma Mer, Ma, Ave and M-ave...

Look for her in the ice.

Huldre in the woods

When at the Turf club, herding at David de Young's birthday party, someone asked "Do you really live in the woods?"

"Yes," I said. Actually I do.

Yep, right here in the Middle of Minneapolis.

As a wizard woman of the North, I am compelled to walk and work in nature. So far, Minneapolis has been a city that understands this. May gentrification of our parks and riverways cease...

Why do Huldre and all folk of the faerie need the woods?

Fairview Riverside Chemical Dependency Clinic has a hand out that explains.
There are only two ways for the human body to create the necessary chemicals that relieve depression - crying and communing with nature. That's it!

Do Huldre get depressed?

Extra-sensory folk are ones who feel the great joys of the world and share this with others. They feel the great burdens and griefs as well. This can create a tendency towards depression and bi-polarism in an unbalanced brain.

So to keep balanced, you will find wizard women of the north crying in the rain, or while sitting in a tree, tears shed for others pain and grounded into the earth by the knowlege that the deeper the well of grief, the more resounding the echos of joyus laughter.

You will find Huldre in the woods, by the rivers, on the hills, dancing through the fields, in their gardens, feeding their in-town chickens, cats, dogs, birds, squirrels, racoons and even a few deer. They are the ones who grow a forest around them no matter where they are in the world. Laughing and crying and feeling the totality of nature and all their relations.

HuldreBlog

So many questions about the Huldre. So many perceptions and family histories of stories. Were they scary to you? Do you look like one too?

So I thought, good then. We will start a posting site for this. Maren or Kari or Ken or Matt may be making entries. These are the Huldre (the out ones) in Minneapolis.

Ok then. Here goes.

There is a CD which I think I must begin with. The Wizard Women of the North. Well it was released by Northside in Minneapolis in 1999, the year I began the Discovering Origins/Building Traditions shows.

Seven years later I am also doing this music and have finally gotten a chance to buy the cd. Here is the definition of Huldre on the CD Jacket:

"The Wizard woman of the North can be found at a cafe, but pay attention to her shoes, they are usually the type that she can easily kick off. Because the wizard woman of the North has to have air between her toes so she can feel the earth she walks on and belongs to. These feet with the well ventilated toes are used for dancing or for marking the rythm when she plays or sings. ..."
Perneille Anker

Let me just stop there and say. This I find to be true.

Kari