Under the Leaves 2 - Jupiter - a planet and a god

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. He is entirely made up of gases and has a belt of at least 67 moons around his waist. He has a big red "eye" on his surface that can be seen from space that is a huge storm centre in his atmosphere. Jupiter plays an important gravitational role for us. He is actually holding our solar system together and the planets in the right place. His force is stopping asteroids and meteors from crashing into the Earth's surface, his gravitation pulls in most of them so they stay away from us. Jupiter is easy to spot in the night sky in the winter half of the year. He looks like a big, bright star, and he is almost always up there if you look closely. If you're not sure if it's him you have seen, you can check it up on different phone apps.

I don't know who gave Jupiter his name, or why, but I can understand why they did. Jupiter is the name of the Roman God of sky and thunder. Well it actually fits very well with the eye of the storm and the matter of fact that the planet easily could be associated with a ruler of the sky, being the largest, shining object, always to be seen travelling over our heads.

In Celtic mythology, the God of thunder was called Taranis. He was often depicted with a thunderbolt and a wheel, just like Jupiter. The wheel could be an early symbol of his journey over the sky, but it is also a symbol of the circular movements of everything in the Universe. Celtic polytheism ( the several Gods of the Celts) has a wheel God that is a sky-, thunder- or sun God. This is proably coming  from an earlier indo-european culture and the carvings of sun crosses, the wheels with four spokes, are often seen in petroglyphs from the bronze age. His sacred tree was the oak.

In Norse mythology, the God of thunder, lightning, storms and oak trees was called Thor. Besides his famous hammer, he also had a strength belt that doubled his strength when he wore it. It just links him so well to the Jupiter's belt of moons, I think. Thor also rode a wagon over the sky when he was out fighting giants. The wheels made sparks of lightning and the beating of the hammer made the incredible loud and scary sound that was thrown between the mountains. His wagon can be seen in the night sky as the big dipper, or the "Karl's wagon" as it is called in Scandinavia. Thor was the God of the "Karls" of the Norse people, or the farmers.

Most of the short term comets is believed to come from Jupiter, and it is most likely that life on Earth came from a comet, so the old stories of Mother Earth and Father Sky are probably very valid tales and is certainly still working.

The Roman, the Celtic and the Norse mythologies are all evolved from the Proto-Indo-European religion. That is why we find all these similarities in these three (and more) mythologies and traditions. I don't know if the ancient Europeans based their stories on astro-theology, but I like to wonder. So I wonder.

People's worldviews seem to expand just like the Universe. As above, so below.

You can look inside my books on my author profile on Amazon Filidh Lochlannach

"The Past meets the Present" - A quote from "The Dragon Leaves"

Under the Leaves 1 - Filidh

"Filidh" is a Scots-Gaelic word deriving from proto-Celtic and meaning "seer" or "seeing".

There is reason to believe that the "Filidhs" were people who worked in society as prophetic poets and philosophers who foretold the future in verses and riddles, rather than in simple poetry. The word could also be written like this: "file". 

The Filidhs kept the oral traditions of the pre-Christian Ireland alive. Telling stories by verses accompanied by music would make people better understand and remember the messages they wanted to get through.Their deeds were not only meant to entertain but also to teach. 

Another group of poets was called bards, and the Norse culture had a similar function called "skalder". Snorri Sturlusson became the most famous among them for writing his "Edda". 

Many of the filidh's manuscripts have survived and can tell us something about druids, Celtic religion and the Celtic world. 

You can find out more about the Filidhs at the digital gaelic dictionary Dwelly-d

XXX

Under the Leaves is a series of articles about the subjects that inspired the poetry in "The Dragon Leaves".

You can buy "The Dragon Leaves" on Amazon.

 

Now available on Amazon

THE DRAGON LEAVES

now available on Amazon

For all the facebookers: You can now follow my brand new author page here

I am currently working on a series to be called "Under the Leaves" that will be launched for free here on my blog. "Under the Leaves" will be articles about the stories behind the pieces of poetry in "The Dragon Leaves". 

I hope you will all enjoy it very much!

Greetings from the deep of the woods. 

Here's the cover!

I am proud to finally present the cover of "The Dragon Leaves"

The photo is taken by Thomas O. Stenberg, the design is by me.

I hope you like it.

Article about me in the newspaper

Recently there was an article about me in the newspaper "Eikerbladet".

Here is a translation of the interview:


Finding inspiration and wisdom in Nature
by Ingun Wiborg Gislerud


Hege Fossum has recently finished her manuscript "The Dragon Leaves". It is a collection of short texts and poetry focused on mankind and the laws of nature.


The snow is falling, it is late in the evening and we meet at "Sanden Hotel" in Hokksund. Hege has had a long day at work. She lives in "Ormåsen", but is raised at "Fossum" in "Varlobygda". She tells me that she once worked here a long time ago. We sit down by one of the tables in the restaurant.
- I work in Ormåsen Kindergarten. It is a forest kindergarten, which means that we use the forest as our main learning platform. It is exciting to see how much good development that happens in the relation between  children and nature. Among the trees, we have all the materials we possibly need to create a good basis, a great starting point for motor skills and perfect customized challenges for every child. It is really true that "Nature is our best teacher"! Through my job I get to practice what I've learned from my studies, so I guess it couldn't get better, she says happily.


