Similarly, I may have been a bit harsh in my analysis of Hallgerdur, the elf sex lady. (If you find parts of this post indecipherable, don't worry. So do I.) Here, once again, is the interview she did a few years ago for Vice, regarding her metaphysical trysts in the Icelandic countryside:
I was well aware of the fact that sincere and literal belief in elves (or huldufólk) is entirely commonplace in modern Iceland. Even so, in my first post about her, I couldn't quite decide how to react to the idea of someone publishing a handbook about out-of-this-world (har har) sexual liasons. Subsequent perusals of her now-inactive blog on the subject did not necessarily instill confidence in her testimonies or in her various informants. Everything about it made me uncomfortable - and, admittedly, hit close to home - and I wanted to judge her terribly for it.
Then I saw her art.
I decided on a whim to search the Net for any new word on Hallgerdur's exploits. Unexpectedly, I stumbled onto her portfolio and related blog. It turns out that she's a photographer. And like any good Icelander, her country's geography is a major subject in her work. While I wouldn't call it groundbreaking, I can easily see, through her eyes, the kind of fascination with one's surroundings that might lead to all kinds of unexpected encounters. Any artist can tell you that when one builds a picture frame, or looks through a lens, things become manifest that were not apparent before. (I suspect that this is what actually lies behind the hagstone's magic.) But this woman may not have needed such tools to see the hidden inhabitants of her settings. Many of her landscapes are more like portraits - she is not interested so much in composing images as she is in documenting her chance meetings with forms. Hello, steamy yawning crevass. Hello, hill of ice. Hello, blazing safety flare mysteriously appearing in the middle of an empty parking garage. I recognize it because it's a problem that I used to have: treating places and objects like people. My professors tended to scold me for it, because it often leads to bad composition. But I think that's the place where every good landscape artist starts. Even in photos of her travels to foreign cities, she's clearly in love with environments. It produces an emotion that is very familiar to me, but impossible to name. And I know what it leads to.
It leads to elf sex.
She loves the land, and the land loves her back. I simply refused to recognize that before...because of cultural divides and modern editing technology, and because I'm an insecure asshole. Official report. So Hallgerdur, if you're reading this - where can I buy your book?
I'm still brushing up on my numerous learnings for future Lore posts, so in the meantime, please enjoy this breathtaking trailer for Huldufólk 102, a 2006 documentary on the (ancient and modern) beliefs surrounding the "hidden people" of Iceland. Seems like the perfect winter viewing to me.
Alright, here's my slice on Elf-Sex:
ReplyDeleteFairies and Elves are part of the tableau of Land Spirits, often acting as a sort of royal court to a geographical area.
Occasionally they manifest to people, often foretelling either grave horrors, or huge boons. But they never show up for trivial things.
So, Icelandic woman who loves her land goes into it, and documents it. She shows it for what it is, and what it is not. She develops a passion for the land - and reaches out with her heart.
One of the Royal Court saw her, and loved her back. Maybe seeing the opportunity to re-introduce themselves to a community that is only now starting to lose it's love of them. Maybe more than one. And because that communion tends to mean certain things to a human brain, ZAPBANGPOW...She was mated to the land, man. It's not an easy gig, and it either involves consent... or not.
The Unseen Hosts generally don't give a damn whether or not we want to be part of their schemes. They want Sovereigns, and Land-holders. They want their priests, and will mark them however they can.
In the absence of established praxis, they will simply rope, break and mount you like a wild horse (see: my FB notes for "Faithful Retinue").
Speaking from a Heathen perspective...the elf-sex is odd. But it's no odder than say, belief in the landwights, or that valkyries come steal heroes for the halls of the gods, or that the gods are wandering about in human shape.
ReplyDelete(Because they bloody well are. Trust me.)
As to Royal Court, as a metaphor, I think it works, but it's different depending on where you are.
At the risk of being the grumpy one in this - not all spirits fit the Irish/Celtic model.
Ljosalfar, duregar, svartalfar, norns, valkyria, fylgia, jotnar, idises, trolls, thurses, landvaettir huldrfolk...I could go on. And that's just in Iceland.
I do think we all must be careful of automatic acceptance of other people's strangenesses, but also we shouldn't dismiss em until we understand their lives and contexts, as VVF seems to have connected to...;)
Mr. VI - No, I get the differences. I'm just not utterly familiar with the names and mythologies. I'm more familiar with "roles" than different titles.
ReplyDeleteHere there are land-spirits. They are not Elves, nor Fairies, nor Huldurfolk. They may be Rock People, they could be something else entirely. I have no word for them, so I call them Fairies and Wights, and Deva/ls. And it's them I refer to, not to Celtic fairies. So, it's more like "Not all spirits fit the Oklahoma Wilds model" ;)
Alas, not a lot of people working with what's out here, and those that are generally aren't talking to caucasian witches.
Another thing to consider is that tales of trysts and marriages to huldra are probably the most common type of story that is told about these beings. Even the "Queen of the Elves" (Hildur) marries a farmer/sheepherder in one story. So she clearly has the benefit of an established cultural context for this kind of encounter, although the meaning behind it may ultimately be more microcosmic than macrocosmic. Or perhaps a meeting between the two.
ReplyDeleteIn an Irish/Celtic context, the Sovereignty goddesses typically have their eyes set on exceptional men of the ruling classes. (There is, of course, one notable exception that I know of.) In Iceland/Scandinavia, by contrast, it appears that the huldufólk/huldrefolk really are the common man's "neighbor," living right beside them and sharing the same concerns. There are lots of interesting places where these paradigms overlap and divert, and the benefits/dangers of these kinds of relationships are apparent in both bodies of lore. (In regard to Scylla's final comments, I can attest to the...volatility of going without the benefit of such knowledge.)