Podcasts about in norse

It's easy for mythical birds to capture the imagination, whether it's the phoenix rising from the ashes, or Aethon eternally pecking Prometheus' liver. And let's not forget Odin with his ravens, Huginn and Muninn, or Memory and Thought. In Norse myth, they travelled out into the world and flew back to Odin to report on what was happening. Not all mythical birds are benevolent, or even particularly well-known, as we shall see. Let's explore the phoenix, the Firebird, the martlet, and the Nachtkrapp in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/mythical-birds/ 'The Fire Bird - Russian Fairy Tales' by Irina Zheleznova: https://archive.org/details/the-fire-bird Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Enjoyed this episode and want to show your appreciation? Buy Icy a coffee to say 'thanks' at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/ Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social Tweet Icy at https://x.com/IcySedgwick

My special guest tonight is Sonja Grace who's here to discuss the wisdom of the natural world. Sonja says she has many different abilities to gather this knowledge such as spirit communication, healer and time traveling. Her book is called Dancing with Raven and Bear. Original tales inspired by Native American and Norwegian folklore that highlight the wisdom of the divine natural world  • Shares unique stories about Earth Medicine and animal magic, inspired by the author's unusual Native American (Hopi) and Norwegian upbringing  • Interwoven with ancient teachings and everyday practical applications of Earth Medicine, such as grounding and dream interpretation  • Each tale is beautifully illustrated with the author's original art, which promotes spiritual understanding and the power of the Earth's healing properties  • Paper with French flaps  Drawing on both her Native American (Hopi) heritage and her Norwegian upbringing, renowned mystic and intuitive healer Sonja Grace shares original wisdom tales, received through her heart and soul, to take you on a journey into the magic of Raven and Bear and the healing power of Earth Medicine.  Featuring Sonja's distinctive and beautiful artwork, each story is embedded with ancient teachings to inspire you to live closer to the Earth. The fables include powerful examples of animal magic and everyday, practical applications of Earth Medicine, such as simple energy exercises, dream interpretations, Earth Medicine prayers and meditations, and using medicinal plants to manage negative energies. As background to the stories, Sonja reveals parallels between Norse mythology and Native American traditions and explores the symbology of animals and the recurring central theme of the tension between light and darkness. In Norse myth, the great god Odin, for instance, is often accompanied by Ravens. These birds are considered manifestations of the Valkyries, the goddesses who brought brave soldiers to Valhalla, while in Native American traditions, the Raven is viewed as a trickster or messenger, a magical creature with the ability to shapeshift into a human or animal, yet also portrayed as a hero overcoming adversity. The Bear on the other hand can embody the healer who grounds our energy and removes illness or can represent the inner part of us that has faith. In one fable, Sonja brings Bear to life as a mythical creature singing songs to bring in the light, reflecting the powerful lesson that by using our voice and speaking the truth we can hold darkness at bay. Throughout all of the stories, Raven and Bear teach us to be responsible for our actions and develop spiritual accountability. Follow Our Other ShowsFollow UFO WitnessesFollow Crime Watch WeeklyFollow Paranormal FearsFollow Seven: Disturbing Chronicle StoriesJoin our Patreon for ad-free listening and more bonus content.Follow us on Instagram @mysteriousradioFollow us on TikTok mysteriousradioTikTok Follow us on Twitter @mysteriousradio Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/mysteriousradio Like us on Facebook Facebook.com/mysteriousradio

A new week means new questions! Hope you have fun with these!What unique trait do the dog breeds "Chinese Shar-Pei" and "Chow Chows" have in common?Which Canadian filmmaker directed American Psycho?Although often associated with the popular Patsy Cline version, who originally wrote the song "Crazy"?If it's 11 P.M. in Seattle, Washington, what time is it in Miami, Florida?Vis-a-vis literally refers to what body part?Snuff is the 39th book in which long-running fantasy series?While it was the businessman King C Gillette patented the safety razor, which retired Colonel patented the first electric razor?On December 3rd 1971, which country declared war on India?In the game "Pictionary" what are the five categories that you can choose from?In binary it is 101, what is it in decimal?In general, what is the difference between stock and broth?What artist designed the Chupa Chups lollipop logo in 1969?What is the outer layer of skin called?In Norse mythology, where would one find Valhalla?MusicHot Swing, Fast Talkin, Bass Walker, Dances and Dames, Ambush by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Don't forget to follow us on social media:Patreon – patreon.com/quizbang – Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Check out our fun extras for patrons and help us keep this podcast going. We appreciate any level of support!Website – quizbangpod.com Check out our website, it will have all the links for social media that you need and while you're there, why not go to the contact us page and submit a question!Facebook – @quizbangpodcast – we post episode links and silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess.Instagram – Quiz Quiz Bang Bang (quizquizbangbang), we post silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess.Twitter – @quizbangpod We want to start a fun community for our fellow trivia lovers. If you hear/think of a fun or challenging trivia question, post it to our twitter feed and we will repost it so everyone can take a stab it. Come for the trivia – stay for the trivia.Ko-Fi – ko-fi.com/quizbangpod – Keep that sweet caffeine running through our body with a Ko-Fi, power us through a late night of fact checking and editing!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5857487/advertisement

Gordon Hull Gordon Hull from Heidrun Meadery in Pt. Reyes Station joins Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Heidrun Meadery is a 26-year-old company. They are open 7 days a week, from 5 to 11. They specialize in Mead, which is wine made with honey instead of grapes. Their mead is unique because it is sparkling, made the same way as champagne. They also make different flavors of mead from different varieties of honey. They also have beehives and make honey that they use to make mead. Their meadery is a converted dairy farm. A Unique Style of Mead They are the only producer of champagne-style mead in the world. They make a base wine that is still, in stainless steel tanks. Before bottling they add sugar and get a secondary fermentation to create a natural effervescence. Mead is the oldest fermented beverage in the world. It predates beer and wine by thousands of years. Visit our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. In the studio they are tasting a mead that Gordon sent them, made from honey that comes from Tanzania, which has a very distinct flavor. The honey comes from the African bees which are very aggressive. Because of that, the people who extract the honey use smoke to distract the bees, and the smoke plays a part in the flavor of the honey. It has a distinct, peaty, pine-resin flavor. He describes it as a cross between a fine champagne and a peaty Scotch whiskey. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info. Heidrun Meads are available at Bottle Barn. In Norse mythology, Odin is the highest god and lives in Valhalla. He lives by drinking mead which comes from his mythological goat called Heidrun.

Muspelheim is a realm in Norse and Germanic mythology and is one of the Nine Worlds that make up the universe. It is located in the south and is often described as the world of fire. The name Muspelheim comes from the Old Norse words "mus" meaning "fire" and "pel" meaning "world". In Norse and germanic mythology, Muspelheim is the land of the fire giants and was created by the primordial being, Surtr, who was said to have a flaming sword that he used to ignite the world. The realm is inhabited by fire giants, who were known for their ferocity and violence. They were often depicted as enemies of the gods, particularly during the final battle of Ragnarok, where they were said to play a major role in the destruction of the world. Anglo-Saxon literature refers to the written works produced in England between the 5th and 11th centuries in the Old English language. It is a rich and diverse body of work that provides valuable insight into the culture, beliefs, and values of the Anglo-Saxons. There are just a few of the many books that are available for those interested in Anglo-Saxon literature and culture. Whether you are a student, researcher, or simply a reader, there is a wealth of information available to help you explore and understand the rich heritage of the Anglo-Saxons.

This week we gaze at the clear cold night sky as we honor The Stars of Winter. We'll look up to find The Winter Triangle. Stars that are part of the Winter Triangle teach us that their forces can aid in the service to those of us who are spiritually attuned. And we take it a step further as we honor two special "stars" of Winter; the Norse Goddess Skadi, and the Norse God, Ullr. Now, did you know that Scandinavia may have been named after the Goddess Skadi. Some theorize that Scandinavia could mean "Skadi's island". And finally, if you ski, then you've probably heard of Ullr. In Norse mythology, Ullr was considered a superb archer and skier, and was the god to invoke when engaging in single combat. Then we'll talk some science and discover why the night sky of winter is so much brighter than it is in summer. It's not your imagination! Be well. Do good. Enjoy the show!

