Slow Havamal: 30

In the 30th verse, the first part cautions us not to ridicule a visitor, while the second points out that men seem wise when we don’t question them, letting them brood with dry skin.

This verse is a bit of an enigma. Crawford notes that the two halves don’t seem to go together, and that there may be some corruption. The first is also phrased in a way that sounds as though it says we shouldn’t ridicule a man, “even if he comes visiting,” which suggests that visitors are normally a prime target of ridicule. This conflicts with a lot of earlier verses. Crawford suggests it probably means that we should not make fun of visiting strangers’ customs and errors just because they are unfamiliar to us. This is how I’ll take it.( Read more... )

Wild Signs and Star Paths: Key #8, The Ramp

This series is an exploration of the works of Tristan Gooley. I’ll document my efforts to learn to read nature’s signs. If you enjoy reading, I encourage you to support the author by purchasing a copy of Wild Sings and Star Paths (UK) or The Nature Instinct (US). I’m in no way affiliated with the author, nor do I profit from sales of the book.

Last Week’s Work

To observe the shear—the effect in which the tops of clouds are pushed farther over and ahead by the wind, revealing direction

New World

I had ample opportunity to spot this sign over the past couple of weeks. It’s very straightforward, but not as easy at it sounds. In practice, many times I could see wisps trailing across the sky, but it took some time to figure out which was the head and which was the tail. The shear seems to work best with cumulus clouds. The stratus variety is fine as long as there’s blue sky to contrast it with, but that isn’t always the case. It was helpful to think of the cloud mass as a big pile up. The wind aggregates water particles in a big lump, and only some of those particles near the top and the front get pushed ahead at a higher speed. ( Read more... )

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