Happy (and sad) Baldersvaki
Published: Wed, 06/21/17
I saw the sun rise yesterday, I found myself awake at about 0400hrs and could not get back to sleep. So, I went to the top of the Beeches, sat on the bench at the highest point and wrote in my journal while the sun forced its way through the cloud on the horizon. I think it would have been better this morning, the actual longest day, but I didn’t wake up until 0630hrs today and I am afraid I wasn’t going to force myself to be awake before sunrise two days running. If anyone did manage to see the sun rise today well done.
Mid-summer, Baldersvaki (Balder’s Wake), a celebration of the sun’s triumph over the darkness of winter and mourning at the inevitable decline back to short days and long, dark and cold nights. Also a reminder that the same cycle will repeat itself all over again next year, just as it has done for millions of years and probably will do for millions more.
In a pre-industrial society being aware of the cycle of the days lengthening and then contracting was the only way of knowing when to plant, when to harvest, when to mate animals, when to expect the young and when to slaughter ready for winter. To a degree daylight and weather has a bit less effect on our lives than that of our ancestors thanks to electricity and other technology. Only to a degree, agriculture and water supplies and our general well being are still dependent upon weather.
Midsummer is a reminder to me that life is a process of working towards a peak and then accepting an inevitable decline. A decline that may take me into a pretty dark and cold place, just like coping with the shortest days at mid winter. The advantage of marking midsummer is that it is then no surprise when the days start getting shorter again and we can be prepared for winter.
In our own lives it is much harder to see when we have reached a peak, a midsummer point if you like, in our activities and relationships. I can see now that the peak point for Stav training activity here in Crewkerne was last summer. There were successful courses, including the CQC weapons course with Fox Walters and the event with Ivar in the early autumn. I had quite a good range of classes going and another fitness instructor using the premises for a couple of sessions a week. Since then I have relinquished the premises for use as a gym, which seems to be going okay but I am not at all sure if Stav training is going to continue in Crewkerne after this month.
Venetia and I are moving next month (more on that soon) so I have been wrapping things up here. One of my students is interested in teaching here after I move on. I am happy to support him in this but I don’t know what will come of it.
At the moment I have a strong sense of decline towards winter. Venetia and I are both working hard at the moment and grabbing every opportunity to earn good money ready to invest in our new situation. As for teaching Stav in the new situation? I probably will but I will be using a very different model from the one I tried out in Crewkerne. The main difference is that there will be no financial drain involved. I don’t expect to make money out of teaching Stav but in the next stage of my life I won’t be losing money providing a facility such as the Stav centre either. I have no regrets about creating the Stav Centre and I think it reached its peak according to the natural cycle of things. I am not sure where to go next, I expect something will become clear in good time.
Happy Baldersvaki anyway. If things are going well for you then make the most of it but don’t get too attached to your success. If something important to you seems to be in decline don’t get depressed, everything goes in cycles and your time will come again.
regards
Graham
PS I planned a training session this coming Saturday afternoon http://www.somersetstav.co.uk/stick.html I have had no confirmed bookings so I will be cancelling the hall booking. However, if you do want to train we can use my garden.
PPS Training with Ivar Hafskjold will take place in Beverley in East Yorkshire this year on the 16th and 17th of September more details at http://stavcamp.org/ or contact me if you want to know more about it.
If you are in the USA we have a course in Illinois two weeks later, more on that here http://iceandfire.org.uk/usasept17.html