In Norse mythology, the god known as Loki is regarded as a prankster who enjoys playing pranks on his enemies and fellow gods. He is the brother of the god Odin and is often the one who digs the other gods out of their deepest holes. His name has negative connotations due to his actions and deceitful nature, such as his involvement in the death of the god Baldr and causing the Ragnarok or Doomsday.Despite having no cult attached to him, he is regarded as one of the most prominent gods in Norse mythology. He is also one of the three gods who headlines multiple myths alongside Odin and Thor. He is also regarded as the enemy of the gods, as he entered their banquet uninvited and demanded their drink. Loki was bound to a rock (by the entrails of one or more of his sons, according to some sources) as punishment, thus in many ways resembling the Greek figures Prometheus and Tantalus. Also like Prometheus, Loki is considered a god of fire.Loki may be depicted on the Snaptun Stone, the Kirkby Stephen Stone, and the Gosforth Cross. Scholars have debated Loki's origins and role in Norse mythology, which some have described as that of a trickster god.Read more at https://mythlok.com/loki/

In Norse mythology, the fearsome beast known as Fenrir was the child of the demoniac god Loki and the giantess Angerboda. Fearing that he would become an evildoer, the gods tied him with a chain made of various elements, such as the sound of a cat's footsteps, the beard of a woman, the breath of fish, and other occult elements.When the chain was placed on him, he bit off the hand of Tyr, who was a prominent god in Norse mythology. He was then bound and gagged until Ragnarok, the Norse equivalent of the Doomsday. According to one version of the story, he will fight against the powerful god Odin, swallow him and also consume the sun. In both Iceland and Norway, poets have been talking about the day when Fenrir will break free and wreck havoc.Like all of Norse mythology, the story of Fenrir is told through a Christianized lens today. There are various wolves in Norse mythology, such as Skoll and Hati, but it is believed that most of them were originally based on actions performed by the fearsome creature Fenrir. Although he is regarded as an antagonist, the story makes it clear that the treatment of Fenrir by the gods contributed to his decision to align himself with the forces of chaos.Read more at https://mythlok.com/fenrir/

In Norse mythology, the Valkyries determine who lived and who died on the battlefield. Translated as “Chooser of the Fallen” in Old Norse, they're often depicted as supernatural women who guide the souls of deceased soldiers worthy enough of a place in Valhalla, to feast with the god Odin.Today, Dr Cat Jarman is joined by Dr Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir, a medievalist and literary researcher based at the National Library of Norway. Together they explore who the Valkyries were, the purpose they served in reassuring Viking soldiers to go to war, and what the myths can tell us about the lives of real Viking women.For more Gone Medieval content, subscribe to our Medieval Monday newsletter here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!To download, go to Android or Apple store. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Norse mythology, Loki has a place of his own. Taken into Asgard as an infant, he grew under the protection of Odin. Rival and friend of Thor, he prefers illusions to sheer force. His magical talents are very useful in Asgard. Little by little, however, Loki turns evil and his tricks do not amuse anyone anymore. In the end, the god of discord will turn against the other gods fighting Ragnarök. Texts: Julie Gouazé, Clément Lesaffre Voices: Lance Geiger, James Brack Production: Axelle Gobert, Clément Lesaffre Production assistant: Aimie Faconnier Recording: Théo Albaric, Marec Panchot Mixing and editing: Alexandre Ferreira Speakers: Annelie Jarl Ireman, Gísli Sigurdson, Eric Lacey Dubbing: Elisabeth Wautlet International adaptation: VSI, Maremoto International coordination: Martin Stahl Original music: David Spinelli Pre-existing music: Stephanie Economou, Einar Selvik Illustration: Prodigious Executive producers: Lorenzo Benedetti, Louis Daboussy, Benoit Dunaigre Ubisoft: Etienne Allonier, Aymar Azaizia, Etienne Bouvier, Céline Brillouet, Leslie Capillon, Julien Fabre, Louis Raynaud, Justine Villeneuve   An original Ubisoft series, produced by Paradiso Media If you like this podcast, subscribe and leave us lots of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ! And to share this episode it's easy : https://lnk.to/echoesofhistory Happy listening! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we look up to find The Winter Triangle. Stars that are part of the Winter Triangle teach us that their forces can aid in the service to those of us who are spiritually attuned. And we take it a step further as we honor two special "stars" of Winter; the Norse Goddess Skadi, and the Norse God, Ullr. Now, did you know that Scandinavia may have been named after the Goddess Skadi. Some theorize that Scandinavia could mean "Skadi's island". And finally, if you ski, then you've probably heard of Ullr. In Norse mythology, Ullr was considered a superb archer and skier, and was the god to invoke when engaging in single combat. Then we'll talk some science and discover why the night sky of winter is so much brighter than it is in summer. It's not your imagination! Be well. Do good. Enjoy the show!

Valhalla, also known as the hall of the slain is believed to be the Norse afterlife for fallen heroes in Scandinavian Mythology. In Norse mythology, it is said that warriors who lost their lives defending a cause would go to Valhalla, where they will feast with other heroes and Odin himself until Ragnarok comes. Valhalla was believed to be located in the grove of Glasir in Asgard, the real of the Aesir gods. The Einherjar was the name given to these brave warriors who went to Valhalla. According to Norse mythology, it's believed that upon their death, the ancient Vikings were chosen by Odin's Valkyries to become an army that will combat the forces of chaos at Ragnarok. Each day, the warriors would practice the art of Combat, slaying and being slain, only to recover by the evening after which they could feast altogether in the hall, with meat and wine of honey which never ran out. Although being often considered as the main afterlife for the Vikings, Valhalla was one out of the five realms dedicated for the souls. Another realm for the souls of fallen heroes would wait was Folkvangr, a realm governed by the Vanir goddess Freya (Freyja). --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/afro-emperor-myths/support

