Clouds and Tree Climbing

Thor goes fishing from the Gosforth Stone.
Happy Fishing Bro!

I have been appealing for some rain or at least some clouds because it had been scorching hot last week. One day I swear, it was like being in an oven. Our front yard is on the north-ish side of the house, so it gets some degree of shelter from the sun, so it is still green, but the back yard is burned to a crisp. To which one might ask, how does one go about asking the Sky for cloudy weather? The short answer being that you find whatever method seems natural, but for most people nowadays it seems the whole idea is unnatural because they have gotten so used to the idea of treating Nature as an inanimate machine. It is this idea that is the unnatural one. They are too alienated to have a clue as to how to begin.

I have some history with Thunor, otherwise known as Thor, and so I directed my appeal to Thor. I sort of figured it wasn't happening last weekend, the heat was too strong, but today we have gotten some clouds and it is cooler, thank you Thor. Some of the clouds seemed tauntingly dark. Of course, what you call the forces of clouds and rain don't really matter. One might imagine a devout Catholic picking whatever saint is likely to have authority over such matters and praying to him. The names change, but it doesn't matter. For Romans, the planet Venus was associated with the god of love and beauty: for the Mayans, it was associated with their most hardcore bloodthirsty god. The actual planet had nothing to do with it, it was merely a form of address. What matters is picking the form of address that seems most resonant with you.

So thank you Thunor, Thor, The Clouds and Rain, the Storms, the Sky, Susanoo, Thunderbird, the Atmosphere. May all beings revere you.

My kitten climbed his first tree today, I was quite the proud parent. Not having kids, I don't know, but I imagine that the first time your child rides a bicycle is a similar feeling. Sorta anxious, sorta proud, providing much moral support. Of course he was like, "how the heck do I get down?" but he made it fine. ;) Then he went running up another tree after some sparrows, those sparrows were safe as houses but it gave him some more practice.

Are all these things dead worthless things? The kitten, the tree, the sparrows, are they of no account? Humans treat them like that sometimes, that anything that is not of the human world is of no account. My mother who has senile dementia has CNN on all the time, 24 hours, because it gives her a sort of anchor I guess. One part directional orientation, one part security blanket. After I came in from encouraging the kitten to climb trees and hoping that he wouldn't catch the sparrows (the sparrows seemed utterly unconcerned), I had the bombardment of bullshit ads on TV assault my eyes and ears. The human world. The world we think so much of. The products of our vaunted sentience and superiority over all other things. It's crap. A double-meat crapburger. Crapitosis.

ADDENDUM:

For some unknown reason, I had this very strong mental image of Thor surfing, and it just wouldn't get out of my head until I did this really silly and rather juvenile picture. ;)

Hey, Thor can go surfing if he wants. Like a boss...