Natural Philosophy
Hege studies natural philosophy at Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids OBOD, which is an English learning centre. She recently got approved of her "Bardic Grade".
-This grade has for me been five years of part time studies of religion, philosophy, history, proto-indoeuropean culture, with comparative mythology in general and norse and celtic traditions in depth. I have now been taken up to the next grade where I will study ecosophy, ecology, biology and spirituality. I am childish in my anticipation of continuing with this, she says enthusiastically. She receieves her lessons in the mail, and has her own tutor to keep in touch with by e-mail.
-I can in this way easily combine my studies with work and family life. It is great. She tells that the subjects have been of big interest to her for many years of her life.
-The most interesting with the studies so far, must have been when I worked with our Norse culture heritage and studied the sagas in depths. I actually had trouble with ending it, she says and laughs a little. Then she goes on to describe some of the knowledge and the wisdom the studies have given her.


Has to be balance
-The most important thing I've learned through my studies is that we live in an ecosystem that has to be in balance if everyone should be fine. If there is anything one doubts or doesn't understand, one might as well go out in nature and see how everything is built up and organized out there, and one will receive great answers. The laws of nature is also applicable for mankind. The studies asks for and value individual thinking, acting freely and to come up with individual solutions to problems, something I think is very important in a rather controlled society. Hege has recently finished her manuscript "The Dragon Leaves". It is a collection of vignettes, that is poetry, short texts and stories that can be read separately or as a whole story. It has a recurring theme about an old worldview where everybody valued all species because one knew that one was interdependent, and they did not have repression of women, children, animals or other cultures. Then something happens. Someone finds out that they can gain power by controlling and shove out the old culture and reinforce a new one. The Dragon Tribe, that this works is about, started a desperate fight to protect the old principles that could keep peace between men.


Have distanced ourselves from nature
"The Dragon Leaves" says pretty much about how we have distanced ourselves from nature today, and how this unconsciously makes us act in a way that is not good for any of us in the long run. How we are controlled by powers outside of ourselves that in no way is interested in the benefit for all. It also says something about that we all have to think for ourselves, be free, find our own inner flame, find out what we believe in and not be afraid of breaking conventional thinking to act according to our own beliefs. It was also the great nature in "Eikerbygda" that inspired and was one of the seeds for making Hege start writing.
-I like very much all the interesting places in the local area and the history that is tied up to these places so far back in time that we can only know the contours of it now. It gives room for a lot of wondering. I started after a while to take notes of things that I had found around me that could be linked up to what I had studied. Then a story made itself clear in my head about old cultures that could have existed in Norway, about power structures and the consequences of the matter of fact that it always is the winners that write the history. Will the truth and the entire picture reveal itself this way?


Writing Contest
Hege's notes of philosophy started to take form when she joined "The National Writing Month" in november 2013. This is a writing contest where you are supposed to produce 50.000 words as a raw text meant for a novel in a month. When this month was over and she was about to start the editing process, she got the idea to make collection of short texts and poems out of the material and this is how "The Dragon Leaves" were made.
-My plan is that "The Dragon Leaves" should be published before July this summer. I have also been playing with the thought of finishing it as a novel, but I haven't quiet made up my mind about it yet. Hege's poem "Waiting for Winter" was published in 2013. "Impluvium Studios" is ran by an artist from Michigan called Rein Eire. Four times a year is she publishing a beautiful digital booklet with poems, stories and pictures. She holds contests where you can submit entries. Some of the entries will be accepted for the next issue.
-I sat down in the autumn of 2013, writing a playful and whimsical poem, that I submitted. I wanted it to catch the mood of the autumn in a different manner, about falling leaves and colours, and all that. The poem was well received and got accepted for the fall issue of her "Seasonal Booklets". For information, Hege writes under the pen name Filidh Lochlannach when she writes texts in English. It has been very late in the evening and we go for a walk to "Nøstetangen" and "Sorenskrivergården". Where else would it be more natural to take Hege's picture than close to one of the solid trees there?

January 2014 - Author Bio

I am a Norwegian woman, 40 years old, and I just finished my first manuscript: The Dragon Leaves.

”The Dragon Leaves” is a collection of vignettes inspired by my studies of nature philosophy. One of the seeds for this work, “Waiting for winter,” was published in The 2013 Fall Digital Booklet of “Impluvium Studios”.

 I study at OBOD, a learning centre in England, where my Bardic Grade was recently approved.  This grade has for me been five years of part-time, depth studies of religion, philosophy, history, proto-Indo-European culture, comparative mythology in general, Norse and Celtic traditions in particular. I have now been taken to the next level where I’m going to go thoroughly into the areas of ecosophy, ecology and spirituality among others. Besides studies, I work as a subsitute in a forest kindergarten that every day gives me a practical context to put most of my studies into.

I am also working on a novel at the moment that is supposed to accompany the poetry collection.

I write in both Norwegian and English, when I write in English I write mostly under the pseudonym Filidh Lochlannach.

You can read more about me on: ormegarden.blogspot.no

e-mail: hege_fossum@hotmail.com