In this episode we will be looking at the history, folklore and mythology surrounding spinning and weaving. Hear about Valkyries weaving bloody tapestries, how the sun is linked to spinning , why it is advisable to rest sometimes and what terrible things may befall you if you don't.     Sources: Christopher Dyer, 'Making a Living in the Middle Ages: The People of Britain 850-1520' (2002). D.L. Ashliman, 'Superstitions from Europe' https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/superstition.html Donald Haase, 'The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: Q-Z' (2008). Freyalyn Close-Hainswoth, 'Spinning a Tale: Spinning and Weaving in myths and Legends' https://folklorethursday.com/folklife/spinning-a-tale/ Gunnvôr Silfrahárr, 'Women and Magic in the Sagas: Seidr and Spa' http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/seidhr.shtml Gunnvôr Silfrahárr, 'Valkyries, Wish Maidens and Swan Maidens' http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/seidhr.shtml Icy Sedgwick, 'Spinning in Folklore: Impossible Bets and Crafting with the Fates' https://www.icysedgwick.com/spinning-in-folklore/ John Martin Crawford, 'The Kalevala: Rune VIII Maiden of the Rainbow' https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/kvrune08.htm Lisa Schnaidau, ' Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland' (2018). Marianna Vertsman, 'Kikimora, Domovoi, Baccoo, and Other Strange and Spooky Creatures', https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/10/30/scary-creatures-world-folklore Mark Norman, 'Telling the Bees and other Customs: The Folkloer of Rural Crafts' (2020). 'Njal's Saga', trans. Magnus Magnusson and Herman Pálsson (1960). Ronesa Aveela, 'A Study of Household Spirits of Eastern Europe' (2018).   Transcript:   Pohyola's fair and winsome daughter, Glory of the land and water, Sat upon the bow of heaven, On its highest arch resplendent, In a gown of richest fabric, In a gold and silver air-gown, Weaving webs of golden texture, Interlacing threads of silver; Weaving with a golden shuttle, With a weaving-comb of silver; Merrily flies the golden shuttle, From the maiden's nimble fingers, Briskly swings the lathe in weaving, Swiftly flies the comb of silver, From the sky-born maiden's fingers, Weaving webs of wondrous beauty. Hello, welcome to the History and Folklore podcast, where we look at different folk beliefs through history and how these beliefs shape people's perceptions of nature. Today we're looking at spinning and weaving, why these crafts were important to people in the past and how they are depicted in folklore and mythology. Spinning is one of the oldest crafts. Very early in human history, as far back as ten thousand years ago, people learned how to get fibre from plants and would twist it between their fingers to strengthen it, creating string that could be used  for tools and weapons. The first items that were used to facilitate this process were simple stones and sticks that were used to wind the twine. At some point these were combined together to make spindles, one of humanity's oldest tools and one that has been found in nearly every culture across the world. In the neolithic period, as people started developing settled communities, the methods of spinning and and working with fibre also developed. Looms could be used to weave large pieces of fabric that could be used for clothes, blankets and sails for boats. Sheep began to be kept domestically on farms, and their fleece was used to make wool. The fact that both of these skills became so widespread across the globe at such an early point indicates how integral these skills were to humanity. They enable us to make clothes to stay warm and protected from the elements, make nets and traps for hunting, rope and sails for ships, rope to pull heavy loads and string to fix blades and handles together to make weapons and tools. Despite its importance, spinning was considered to be a low-skilled activity and, with a distaff, the stick used for holding the unspun fibre, tucked into a belt or under the arm, a spinner could produce yarn while doing other tasks. It takes a lot of time to make enough yarn for your needs and there are medieval images of rich and poor women spinning while sat chatting together, while riding on horses, caring for children and feeding the chickens, among other activities. It is apparent that at some point in European history spinning came to be seen as a predominantly female activity, unlike weaving which was considered to be more skilled. Anthony Fitzherbert, in his book of husbandry, states that it was not really possible to make a living from spinning, but that ‘it stoppeth the gap.' Weaving, on the other hand, was a respected and established industry as shown by the existence of weavers guilds in larger towns by the twelfth century. The strong connection between women and the work of spinning is probably most well known through the term ‘spinster' to describe older, unmarried women. This term often has negative connotations and has historically been used as an insult. The association between women and spinning seems to have been strongly entrenched by the late 1300s, with the English Lollard priest John Ball stating in a sermin in 1381 ‘when Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?', alluding to gendered work after the loss of Eden, despite no mention of Eve spinning in the Bible. It has been argued that while spinning was predominantly done by women, it was probably not solely their domain, and it was likely men working in jobs such as travelling traders or shepherds would have been spinning to help meet the large demand for yarn. Unsurprisingly, as an important part of culture and society, many superstitions, taboos and celebrations developed around spinning and weaving. It was forbidden to spin or weave during certain times of the year - the exact taboo days varied across Europe, but they tended to be on particularly certain holy or rest days, with the longest taboo on spinning being over the twelve days of Yule. In Iceland it was expected that all spinning, weaving and sewing chores were completed by the end of this year, an expectation reflected in the tales of the Yule cat, who would eat children who had not received a new piece of clothing for Christmas - a sign that these jobs had remained uncompleted. In England this period of rest over Christmas ended on the 7th January, known as distaff day, when women picked up their spindles to work again. Although according to a seventeenth century poem this day was probably only slightly productive, as the men and women would play pranks on each other to impede the work - the men setting fire to the flax and the women throwing water over the men in retribution, a sign that the return to work was not necessarily an enthusiastic one. In many areas spinning during these taboo times was assumed to invite the wrath of a deity. In Romania spinning and other domestic activities were forbidden on Tuesdays, a semi-holy day in honour of a deity named Martolea. Those who were caught spinning on this day may have their guts ripped out and spread around their home or their husbands and children killed or possessed by a demon-like entity. Assuming that these traditions were developed to enforce rest periods from a task that was important and ever present it says something about the importance of the task that meant they needed such strong disincentives to stop. Other superstitions upholding these taboos and times of work were less severe. Spinning on a Good Friday would cause your fingers to become inflamed. In Germany not putting your spinning away on a Saturday evening ready for the Sunday rest would cause it to tangle, while any spinning left undone by the end of Saturday would ruin any leftover flax, making it impossible to spin or bleach. In this case the superstition was to encourage good time management, hard work and good housekeeping. Similarly in Slavic countries it was said that a type of household spirit known as a kikimora would come and tangle any textile crafts left out overnight. While in these instances leaving spinning out overnight is punished in some way, there is another German superstition that says that if someone gets up from a spinning wheel without loosening the thread, an elf will sit and begin spinning on it. The elf will not be seen, but the spindle will be heard whirring by itself. Traditional accounts of spinning in fairy tales often reflect the real life attitudes and folklore surrounding the craft. Characters are often shown spinning to represent their industrious and domestic nature. For example, in the Grimms tale of Mother Holle, the sister who gets rewarded for her hard work finds Mother Holle's realm by spinning so much her fingers bleed, thereby dropping the spindle into the well that leads to her domain. Another Grimm tale spindle, shuttle and needle tells of an orphan girl who is left these three instruments by her grandmother after her death, using them to scrape by a living. When the King visits the village searching for a bride who was at once richest and poorest. He comes across the orphan spinning, but leaves when she shyly looks away. She remembers the rhyme taught by her grandmother "Spindle, my spindle, haste, haste thee away, and here to my house bring the wooer, I pray." her spindle magically flies out of her hand to follow the king, who follows it back to find her house beautifully decorated by the shuttle and needle. He declares her both poorest and richest through her skills and proposes marriage. Other tales recall assistance in the tasks of spinning and weaving by the fairy folk. One tale from the Isle of Man tells of a young woman who is given an impossible amount of spinning to do by her employer, but who manages to achieve it with the help of the fynoderee, the fairies native to the island. In the tale of Rumplestiltskin, a woman is imprisoned by a king after her father boasts she can turn straw into gold. This is not an entirely outlandish claim when looked at metaphorically, as a skilled spinner could turn straw-like plant fibre into fine yarn that could be used for weaving, and was worth far more than its original form. Taken literally, though, the task is impossible and Rumpelstiltskin agrees to help the lady in return for her first born child, a deal she gets out of after correctly guessing his name. A similar story is the Norwegian tale of the three sisters, in which a king hears other people's claims about a young womans spinning and agrees to marry her if she can prove that these claims are true. This is unfortunate for the young woman as she actually has no idea how to do either. She is spotted weeping by three old women, who agree to help her at her task if she recognises them as her aunts at her wedding. When the wedding day comes the three old women arrive and, acknowledging the widespread alarm at their ugly appearance and the disbelief that they could possibly be related to the beautiful bride, claim that it was their years of hard work spinning and weaving that hunched their backs, wrinkled their faces and shortened their sight. Upon learning this the king decreed that his wife should never spin or weave again, despite her obvious skill, to maintain her beauty - letting her off the high expectations that had been set for her. In other tales it is the act of spinning itself that holds the wonder and magic. In the tale of the six swans a young girl is only able to lift a spell that is placed upon her brothers, turning them to swans, by silently spinning and sewing them shirts made of nettles. It is also unsurprising that many deities were associated with spinning and weaving, considering their importance. The Finnish Kalevala, compiled in the nineteenth century from oral folklore, contains a number of references to spinning and weaving, such as in the poem Rune 8 quoted at the start of this episode. In northern Europe sun and moon deities seemed to have a link to these crafts. The Sami goddess Beiwe, whose name derives from the regional word for the sun, was closely associated with spinning and flax and spinning wheels are left as offerings to her during major festivals. Similarly, in Baltc countries the sun goddess Saul is said to spin sunbeams and is represented by a spinning wheel. In this region spindles made from amber, known locally as sun stones, have been found in graves, further suggesting a link between the two, while in Finland the moon Goddess Kuutar spins and weaves golden yarn. Further south, in Ancient Greece, Ariadne, the granddaughter of the sun God Helios, was said to have spun the thread used by Theseus in the Minotaur's labyrinth, while Athena was so proud of her weaving she turned Arachne into a spider for challenging her skill.  Interestingly, I was not able to find any European gods of spinning or weaving, reinforcing the feminine link with these crafts. Spinning and weaving were so integral to society that they were both used as a metaphor or lens through which to understand the world. In Plato's republic he likens the axis of the universe as a spindle with the starry heavens as a whorl that spins round the centre. Telling stories, the means through which people communicate and explore ideas to understand the world, are also often referred to as ‘spinning yarns' possibly because women would tell each other tales when they got together to spin, a theme found in the fifteenth century collection of stories named the spinners tales, framed through the motif of ladies telling each other the stories as they spin, in a similar manner to the Canterbury Tales and the Decamaron. Stories, and lives are also sometimes seen as a tapestry, with the individual strands of a single life woven tightly together, influencing the pattern of the whole. In some mythologies the deities responsible for the fates of gods and humans are spinners and weavers. In Ancient Greece the three fates worked the fibre that shaped a person's life. Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis measured its length and, in some versions spun it into a tapestry, and their sister Atropos cut the thread to mark the end of life. In Norse mythology, the three Norns cared for and lived at the base of the world tree Yggdrasil, that connected the nine realms. Together they spun the threads of fate, determining who's life thread was cut short. In The First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane, found in the Poetic Edda, the Norns visit Helgi Hundingsbane at his birth and wove the golden threads of the web of fate to determine the shape of his life. The Valkyries were also known for their weaving abilities. While these entities are often seen as warrior women due to their association with battles and their role of carrying the slaughtered to Folkvangr or Valhalla but this is not either primary role in early literature. Often they were portrayed as having a role not dissimilar to that of the Norns, watching over the battle, weaving the fates of those fighting. The epic Beowulf tells of the valkyires crafting the weavings of victory. The Skaldic poem Darraðarljóð, found in the eleventh century Njal's saga describes twelve valkyries weaving the fate of warriors in battle. This poem goes into quite gruesome detail saying. ‘Blood rains from the cloudy web, Of the broad loom of slaughter. The web of man, grey as armour, Is now being woven; the Valkries Will cross it with a crimson weft. The warp is made of human entrails, Human heads are used as heddle wights, The heddle rods are blood-wet spears, The shafts are iron bound and arrows are the shuttles, With swords we will weave this web of battle.' I find the conflicting attitudes to these skills, but particularly spinning, to be absolutely fascinating. Both were obviously important skills to ensure people remained clothed, and also as a means of gaining a source of income. Vast quantities of yarn and cloth were needed to meet the needs of society, yet rest days were enforced with such conviction that horrors were threatened to those who ignored them. Those who span and wove were considered to be industrious, virtuous and ideal wife material, yet the skill of spinning in particular was not particularly valued outside of this. Spinning was in some ways such a low status activity that the word spinster was used as a pejorative insult towards women who had passed the expected age of marriage without a husband, and yet was the primary skill held by the very deities that maintain life on earth and controlled the lives and fates of men. Thank you for listening to this episode of the History and Folklore podcast. I hope you enjoyed it and found it interesting. An extra thank you goes to my patreons Robin, DD Storyteller, the Fairy Folk Podcast, Louise, Ben, John and David. Patrons help pay towards the cost of running the podcast and are greatly appreciated. If you would like to support the History and Folklore Podcast tiers range from £1-£3 a month in exchange for benefits including early access to podcast episodes, a monthly zine with more in-depth information about the topic of that month's episode and a chance to vote on the next month's episode theme. You can also follow the podcast on Instagram at history and folklore, twitter at HistoryFolklore and Facebook at the History and Folklore podcast where I post hopefully interesting history and folklore facts pretty much daily and answer any questions or feedback. Thank you so much for listening, and I look forward to seeing you next time.

