Mar 26, 2012

Bragi Artwork

Bragi - God of Song
More photo art, this time of Bragi, the God of skalds and song. I incorporated apple blossoms in honor of His wife.

No attributions for this particular piece: everything was either my own photography or was in the public domain.

Licensing is Creative Commons Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA).

Mar 20, 2012

The Magic Of Spring

Eostre

About a week ago, I had an interesting experience in a meditation: I was pursuing another line of inquiry entirely, and suddenly felt Eostre's presence. It took a moment or two to figure out who had stepped over to introduce Herself. She was very beautiful and had about Her the feel of flowers, growth, and the inexorable force of the sun moving up through the sky. The vernal equinox took on new importance at this point, needless to say.
This first day of Spring, I went on a hike. On the recommendation of my fulltrui, I passed the first trail I had been planning to visit and sought out another trail, further out. I was treated to every sort of bird. The sightings started with a very loud, querulous "discussion" between two hawks about who, exactly, was entitled to a choice bit of property by the stream. I followed them for a while while they flew through the trees, exchanging a volley of arguments and counter-arguments. Eventually, one conclusively won his case and returned to his domain, victorious. Later in the day, I saw a larger hawk with a white belly circling above. Perhaps this was the local female? No wonder the battle had been so intense!

Hawks were hardly the only bird in the woods. Every sort of woodpecker was out and about.




 
A kingfisher made quite a show, flying up and down the stream. These birds are quite shy, and I was lucky to get a photograph.





Signs of Spring were abundant. Daffodils bloomed beside the stream, and small, delicate flowers graced the low spaces in between gnarled roots.




The birds just kept on coming! I also spotted a great blue heron not too far from the kingfisher's territory. Many smaller birds were flitting about in the trees, including cardinals, a bluebird, chickadees, a titmouse, and innumerable nuthatches.

Hawks always remain a favorite, however.

Hail Eostre! Hail the Gods and Goddesses! 
Hail the Day and Night! 
And Hail the Spring!



Mar 13, 2012

Forseti Pastel Artwork

Forseti - Stiller of Strife

Back in February, I bought myself a new set of pastels to celebrate the anniversary of Marbury v. Madison. I finally had a chance to try them out yesterday.

For a while now, I've been wanting to create a picture of Forseti presiding as judge. The gold pillars represent His hall, Glitnir. Hawks are sacred to Him, so one is included in the background.

Licensing is, as usual, Creative Commons Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA).