DAY 5

(Apr. 28, I think)

 

I slept some, but have basically been up since 0300.  The time difference is taking some getting used to; 9 hours different than home.

Today we will have Frokost at 0700, then we will all assemble at 0815.  We learned that then we will get on a bus and go to a boat, the boat will take us to Norway through a fjord.  Pretty damn cool.

I am a little nervous about my ritual honoring of Freya today because I learned that they want to film it.  Rituals like this are very personal in nature.  The reason I must do it is because I need to honor and acknowledge Freya in her faithfulness of our agreement; I will have been delivered to the fatherland, and I need to say thank you.  I understand why they want to film it, I just hope everyone is respectful and that it goes well.

We learned that tonight we will not be sleeping in a hotel.  Interesting.  It is so odd not knowing what is going to happen from day to day, the crew is very good about maintaining the element of surprise.

I drew Ehwaz this morning, the horse.  A fitting rune I think in light if the ritual I will be doing; I will be shedding my blood, returning it to the soil from whence it originated…spiritually I will be traversing the limbs and roots of Yggdrasil today, and I will have need of a good horse.

 

DAY 6

(Apr. 29)

 

Yesterday was quite a day indeed!  I am just getting caught up in my journal.  Turns out I did in fact have a good horse in ehwaz.

We left our hotel and took a short bus ride to the waters edge, it was a beautiful day and the fjord was breathtaking.  That is when I first saw the boat; “Eileen II”.  She was a big beautiful sailboat in pristine condition.  It couldn’t be more perfect; what a wonderful way to enter Norway, on the back of such a work of art as this.  She was built in 1934 and had been immaculately cared for from the looks of it.  She had quite a history during the wars as well.  The boats crew was amazing, very friendly folks.  I asked a lot of questions of them and they allowed me to help hoist the main sail.  I felt like a kid at Disneyland.

Then we saw a helicopter, it was coming right at us.  I noticed the cameras on it and realized it was filming us.  It kept swooping by back and forth, getting every possible angle.  Sometimes we could look at it, and other times we had to pretend it wasn’t there.  The film crew on the boat went around doing little interviews of everyone, trying to capture our excitement and awe. 

The fjord kept getting narrower, we realized that the land on the left of us that kept getting closer was Norway, the land on the right was Sweden.  Eventually we sailed in the port of Halden, an absolutely beautiful town…I’m talking post card beautiful.  It seemed like a freshly constructed, painted movie set, but that is just how the towns in Norway are. 

We finally docked.  On the shore watching were a throng of onlookers, mostly townspeople, but there were a lot of people there associated with the show as well.  They were busy getting ready for the big shot when we first step foot on Norwegian soil, even though it was actually concrete. 

Finally they had the shot ready and we were allowed to step onto land.  It was a surreal moment that I will never forget.  We had to exit the boat single file, as I approached my turn there were so many things going through my head.  I imagined my ancestors standing on the shore, smiling, welcoming me home.  I was thinking of my father, and his father, my son and brother, my sister and mother, and was wishing they were all there with me.  I thought of my grandmother, and sensed her near me. I also thought of Freya and Thor who were accompanying me, and I hailed their names as I took my first step into Norway.

We all rejoiced then, the other cast members and myself.  There were some tears of joy among us, and some laughter, some people kissed the ground.  Mostly I just stood there, concentrating on the physical feeling of the ground beneath my feet; the sensation of my weight being supported by earth, and the knowledge that it wasn’t just any earth, it was Norway.

The next thing that caught our attention was a huge old fortress that sat up on a hill overlooking the city.  It became evident that this fortress was our destination; they wanted us to walk up to it.  For some reason the other contestants nominated me to lead the way.  That is kind of natural for me anyway, so I took out walking. It was up hill all the way.

It was a nice walk on a warm day with beautiful views.  I took lots of pictures.  Nearing the top a cannon went off, startling us.  Then three more times, each time it surprised us, the cameras were there to catch our reaction.

When we were almost to the top the director that was with us asked me if I wanted to do my ritual now.  I had told him I wanted to be on actual dirt rather than concrete.  There was a perfect place; a grassy knoll with an old stone monument, so I said yes.

I was nervous.  It’s the kind of thing I would normally do myself, and I had 11 other contestants and an entire film crew watching me.

I had stowed a thumbtack in my camera case and had written down what I wanted to say in preparation for the ritual.  I took off my hat and coat, got into position and relaxed.  Then I did a hammer rite, warding the space with my Mjolnir necklace.  Then, in Norwegian, I introduced myself to the wights of the land, stated my intentions and offered them the silver I had; 8 kroners.  Then I said my invocation to Freya, I offered blood from my finger as a token of my faithfulness, gratitude, and devotion.  I mixed the blood into the soil and spoke to my ancestors as well.  Now my blood, my DNA had been returned to the same continent where the bones of my ancestors lay.  I closed the rite then.

I was curious what everyone was going to think of all that, but the other contestants seemed genuinely moved and said as much.  Stephanie was even crying because she was moved.  I was pleasantly surprised by their reaction, and by the respect showed by the crew.

After that we went on up to the fortress, which was called Fredricksen Festning.  It is an amazing place, it was attacked 6 times by Swden but never fell.  The town Halden is even mentioned in the fourth verse of Ja Vi Elsker, the national anthem of Norway.  I guess the towns people had set the city on fire rather than have it become occupied by the Swedes…I love stuff like that!

We had our first competition, a history quiz.  We were divided into two teams and we had an hour to gather information from citizens walking around at the fortress. 

I had a good team, but the red team had Jonathan…who is a history major, specializing in Norwegian history.  To make a long story short, we lost by two questions, but I think some of it was luck on their part.  The victory will give them an advantage in the next competition.

There were several interviews throughout the day, most of mine focused on the ritual I did.  I started to feel a little weird about that, there is more to me than that after all, but then I got over it.

Dinner was served in a grand, arched roof hall, it was quite a spectacular setting.  The chef Kurt was a charming, friendly fellow.

We stayed in little A-frame cabins.  I bunked with C.J..  By the time we got to bed around midnight I was very tired.  I slept better tonight; got up around 0200, went back to sleep, then finally got up at 0500.  It was a brisk but beautiful morning.  I went out on a big rock and said my morning Sigdrifa’s prayer, then I drew the rune sowilo, I was very happy about that, it is the success rune.

Today we will begin filming at the Fortress at 0900, then breakfast, which will also be filmed.  Then they are taking us somewhere where we are supposed to be in the water, it’s all very vague.  Tonight there is a special dinner, also surrounded by mystery.  At 8:00 pm we will take a bus to a hotel near Oslo and tomorrow is a press day.  Supposedly, the day after that we will have off.

It is all very exciting and interesting, it should be a crazy day.  It is now 0707, I write this as C.J. sleeps.