In Norse mythology, Freyja (from Old Norse meaning "the Lady" is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, and gold. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, is accompanied by the boar Hildisvíni, and possesses a cloak of falcon feathers. Today we interviewed a woman, who in our opinion, most embodies this Freya sex goddess energy. Longing for a life of adventure since a small girl this desire took her across the world and after many years, she eventually created a permanent home in Goa, India. Maria Boox became a Certified Iyengar teacher before seeking out a practice of Ashtanga Yoga with her beloved Guruji, Pattabhi Jois, whom she was a devoted student of for thirteen years. She opened up the first fully dedicated Ashtanga Yoga School in Stockholm, which continues to thrive to this day. After 2009, she continued to seek out guidance in pranayama and yoga philosophy from Sri. O.P Tiwari (a teacher she also shares with Harmony). All these experiences have added a lot of depth to Maria's approach to teaching and to her whole practice. We spoke to Maria about what it means to be a truly wild child growing up in conservative Sweden and how she came to be fully embodied sexually, emotionally, spiritually. Now, as a grandmother, she in turn, has become a guide for the younger generation and inspiration to many fellow travellers along the path of yoga. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MARIA: WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM - mariabooxyoga.com FOLLOW HARMONY: WEBSITE I INSTAGRAM - harmonyslater.com The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case. Your contributions have allowed us to keep our podcast ad and sponsor free. Creating, editing and producing each episode takes a lot of time. It is a labor of love. And would not be possible without your kind support. If you've enjoyed today's podcast, please consider supporting our future episodes by making a donation. Every little bit goes a long way and we are immensely grateful for any and all of your support. Make A Donation Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review! ❤ Give us a 5★ rating! Opening and closing music compliments of my dear friend teaching Ashtanga yoga in Eindhoven, Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.

Clown-like characters have been around for thousands of years. Jesters date back at least as far as ancient Egypt. Tracing back the figure of the Jester leads us to the mythological trickster. Tricksters are archetypal characters who appear in the myths of many different cultures. They cross and often break both physical and societal rules, violating principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis. They openly question and mock authority and usually fond of breaking rules and playing tricks on both humans and gods. Hermes plays this role in some Greek myths. He is the messenger of the gods, patron of thieves and the inventor of lying, a gift he passed on to his son Autolycus. The trickster is also unconstrained by form or gender. In Norse mythology, the trickster Loki is also a shape shifter who could move freely between genders. At one point, he even becomes a mare who later gives birth to Odin's eight-legged horse . This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2019/04/26/the-trickter-the-jester-the-clown-the-brief-mythology-and-ancient-history-of-the-harbingers-of-laughter-and-fear/

SIGN UP FOR THE POTTER DISCUSSION NEWSLETTER AND CLAIM YOUR GUIDE HERE!In this episode I explain why I think the Hog's Head bar is Valhalla. Enjoy!Summary: When I say 'Hog's Head' and 'Valhalla' in the same sentence, you might think there is no way those two things have anything in common. Today I want to show you why the Hog's Head and Valhalla are the same thing. To start, let's talk about goats. Aberforth Dumbledore, the owner and bartender at the Hog's Head, has a connection with goats. He has had them since he was a kid, and still keeps them in his bar to this day. Why? And how are goats connected to Valhalla? I'll tell you. In Norse mythology there is an enormous "world tree" that connects the nine worlds. Laroar is the biggest branch of the world tree, which is situated in Valhalla. On that branch there is a creature named Heidrun. Heidrun just so happens to be a goat. From their udders comes mead. Aberfoth also serves mead. There are two more creatures around the tree. First is the stag Dvalinn. From Dvalinn's antlers flows the water that makes the rivers go. Goats and stags are clearly shown to be very close when the death eaters demand Aberforth to cast his patronus in the seventh book. The other creature in Laroar is the hog  Saehrimnir. Saehrimnir is hunted and killed every night for the warriors in Valhalla. The best part of Saehrimnir is the head. The Hog's Head.Gmail: ThePotterDiscussion@gmail.comInstagram: @thepotterdiscussionWebsite: https://www.thepotterdiscussion.buzzsprout.com

In Norse mythology Loki is a cunning trickster who has the ability to change his shape and sex. Although his father is the giant Fárbauti, he is included among the Aesir (a tribe of gods). Loki is represented as the companion of the great gods Odin and Thor. If you love what you hear, please like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/104817698159167/posts/106708614636742/?app=fbl subscribe and leave us a review so we can improve.

My special guest tonight is Sonja Grace who's here to discuss the wisdom of the natural world. Sonja says she has many different abilities to gather this knowledge such as spirit communication, healer and time traveling. Her book is called Dancing with Raven and Bear. Original tales inspired by Native American and Norwegian folklore that highlight the wisdom of the divine natural world  • Shares unique stories about Earth Medicine and animal magic, inspired by the author's unusual Native American (Hopi) and Norwegian upbringing  • Interwoven with ancient teachings and everyday practical applications of Earth Medicine, such as grounding and dream interpretation  • Each tale is beautifully illustrated with the author's original art, which promotes spiritual understanding and the power of the Earth's healing properties  • Paper with French flaps  Drawing on both her Native American (Hopi) heritage and her Norwegian upbringing, renowned mystic and intuitive healer Sonja Grace shares original wisdom tales, received through her heart and soul, to take you on a journey into the magic of Raven and Bear and the healing power of Earth Medicine.  Featuring Sonja's distinctive and beautiful artwork, each story is embedded with ancient teachings to inspire you to live closer to the Earth. The fables include powerful examples of animal magic and everyday, practical applications of Earth Medicine, such as simple energy exercises, dream interpretations, Earth Medicine prayers and meditations, and using medicinal plants to manage negative energies. As background to the stories, Sonja reveals parallels between Norse mythology and Native American traditions and explores the symbology of animals and the recurring central theme of the tension between light and darkness. In Norse myth, the great god Odin, for instance, is often accompanied by Ravens. These birds are considered manifestations of the Valkyries, the goddesses who brought brave soldiers to Valhalla, while in Native American traditions, the Raven is viewed as a trickster or messenger, a magical creature with the ability to shapeshift into a human or animal, yet also portrayed as a hero overcoming adversity. The Bear on the other hand can embody the healer who grounds our energy and removes illness or can represent the inner part of us that has faith. In one fable, Sonja brings Bear to life as a mythical creature singing songs to bring in the light, reflecting the powerful lesson that by using our voice and speaking the truth we can hold darkness at bay. Throughout all of the stories, Raven and Bear teach us to be responsible for our actions and develop spiritual accountability.  Enjoy the AD-FREE versions of our latest episodes and our archives right now from anywhere in the world. Want more paranormal episodes? Follow our new podcast 'Paranormal Fears' on any podcast app or Apple Podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @mysteriousradio Follow us on Twitter @mysteriousradio Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/mysteriousradio Like us on Facebook Facebook.com/mysteriousradio Visit our website: https://www.mysteriousradio.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wonder about mistletoe and why it's part of Christmas lore and tradition? Join Julie on this week's episode to learn about mistletoe secret history and uses. It's been around a long time! Mistletoe Secret History Some of the mistletoe secret history starts with the ancient Norse, Greek, and Roman legends. In Norse mythology, the […] The post Mistletoe Secrets appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Has your cat ever sat on you so long that you thought you were going to suffocate? It might just be a Draugr. In Norse mythology, Draugr were corpses come back to life with superhuman strength and magical powers! All you had to do to get rid of them is wrestle them back into their respective grave... easy enough? Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_mythologyhttps://www.lifeinnorway.net/creatures-in-norse-mythology/#:~:text=Creatures%20in%20Norse%20Mythology.%201%20Elves.%20Said%20to,3%20J%C3%B6tnar.%204%20Valkyries.%205%20Draugr.%20More%20itemshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draugrhttps://mythology.wikia.org/wiki/Draugrhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Grettis-sagahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grettis_saga#:~:text=Grettis%20saga%20%C3%81smundarsonar%20%28%20Modern%20Icelandic%20pronunciation%20%29,life%20of%20Grettir%20%C3%81smundarson%2C%20a%20bellicose%20Icelandic%20outlaw.https://www.sagadb.org/grettis_saga.enhttps://www.astonishinglegends.com/astonishing-legends/2018/9/12/the-draugrhttps://mysteriousuniverse.org/2020/10/the-draugr-the-deadliest-monster-of-all/https://hiticeland.com/iceland/the-wonderful-world-of-eyrbyggja-sagahttp://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ghosts.shtml#:~:text=Also%20known%20as%20aptrgangr%20%28lit.%20%22after-goer%2C%22%20or%20%22one,spirit%20do%20not%20apply%20to%20these%20supernatural%20creatures.https://hrafnar.org/articles/lwood/draugar/

