A Manni’s Day Closer
Jól is just around the corner, and looking more like it every day. I woke up to the falling snow and to the site of a big deer’s head staring at me from the patio door. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and at first thought it was a big dog, like a German shepherd. I’d just woken up and as anyone who knows me knows, I’m none too…functional…when I wake up. When I looked again, I realized it was a deer. The cat was going crazy, of course, which had the deer a bit skittish. As I watched, I saw that there were two of them, eating at the birdseed left on the back steps for the smaller wildlife.
I got up, and moving slowly, took a closer look, and soon saw that there were two deer up by the house, and two more, heads down, in the garden, eating their fill of what was left from the “harvest.” No males, just four females. It was quite a sight.
It’s been snowing off and on throughout the day. I haven’t seen the deer again but I’ve watched the ground turn green, and then white again. It’s about 34 degrees Fahrenheit so I don’t suppose it will last. I wish it would, because it’s beautiful. I watched the NFL games on Sunday and one reporter spoke of being in “beautiful southern California” and I looked out at the falling snow and thought, “Babe, it ain’t any more beautiful than right here.”
Only rarely, and in the depths of winter, did I ever wish I was in a sunny place like California or Florida. And since I’ve now had the dubious pleasure of spending a winter in Florida, I can honestly say that I’ve never wished for it since. Beautiful as it could be, a real change of seasons is welcome. It wasn’t until February that it looked like fall in Orlando, and I discovered then that I was a real “four seasons” guy.
I’ve been working hard on readying the website and its accompanying forums and working on a few little extras that I hope will assist in building up a Pagan community. It’s been a long, hard road (the work of a couple of years since I first envisioned the project, which I’ve worked on, on and off during that time. I hope everyone will be pleased. I’m my own worst critic but I have to admit I like how this incarnation is shaping up.
I’ve been engaged on the Richard Dawkins forums since that last brouhaha came up, and I’ve discovered that atheists can be as dogmatic and dismissive of polytheism as they can of monotheism. The blanket statement “your god doesn’t exist” seems to be a mantra there. I’m not greatly bothered by it. I’m not trying to convert anyone, after all, just to express my own views regarding some of the topics they address. It’s just interesting, ironic (and not a little amusing) that the atheists seem to be just as tied to dogmatic assertions as the people they oppose. I have to admit that after this past week, I feel a bit less sorry for them than I did before. All in all a very good and useful experience.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson is the author of A Heathen’s Day, which since 2005 has addressed the life and thoughts of a modern day Heathen. He is also the founder of the Mos Maiorum Foundation (www.mosmaiorum.org) which is dedicated to the study and support of Paganism as ethnic religion and writes for PoliticusUSA (www.politicususa.com) 
Mmmmm.. sounds like a lovely way to wake up in the morning! We have so few deer near my house though we have a surplus of squirrels. They aren’t quite as majestic, but are decidedly funnier to watch.
As for the atheists – that was kinda my point when it came up in discussion here awhile ago. Instead of continuing on that path here, I just opted to write my own entry about it on my blog. It’s not about conversion or proselytizing, it’s a respect issue for me. I’ve run into rabid members on both sides – Christian and athiest. Of course there are also some rabid Pagans out there as well! Just like any other group I guess…
And we’re offically in a recession now – the govt. has just said we were in one “for the past year”. Shocking! Good thing we have their denial to keep us warm and secure… As if the regular people in this country didn’t know we were in a recession already – PSH!
Squirrels are pretty funny. They’re a lot smarter than the cat, too. They know she can’t hurt them so they will stand in front of the door and look at her. She doesn’t know she can’t get at them and goes crazy trying to get out. It takes more than opposable thumbs to rule the earth.
And you’re right, there are rabid Pagans out there too. But to repeatedly state “you’re wrong” or “your gods don’t exist” seems silly. Had a guy like that on the old Northvegr Forums, a Heathen in this case. About as dogmatic and obnoxious as you could be. I eventually had to throw him off because of his hateful statements.
When I see squirrels they remind me of Ratatosk running up and down the World Tree. On top of that, the image of squirrel always reminds me to try and be prepared yet have fun. Very wise animals if you ask me. I love deer. There is something about them.
Atheists are so concerned about fending off the Abrahamic arguments that they don’t even bother with polytheism. They, like so many modern people, take it as fact that the old gods never existed. Christians, at the very least, admit that our gods are real…they just write them off as demons.
The major argument atheists have is this…no evidence, no belief. It’s that simple, and who can blame them? What one person accepts as evidence could be nothing to another.
I think they, like us, want to be left in peace without religious messages from ONE religion being blared at them all the time. While yes, some can be quite annoying, I actually think we’re after the same things and even though they laugh at us, we should stand with them. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. (: