Spirits, Daimones and Librarians

From: Mark Galeotti <Mark_at_galeotti.fsbusiness.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 23:34:15 +0100


> From: Peter Larsen <plarsen_at_mail.utexas.edu>
> Subject: Yee ha! Get the Uleriats, boys! There's a rodeo!
>
> Mark Galeotti says:
>
> >certainly not a light read (the author is a librarian and, true to
> >caricature, favours accuracy and full citation over flair and fun),
buried
> >inside its rather flat prose is a huge store of ideas and possibilities.
>
> Grr. As a MLIS candidate in Library School in Texas, them's fightin'
> words....

I did say caricature - as an academic I am, of course, unwordly, absent-minded and prone to wearing tweed jackets with leather elbow patches ;-)

> It sounds like an interesting resource. I'd expect the Heortlings to be
> more friendly toward daimons, but that might be a good source of spirit
> interactions (how does the average theist deal with spirits? Leaving out a
> little milk and hoping for the best might be the way, rather than dragging
> Krazy Knut down from Thunder Hill where he spent last winter wearing bark
> breeches and talking to rocks....

Definitely. I'd imagine calling on a Kolating is a drastic option to most heortlings, to be avoided if at all possible. Of course, what we call spirits might actually be daimones in HWspeak, or even if they aren't, Orlanthi, not being privy to AR, might assume any otherworldy manifestations to be daimones unless given reason to think otherwise. I wonder if 'spirit' then becomes a convenient alibi - your godi fails to get rid of a troublesome entity and he mutters 'it must be one of those spirits'... Just as the shaman is an unpredictable and frightening force, even when on your side, spirits that don't 'follow the rules' to which you are accustomed must be especially unsettling.

Mark

Mark Galeotti

The Unspoken Word, a Gloranthan magazine, coming soon (http://www.celtic-webs.com/theunspokenword/)


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