Hello and welcome to Episode Thirty-One of Page Turn: the Largo Public Library Podcast. I'm your host, Hannah! If you enjoy the podcast subscribe, tell a friend, or write us a review! The English Language Transcript can be found below But as always we start with Reader's Advisory! The Reader's Advisory for Episode Thirty is The Yield by Tara June Winch. If you like The Yield you should also check out: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud, and The Round House by Louise Erdrich. My personal favorite Goodreads list The Yield is on is Modern Mrs Darcy Podcast Lists. Happy Reading Everyone Today’s Library Tidbit is about familiar spirits. It’s fall Halloween was just a few days ago and seemingly spooky things have been on everyone’s mind. So on today’s tidbit I’m going to dive into what familiar spirits are, their history in different cultures, and why you should never appropriate a different cultures terminology and understanding of them. This last little bit is the reason why I will be using the term familiar and familiar spirit throughout this tidbit as I am mostly European and it is the pan-European term for this concept. I am not going to be going into the practice of witchcraft or be discussing if familiar spirits are real or their morality. A familiar spirit is an entity, animal, plant, or other natural thing, that you form a special bond with. This connection is not a light bond but rather a bond that you feel connects you to something on a spiritual or soul level. This idea is something that exists in cultures and time periods across the world. These familiar spirits exist to guide a person, either teaching them specific magics or guiding them through person life dilemmas and through personal growth. A non-religious familiar might be a centering touchstone that someone finds comfort in because it reminds them of attributes that they share. European traditions mostly use the term familiar or familiar spirit. Native and Indigenous groups have multiple different words but English speakers typically use the word totem to describe all of them. It is important to remember that different tribes will have their own word for this concept. Totem poles are specific to the Pacific Northwest area of the continent of North America, from Alaska to Washington and British Columbia. Spirit Animal is another term used by Native tribes to describe tutelary guides. Totems are one type of spirit animal but used specifically by the Northwest Pacific tribes. However, most of the information about totems that I have just said also applies to spirits animals. In other words, spirit animal is a Native term and should be respected as a Native term. In Norse culture there exists the fylgjur plural, fylgja singular. Across Mesoamerica exists the belief in the nagual and the tonalli or tonal. Some sources will say that they nagual is related to a spirit guide, however, they are more therianthropy. In other words Naguals are shape shifting witches. Tonals, on the other hand, are familiars that are assigned at birth. Tonals are attached to the Aztec horoscope calendar and are guardian spirits. Other words for familiar in other cultures that either have very broad definitions or have characteristics that don’t fit into my tidbit today are spirit, spirit guide, doppelganger, personal demon, spirit companion, ayami and syven. Familiar spirits are deeply personal and often important both religiously and culturally for different people groups. Because of this it is insulting to use language from a culture you are not a part of casually. Unfortunately, due to colonization, most people are too comfortable using words and concepts for themselves that are not part of their cultural heritage. I would encourage everyone to research into their own ancestry and pick a term that is part of their cultural heritage.

In Norse mythology, Valkyries were women who went out into battles to choose the slain warriors who deserved to be in Valhalla, Odin's place in Asgard, to carry on fighting in preparation for the final apocalyptic confrontation of Ragnarok, between gods and giants. Fighters would see the Valkyries flying through the air or riding on horses, with shields and helmets, some saving the lives and ships of those they favoured, some causing death to those they disliked. These stories of Valkyries and Valhalla offer insights into the lives and values of the people who told them, with the possibility that human women went into battle too. Bridget Kendall is joined by Sif Rikhardsdottir, Professor and Chair of Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland, Marianne Hem Eriksen, Associate Professor of Archaeology at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo in Norway, and Judith Jesch, Professor of Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham, in the UK. (Picture: Illustration from The Rhinegold and the Valkyrie, 1910. Artist: Arthur Rackham Credit: Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Season 2 Episode 32: Jean-Jacques Fournier The Poetry of Crows & Ravens I am delighted and thrilled that my dear friend and poet; Jean-Jacques Fournier is with me today to speak about crows, and ravens within his poetry. As background, ravens and crows are embedded within our mythologies from ancient times. In Greek mythology the crow was a symbol of Apollo in his role as god of prophecy. In Norse mythology, Odin is portrayed by a raven. In Celtic mythology, Morrighan, the warrior goddess appears in the form of a crow or raven. Crows and ravens have been envisioned as a mediator animal between life and death. They have been known as tricksters and mischief makers. Jean-Jacques has great insight into these magnificent creatures. So put the kettle on and add to this exciting discussion, on Tea Toast & Trivia.

Happy New Year and thanks for joining me for the first Crosspoint podcast of 2020. Today, we’re focusing on the topic of personal transformation with my guest, Col Darren Duke, United States Marine Corps. Col Duke is the Deputy Director of Operations at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps in Washington, DC. He is a career intelligence and special operations officer and has commanded Marine and Joint special operations in garrison and abroad. Col Duke he will be speaking on the topic of personal transformation at the upcoming Northeast Academy & ROTC Retreat, on 7-9 February at the Toah Nipi Retreat Center in New Hampshire. And for those of you in ROTC, there are upwards of 9 different events you can take part in between now and April. Click here for details.  Let’s jump into my conversation with Col Darren Duke as we talk about personal transformation and what a life transformed by God might look like for believers serving in the military. // What we talked about Col Duke expresses about his gratitude for the heritage of faith from his family, making that faith his own through USNA OCF, led by Cal & Linda Dunlap, and the influences from his roommate and many others helping him see “the prevailing unbelief in my life.” "Through the pages of the Bible I met a God who was utterly holy, completely powerful and sovereign, yet who extended mercy to sinners like me." Q: Tell me about the OCF conference you're speaking at and the topic for the conference. Col Duke talks about really enjoying the ROTC conference he spoke at last year at WSS, and how important weekend conferences were to him as an USNA midshipman both in his walk with Christ and to be with other believers to study God’s Word. To him, there’s not a better topic than personal transformation “because the gospel of Jesus Christ is at its core about transformation.” "Come be transformed from a rebel against the sovereign King of the cosmos to a son of the Living God. Come, and look at Jesus Christ, and you will be changed. Life from death is the height of transformation." Col Duke discusses the importance of personal transformation, particularly to the audience he’s speaking to. Col Duke talks about trusting God in His promises and obeying His commands, faith and repentance, and the necessity for new Christians growing in their faith to live it out.   "Faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin, distinct, but inseparable attributes of living faith in Jesus. You can’t have one without the other." "Young Christians who are growing in their faith need to understand what it is to walk in Christ in the way they live, not just in what they believe in inside their minds and hearts." Col Duke talks about the influences of the American culture that offers transforming philosophies or transforming programs to try teach others how to transform themselves, and he also discusses “heady” theological words that can be difficult concepts to grasp and that transformative changes comes from “faith in Jesus, where He changes us from the inside out.” "A life changed by God is one where a believer acts on new affections, that is, the inclination of the will of the heart. One law of human worship is that you become like what you worship (Psalm 115). Thankfully, the opposite is also true: the more we behold the perfections of Christ and rejoice in them, the more we will become like Him (1 Corinthians 3:18)." Col Duke talks further about the concepts of justification and sanctification, the danger of “pseudo-holiness” because of our sin nature, false alternatives for true transformation, and the false sense of personal transformation in thinking God loves us less or more depending on our performance. Q: What should be our standard of measure when it comes to personal transformation? Seems like it could be pretty easy to compare ourselves to others and either come away with a bad case of imposter syndrome or walk away thinking more highly of ourselves than we should. Col Duke says the standard for measuring personal transformation rests in the vital necessity of using God’s Word “to see what God says about both our heart and actions.” "Comparison with others is a sure-fire recipe for disaster. It’s difficult to love someone if you’re comparing yourself with them. You’ll either idolize those you uphold as the standard or look down at those you deem as inferior." Col Duke talks about the specific applications and implications of personal transformation for Christians serving in the military. Col Duke’s conversation touches upon the “affections” based on Christ’s promises and how they show themselves in our responses to our fears, family life, and careers. He also talks about how military Christians will appear differently, because of the way their hearts are oriented toward God. "In combat, Christians will remember that even our enemies are created in God’s image, which is the basis for humane treatment of prisoners of war. We will pray for our enemies even as we do our combat duties, to include use of lethal force for righteous ends." Col Duke discusses the “very serious business” that the profession of arms is when asked about the most important thing for newly commissioned officers to keep in mind as they transition into their careers. He also talks about the challenges nonbelievers face in combat in trying to “measure the violence they’re seeing around them,” and the ways they try to put value on what they’ve seen and experienced “that persists beyond the memorial service after the deployment is over.” "Norse paganism has become the symbols of what many young soldiers or Marines use because the culture is questioning the value of war itself right now, and yet they need some framework to place the loss of their friends, and all the death and destruction they’ve seen around them. In Norse mythology…you can have merit, and the sacrifice in combat, and hope beyond that death—even for the person you killed in combat." Col Duke and Josh discuss young Christian officers’ opportunities to demonstrate the hope they have in Christ, the portrayal of war in today’s video games or movies, Global War on Terror “brov-ets,” and books Col Duke recommends on personal transformation. // Resources God is the Gospel by John Piper https://www.desiringgod.org/books/god-is-the-gospel Future Grace by John Piper https://www.desiringgod.org/books/future-grace Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray https://www.amazon.com/Redemption-Accomplished-Applied-John-Murray/dp/080287309X The Christian’s Great Interest by William Guthrie https://www.amazon.com/Christians-Great-Interest-Puritan-Paperbacks/dp/0851513549 // Final Point Col Duke’s one key takeaway for listeners today "The Bible is clear that we are transformed, our lives are changed not by self-help books and gurus—even by Christian ones—but by seeing Jesus Christ as He is presented in the Scriptures, resting in His promises to be the righteousness and peace with God that we need. He will do what He has promised. He will bring us to God, and we will marvel and delight forever."   // Special Announcement We just launched a separate podcast called “Leader, Draw Near.” It’s a weekly podcast devotional, and if the title of that podcast sounds familiar to you, it’s because the podcast is based on the book by the same name, written by COL Larry and Bobbie Simpson, United States Air Force, retired. The Simpsons published the book a few years ago, and since then, we’ve recorded each weekly devotional using several different narrators from all branches of service, and now we’re distributing the audio content as a weekly podcast.  Each podcast episode averages around 4 minutes, so it’s a quick and simple way to get your day started with a great leadership devotional centered on God’s Word. Just go into your favorite podcast app and search for “Leader, Draw Near" or click here.  

