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These days, bored Scandinavian gods looking to hear of the affairs of mortals may be biting off more than they can chew. We’re practically tripping over nonsense around here. You can’t turn on the TV without being assaulted by some new reality TV show, whether it’s the orange skinned lunatics of the Jersey Shore or the surly crab men of Deadliest Catch. Other humans don’t seem terribly good at determining what constitutes a quality story in the lives of mortals, I don’t expect a couple of birds are much better.

Then again, unwary gods might find themselves ensorcelled by the mysterious actions of the folks living out their lives in a strange land. Questions abound, mostly about their appearance. Do they eat a lot of carrots or something? How does their hair stay like that? Why don’t more bitches get smacked?

See, almost became interested.

I’ve never actually watched the Jersey Shore, and I like to think my wits are sharper for it, though the tips of my hair may not be. I must admit, however, that merely being alive has exposed me to the harmful radiation television programs of this nature produce. It’s kind of like the effects of the sun, without any of the positive effects of Vitamin D. Even if such programming offered life giving nourishment, I would turn away. That’s not the sort of life I’d want anyway.

I wrote a rather long tumblr post yesterday about the progression of religion and culture from being rather more environment centric to almost pure narcissism. It is sort of related to this business about reality television, though I must warn you it is quite long.

Odin’s ravens have long held fascination for me. First of all, I’m a big fan of wild birds. You may know of my obsession with owls, but this interest also includes the more intelligent Raven and Crow. There has long been an association between birds and magic, and there is no exception here with Huginn and Muninn. In the mythos of the Norse, Huginn and Muninn fly out every day to collect news of the world and every morning they fly back to Odin to inform him of the goings on in the land of mortals. Their connection with Odin is, likely, a remnant of shamanic practices from older days and is representative of the magic and wisdom of the All-Father himself. To commune with birds was long seen as one of the most magical of practices within many cultures and Odin was the god of magic and mystery within the Norse religion.

Despite being a bearer of great wisdom and intelligence, even Odin, if he is still with us somewhere, may be falling prey to reality television. It’s probably easier on the birds to sit down in front of the tube and watch some episodes rather than flying around the world all day.

Gods know there isn’t much else to watch on TV these days.