In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla (from Old Norse: Askr ok Embla)—male and female respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods. The pair are attested in both the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, three gods, one of whom is Odin, find Ask and Embla and bestow upon them various corporeal and spiritual gifts. Thanks for watching and thanks to Farmer Leaf https://www.farmer-leaf.com for being my first sponsor and making awesome hand-picked, affordable, quality teas in the mountains of Pu'er, China. If you want to explore the varieties of fresh teas at a 10% discount, just use LETSFINDOUT upon checkout. #ASMR #myth #history

sermon transcript Introduction For a year or two, I have arisen early in the morning with Calvin and Daphne to read Courtney Anderson’s biography of Adoniram Judson, a missionary to Burma. The biography is called To the Golden Shore. The golden shore refers to Burma, which had a golden king. Everything there seemed to be made of gold, including the emperor’s palace. Those who went to the emperor to ask him for something fell at his golden feet. Imagery of gold permeated everything. So To the Golden Shore was an image that Courtney Anderson chose for the entire mission to Burma, but at the end of this biography, it had a different, higher meaning. At the end, Anderson writes, “At 15 minutes after 4:00, on Friday afternoon, April 12th, 1850, Adoniram Judson reached his golden shore through more suffering than I can put into words. Very few people died as hard as he did, suffered physically as long as he did.” The golden shore was a symbol of how difficult it was for Judson to live his life to bring people to Christ. In a spiritual sense, he died at sea and finally reached his golden shore in his death. Randy Alcorn, in his book, Heaven, opens with a powerful story, an illustration from 1952, of a long distance swimmer named Florence Chadwick, who did stunning things, including swimming the English Channel four times, twice each direction, setting the record for that long distance swim. She had a goal to swim from the Catalina Island off of the coast of California to the mainland. On the day of the swim, the weather was foggy and chilly, and she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. She swam and swam and swam for 15 hours. She begged, finally, to be taken out of the water along the way. Her mother, in one of the boats alongside, told her she was very close and not to give up. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. When she got onto the boat, she discovered that the shore was less than half a mile away, covered with fog. At a news conference the next day, she said, “All I could see was the fog. I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.” Two months later, she succeeded. It was just as foggy, but she said, “I kept the mental image of the shoreline in my mind as I swam, and it enabled me to finish.” Randy Alcorn, picking up on this, says, “Perhaps you’ve come to this book burdened, discouraged, depressed, or even traumatized. Perhaps your dreams—your marriage, career, or ambitions—have crumbled. Perhaps you’ve become cynical or have lost hope. A biblical understanding of the truth about Heaven can change all that. I pray this book will help you see the shore.” I am praying that the sermon series will help you see the shore. I yearn to give you a fuller scriptural view of the eternally glorious world that awaits all of us in Christ. In contrast to Adoniram Judson, Stephen Hawking died this week at the age of 76. He was a brilliant physicist, cosmologist, atheist. He suffered all his adult life with Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS, confined to a wheelchair, and became a picture of a secular hope, of what the human spirit can overcome. He was a thoroughly secular man. His work was seeking a unified theory that would explain everything: Origins, destinations, and everything in between. That is what he sought with physics and with mathematics. His most famous statement about religion was: “I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers. That is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.” In that spirit, he died. It is an amazing insight in the way he looked at human life, that we are nothing more than biochemical machines with certain biochemical reactions in our brains, and when all that stops, then life ends. As brilliant as Stephen Hawking was, I have the joy and privilege this morning to contradict him based on Scripture — the word of God; based on faith in what the Lord has told us of the shore to which we are sailing. What Will Heaven Be Like? Meditate on Truths about Heaven For two weeks, we have been unfolding Revelation 21 and 22, the best, most careful description in the Bible of the world to which we are going. Revelation 21:1-3 says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’” What a magnificent vision of our future blessedness, of our future happiness; not a fairy tale for those afraid of the dark, but a reality to which we are moving. It is beneficial to take the Scriptures as they are given, and extensively meditate on them. The Westminster theologians said, “The Word of God is not only what is printed on the page, but what can be logically deduced from the scripture.” In this way, we build a theology. I want us to have a theology of Heaven, but I do not want to go too far afield from the text. Amen. I do not want to be like the astronaut hundreds and hundreds of feet away from the Space Shuttle with a jet pack but no tether. I want to tether to the text, but I will do everything the text allows me to do. Heaven will be far greater than anything we can imagine. Ephesians 3 says, concerning God, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or think.” The NIV, says “More than we can ask or imagine.” That works there, because Paul is talking about things that push the limits of what we can think; that is what imagination is about. We are thinking about what can be scarcely imagined. Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” No Death, Mourning, Crying, Pain No More Death — The Resurrection Body This morning, we will focus on Revelation 21:4: “‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” We are commanded to meditate on heaven. Colossians 3 makes that plain. Revelation 1:3, regarding the whole book of Revelation, says, “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” Read these words and take them to heart. Ponder them. Cherish them. The great Puritan preacher and theologian, Jonathan Edwards, focused on Heaven every day of his life. He said, “It becomes [or benefits] us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven... to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for or set our hearts on anything else, but that which is our proper end and true happiness.” Every moment of your life should be seen as a journey toward Heaven, and everything should be subordinated to that. After an extended detailed theological teaching and meditation on the resurrection body, Paul applies that to our practical Christian lives of service to God and to Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” That includes everything that God has equipped us to do in the body of Christ: specific spiritual gift ministry and all of the general duties that are part of the Christian life —intercessory prayer, evangelism and missions, holiness and all of those things. Stand firm, do not be moved by anything that happens to you, and give yourself fully to your labor in the Lord. Meditation on Heaven will do that. False aberrant views of Heaven are rampant. Every false religion has a view of Heaven. Roman mythology has Elysium, a lush shaded meadow, like an outdoor park, with luscious fruits growing and athletic contests occurring. In Norse mythology, it is Valhalla, a feasting, banqueting hall, a place to drink and eat meat and celebrate valiant military victories with their god Odin. Radical Islam teaches a heavenly paradise for warriors who die in jihad, including 70 to 100 beautiful virgins with wide dark eyes. The blessed will recline on couches in a beautiful garden, like Eden, and enjoy sensual pleasures forever, including rivers of pure water, fresh milk and rivers of wine. Buddhism speaks of seven circles of heaven that are part of this present physical world, which are themselves temporary. The ultimate goal is Nirvana, which is nothingness, a drop in an endless sea — one loses his identity and ceases to exist. Native American tribes like the Lakota in North and South Dakota conceived of happy hunting grounds where one would continue life as a hunter and do very well. All these conceptions of Heaven illustrate the truth of Ecclesiastes 3:11: “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” All people have eternity in their hearts. We have a conception of the afterlife, the world that is coming. But Scripture reveals that we cannot rightly think about Heaven on our own. If left to our own unaided imaginations, we will think wrong thoughts. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, a well-known verse, says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him… [people stop there and miss context] but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” Those who stop at verse 9 assume we cannot know what Heaven will be like, because we do not know what God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed some of it to us by the Spirit. Yes, we see through a glass darkly, but we ought to take what the Spirit reveals in Scripture, and by the Spirit’s leading, through exegesis and good interpretation, try to understand. This magnificent verse, Revelation 21:4, says, “‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” We are in the first world, the “old order of things”, now, but there is a second world coming. That is a more literal translation. The first things will have passed away. This old order of things, this present world, is filled with incalculable suffering and pain and misery — a river of sin and death. Adam sinned in the garden, and as Romans 5 says, in Adam we all sinned. Through Adam, we received the death penalty and a corrupt sin nature. But the text says that He will wipe every tear from our eyes. That is a powerful image to me of God’s intimate, relational comforting. With His own hand, He will wipe away our tears. Think of all the tragic funerals throughout history. Think of infant mortality. Almost a million infants die every year. How do we measure the grief and tears that has brought to mothers and fathers for centuries? How much more the death of toddlers, when the child has wrapped his parents around his little finger and then they have to bury him? Few things would be more difficult and tragic in this life than burying a child. There are also countless tears connected with suffering —tears cried by people in intense pain, like burn victims, or cancer victims, people in their final stages, with nothing to relieve their agony. Or tears connected with material loss, like when a house burns down. In Lexington, Massachusetts, at my first church after I came to Christ, there was a fire caused by electric lights on a tree. It was very tragic — a grandmother died of smoke inhalation, and they lost everything. We were there to try to help, but it was heartbreaking. Think about farmers who lose all their earthly wealth when hail or an early freeze comes and destroys their harvest, and they have to start over again, if it is even possible. Think about tears cried by lonely people, such as single people who desire a spouse, tempted to think that no one will ever love them, feeling so lonely in this world. Even what we might consider trivial tears are noted by God. My tears as a 6-year-old learning to ride a bike were significant to me. I started the process by riding down a hill. It was great until I crashed into a teenager’s car. He was waxing it and buffing it; that was his baby, and he chased me through the woods. I cried tears of fear that day. There are also tears of bitter remorse over sin. Think about people who have ruined their marriages through sin, men or women, and they want to but cannot save it. They lament and weep, and there is nothing that can be done for it. There are tears cried by old people in nursing homes as they look at a photo album or something that brings back memories — the people in it are gone; that time is gone. They grieve the loss of an era. Perhaps the most poignant in the sequence of redemptive history are tears that we will all likely cry on Judgment Day. This is hard for us to imagine, but when we give Christ an account of everything done in the body, good or bad, we who believe will not be condemned. We will not hear the words, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Though not condemned, we are not free from accountability. We will look Christ in the face and explain our lives, as it says that we will do in 2 Corinthians 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” When we see the portion of our lives that produced wood, hay and straw go up in flames, we will suffer loss and will feel emotions of regret and will weep. How sweet then will it be for Christ’s own hand to wipe away our tears and say, “No more. We are done. You will never weep over those things again.” Closely connected with that is this next idea that there will be no more death. John Owen, the Puritan theologian, wrote a great work on the atoning work of Christ called The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. What a great title that is. When Jesus died and rose again, those two actions together destroyed death. But the victory that God the Father willed that Jesus would win over death was to be a long unfolding victory, not an instantaneous destruction of death. The Father said to the Son, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” [Psalm 110:1; Luke 20:42-43] And He says in 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 “Christ must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” He will destroy death. He will win. Death will be swallowed up in victory! For you basketball people, that is a 50-point win in the championship game. Christ will win a resounding victory over death, but not yet. That is why he wept at Lazarus’ tomb, out of compassion, because of the sorrow that death has caused over centuries of redemptive history, Revelation 20:14 talks about the final end of death: “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.” That is the death of death — no more death. The key to this is the resurrection body, as we have previously discussed. 1 Corinthians 15:50-52 says, “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. [We cannot go to Heaven just as we are. We must leave behind this body of death and sin, praise be to God for that. Romans 7 says we will be delivered from this body of death.] Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” Earlier in that chapter, in four couplets, Paul compared the body of death and the resurrection body — sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a perishable body, raised imperishable; sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. Cling to those four adjectives. It will be an imperishable body. It will be a glorious body. We will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father, radiating with the glory of God. It will be a powerful body. Isaiah 40 says, “You will run and not grow weary; you will walk and not be faint.” Amen. Limitless power coursing through our resurrection bodies. And It will be a spiritual body. We do not fully know what that means, but we have some indication with the resurrection body of Jesus, which was doing different things than natural bodies — escaping wrapped grave clothes covered with sticky resinous substance; coming through the walls of the cave, or the heavy stone door, long before the women arrived when the angel moved the stone for them. Later, the disciples were in the upper room with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, and Jesus came and stood among them. Isn't that great? He told them, as he needed to, “Peace be with you.” They were overwhelmed with feelings of joy when they saw their Lord. He took food and ate it and said to Thomas, “Touch my hands and see” because Thomas had said, “Unless I put my fingers in the nail marks, I will not believe.” Jesus is physical and yet somehow spiritual, and our bodies will be the same. “Hard” Memories Purged from Pain No More Pain All of us understand pain. Some of the worst pain in this life is mental and emotional, such as the anguish of depression and sorrow and grief and regret. Parents who have endured the pain of teenage suicide would choose physical pain rather than the emotional anguish they feel every time they remember their son or daughter, every time they see a photo, every time they walk into their room or see a stuffed animal that was in his or her crib. There is a kind of a therapeutic forgetfulness in this life so that we can move on. But what will we remember in Heaven about our lives here on earth? That is a question that has occupied me for over a decade — no pain, no grief, no mourning, no regret in Heaven. No psychological trauma, no anguish, no guilt. All those things are painful. Whether or not we will have memory of the painful events in our lives, though, is a question on which some men that I respect are divided. John McArthur says to some degree, provisionally, there will not be memory of these things. He cites Isaiah 65:17-18: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.” That is the New Jerusalem, New Heaven, New Earth. I understand Isaiah is saying the former things will not come to mind or be remembered. But it does not mean we forget. Many verses use that kind of language. We still remember the Red Sea crossing even though something greater has come. We treasure both the Red Sea crossing and the greater exodus that Jesus won. If we do not remember, we will not get to do that. This seems to be saying instead that the New Heaven, New Earth will be so great that any memories of the past life will be as nothing compared to it. McArthur is saying that he cannot imagine how we could remember the grief and misery and suffering of this life and not feel pain. His provision is partial amnesia or some kind of cleansing of the memory. On the other end of the spectrum is John Piper. He says there will be both memories and sweet heavenly regrets. He wrote, “I want to live my short life on earth with as few regrets as possible. … When I think on these things, it makes me tremble at the prospect of living a trivial, self-serving, comfortable, middle-class, ordinary, untroubled American life. I can’t keep eternity out of my mind. Life is short and eternity is long. Very long. It is a long time to regret a wasted life. … Which raises the question: Is there regret in heaven? Can regret be part of the ever-increasing, unspeakable joy of the age to come, purchased by Jesus Christ? My answer is yes. I am aware of promises like Revelation 21:4, ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ But I don't think this rules out ‘tears of joy,’ and it may not rule out ‘regretful joy’.” I respect both John Piper and John McArthur, but I disagree with both of them. Instead, I suggest that there will be perfect memory in heaven with no associated pain, mourning, or crying. Mourning is the inner psychological mental state, and crying is the action that comes out of that. Both are gone. How is that even possible? I would answer, how could it be any other way? How could we celebrate the grace of God in Christ to a multitude greater than anyone could count if we do not remember anything about their lives, if we are not able to celebrate in detail God’s grace to specific sinners, how he worked to bring that person through many troubled waters to repentance and conversion, and then through sanctification to Heaven? I want that story in Heaven so that we can celebrate the beautiful diversity of the redeemed. The thing we all likely worry about most on this topic is whether we will I remember our sins in Heaven. On a gut level, we all would hope the answer is “Of course not! Heaven is a happy place!” My response is, how will we celebrate the amazing grace of God without it? Think of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus on the day he woke up breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. Before that, he carried out those murderous threats by dragging off men and women to prison. When the Sanhedrin met, he cast his lot against those Christians, condemning them to death, consenting and delighting in their executions, including Stephen. On that particular day, he was traveling on the road to Damascus when Christ appeared to him and said, “‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now, get up and go into the city and you'll be told what you must do.’” On the road to Damascus, he saw a part of the glory of the resurrected Christ and was transformed. Did he forget what man he had been before that? Not at all. He writes in 1 Timothy 1:13-17: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” [Will that display, which works to convert people like us, not also do very well in heaven? He ends with this beautiful doxology:] “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” I do not see heavenly amnesia being a part of that. I think it is heavenly celebration of God’s grace to Saul of Tarsus. Will David remember what happened with Uriah the Hittite? Yes. In Daniel 4, we can argue that Nebuchadnezzar was transformed and saved eternally. Will he remember that he was a megalomaniac pagan tyrant who used his authority to oppress the people he had conquered, even to the point of condemning all of his counselors to death if they could not tell him what his dream was? Will he remember throwing Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into a fiery furnace, because they would not bow down to his golden idol? Will he remember in Heaven, when Daniel told him to renounce his wickedness, what that wickedness was? Yes. And all, in those memories, will give God the glory for their salvation. Mary Magdalene will remember that she was inhabited with seven demons. The woman whom the Pharisees thought of as “sinful” wept over Jesus’ feet and washed his feet in her tears and dried them with her hair. Because Jesus forgave her abundantly, she poured out her love for him abundantly. There is a link between the two. That will work so beautifully in Heaven. The Samaritan woman whom Jesus met and saved at the well said, “I have no husband.” He responded, “You are right in saying you have no husband. In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. What you said is quite true.” Do you think she will remember that whole story? I think she will. I think the centurion who oversaw the crucifixion of Jesus is in Heaven. The centurions seem to do well in the New Testament — they are typically good guys. This centurion testified after Jesus died, when the earthquake and eerie darkness occurred, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.” That is the fruit of Jesus’ prayer before he died, “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.” That was not a universalistic prayer of a high priest praying and hoping that some people would be forgiven. That was a specific high priestly prayer for one of his sheep who was about to cross over from death to life. “Father, forgive him. He does not know what he is doing.” Do you think in Heaven that centurion will know that he was the one who killed Jesus? I think so. And he will celebrate God’s grace to him for bringing him, a pagan Roman, to salvation. Tertullian said, “The blood of martyrs is seed for the church.” Will the martyrs remember their suffering, their blood that was shed, and those who persecuted them? If some of the persecutors became brothers and sisters in Christ, then the blood of martyrs was a seed. Out of their bloody seed came new Christians who had persecuted them perhaps a day or a month or a year prior. Will those remember that they were persecutors? In Heaven, will John Newton remember his former profligate life, his wicked life, and all the people he enslaved as a slave trader? Corrie ten Boom tells a story about an SS guard in one of the death camps she was in, where some of her family died. She met him later, and he was so filled with joy because he had come to faith in Christ. He wanted to shake her hand, but she could not reach out her hand because of the difficulty of memory. Is it possible that they will have full memory in Heaven, along with full, rich deep fellowship in Heaven? Will Jim Elliot be able to spend eternity worshiping side by side with the Huaorani who killed him and his friends, and who were later led to Christ by his courageous wife, Elizabeth Elliot? I think they are already doing so, but it will be even better in the New Heaven, New Earth. The tapestry of grace that God has ordained through His providence is woven through with various colors of thread, some dark, some light. The pattern does not make much sense to us now, as though we are looking at the backside with the jumble of knots when we consider the painful trials of life. But when we see the front side of the tapestry when we are in Heaven, in the presence of the beauty and the radiance of that place, we will rejoice. Ephesians Chapter 2:6-7 is the best verse to prove and illustrate what I am saying. “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages, he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” In the coming ages, He will show us how gracious He has been. Heavenly amnesia does not allow for that to happen. Forever, we will put on display just how gracious God was to us, and we will celebrate that with no mourning, no crying, no pain, but absolute joy and delight. While we live in this world, we need to feel all kinds of pain, physical and emotional and spiritual. We need to feel pain physically so that we will stop doing whatever we are doing. If you are burning your hand, you do not want to wait until you smell smoke. It is a grace and a gift from God to feel instantaneous pain to get you to move your hand away from that to avoid significant damage to your hand. In Heaven, we will not need any of that. If injury is even possible, we will experience instantaneous healing. The speculations are limitless. But in this world, we need spiritual, emotional, psychological pain connected with our own sin. Pain enables us to “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” [James 4:9] We need to feel pain for your sin, because we are not finished being led astray by the world, the flesh and the devil. We are still in danger, and the pain keeps us from future sin. It enables us to genuinely repent and turn away from damaging patterns of life, so we will stop doing them. In Heaven, we will not need it. There will not be any world or flesh or devil, not the way we define the world as an alluring, enticing whore of Babylon. That is gone. The devil will be in the Lake of Fire. Our current flesh will be gone. We will have a resurrected nature, so we do not need grief or mourning or pain over our sin in Heaven. But if you do not feel it now, you are in great danger. It may be that you are not a Christian. There is a place for grief and sorrow over our sin now, but not in Heaven. How can there be memory of our sins without any mourning? Think of it as having the stinger removed. 1 Corinthians 15:55 says, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Death has been defanged by Jesus. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. The law gets defanged for us. In Heaven, there will not be any law for us, only the moral beauty behind the law. We will not need to be commanded to love God with all of our hearts, because we will do so easily. We will not need to be commanded to love our neighbors as ourself. We will do so. We will not need the law, and there will not be any stinger embedded in the memories. Psalm 30:5, 11-12 says, “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. … You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.” We remember so we can celebrate what He has done to comfort us. We will remember all of our sorrow and sadness and the circumstances of how we came to Christ. I read recently about how John Wesley, before his conversion, was on a ship in a terrible hurricane. The sea was heaving, the waves were crashing over the deck, and the sails were being shredded. He was certain it was his last day on earth. A group of German Moravian Christians on the ship were singing and praising God. He knew, watching them, that he was not converted. Later, at a Moravian prayer meeting at Aldersgate, he found Christ. He pursued the Moravians because they had something he did not have. In later years, when he looked back at that storm, did he look on it as horrible and awful or as the instrument of God to bring him to salvation? Do you think in Heaven Joni Eareckson Tada will remember that fateful day in 1967 when she dove off the bridge into the shallow Chesapeake Bay and snapped her spinal column? She will be in her resurrection body, and she will celebrate God’s grace. How could we understand her life apart from her circumstances, from which her ministry flowed in large part. It would not make any sense. As a trustee of the International Mission Board, I get to interview missionaries. When we meet these folks, we find out how they came to Christ. With married couples, we get to find out how they met. About two months ago, we met a couple who met in college at a Christian ministry party. She said, “I met him, I didn't like him at all. Then I left the party and backed into his car, crushed it, so we met again and we got to know each other.” They were both laughing at that story. I can tell you it was not funny the night it happened, but they can laugh about it now. Take that and multiply it by infinity. That is what heavenly memories will be like — no sorrow at all, just joy of what God did, how He used our weakness and our sorrow and our sin and our smallness and our pettiness and overwhelmed it with grace and built this incredible church. We will celebrate all of it. Applications Come to Christ! First and foremost, I yearn for everyone listening to my voice today to be there in that world where there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain. Hell is the exact opposite. The inhabitants of Hell swim in death forever — an eternal death. “The worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” We cannot put into words what the pain and the mourning and the regret will be like; it will be far worse than we can imagine. I sometimes get a foretaste as I am sharing the gospel with people. I wish they could understand how much they will re-live that moment, if they do end up in Hell. They will go back to the moments they heard the gospel turned their back on it. Adoniram Judson went to ask the emperor of Burma for religious tolerance in his nation. He somehow gained an audience with the golden ear, and he fell at the golden feet. He and his co-workers made their pitch, including sharing the Gospel. The emperor listened for a while and then stopped, dropped the tract on the ground, stepped on it and walked out of the room. Judson never saw the emperor again. I asked my kids, as I was reading that to my them, “Do you understand how that moment was exactly the opposite of what it appeared?” It appeared that this American missionary was groveling on the ground begging for a favor from the mighty emperor, but what was actually happening was that an emissary of the true Emperor of the universe was there offering this sinner a chance at amnesty from all of his sins so that he would spend eternity on the true golden shore. Satan is so deceptive to obscure what is really happening. I am begging all of you who know that you are on the outside looking in. Now, today is the day of forgiveness, the day of salvation. I, an emissary of the King, am begging you, be reconciled to God. Christians If you are already reconciled and you are a Christian, how shall you now live? Pursue the two journeys. Internally, grow in holiness. Put sin to death, because some day you will be pure and holy. Externally, spread the Gospel. Talk to people this week, invite them to church, invite them to faith in Christ, invite them into a conversation about this eternal world to which we are going. How many people surround us every day with Stephen Hawking’s atheistic mentality? Tell them the truth while there is still time. Closing Prayer Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for the time that we have had today to celebrate your grace and your goodness, thank you for my friend Rob Hatcher, for the way I have been able to watch his family love on him and care for him, and for the grace you have shown him, and for the privilege of being part of that in a small way. He represents a multitude greater than anyone could count, and we will be celebrating your incredible working, so diverse, so detailed in bringing people to Christ. I cannot wait. Lord, give us joy, give us energy, give us the ability to stand firm and let nothing move us and be abounding in the work and the labor of the Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Tricksters are found in the mythology and stories of almost every culture. From Coyote to Prometheus to Loki, today is April 1st or April Fools Day a day we as a culture celebrate tricksters and pranksters. In cultural stories, or myths tricksters play tricks to teach or create changes that leads to growth. In Norse mythology which has been in the movies lately Thor would not have his hammer without Loki, nor Asgard it's walls. This episode will be a little different from most as the guys discuss nine lessons a trickster would teach programmers. Read more › The post Lessons From The Trickster appeared first on Complete Developer Podcast.

In Norse mythology, Loki was the trickster. In one of his particularly sticky exploits, he wagered his head with a group of dwarves and lost, creating a wonderful metaphor describing the complexities of difficult negotiations for us today known as “Loki’s Wager” — if a concept cannot be satisfactorily defined, it cannot be discussed. Seemingly impassable problems are common in the boardroom. But in most cases, such challenges stem from weak trust and a poor culture around handling conflict. Astute leaders know that the great benefit of team work is leveraging different perspectives toward big problems. To do so requires reframing the intractable, and moving beyond Loki’s most frustrating wager. This week on Navigating Change, Howard Teibel and Pete Wright discuss Loki’s Wager, and share insight that can help to adjust our natural assumptions around conflict, trust, and the ground rules required for an effective problem-solving and decision-making engine at the negotiating table.