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Autumnal Death
October 13, 2006 - 11:09 p.m.

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Amy and I had the pleasure of dinner with an internet celebrity friend this evening - Chris, of Cute with Chris. He's enormously entertaining, as is his show, though we were disappointed that Colty the plastic horse didn't join us. I suppose horses aren't allowed in pubs.


Friday the 13th...according to a Norse legend, the goddess Frigg was furious that the Norwegian people had dumped her and the other gods in favour of Christ. (In accepting Christianity, the Norwegians still believed that the old gods existed, but that they were evil spirits who had tricked humans into worshipping them.) Festering with anger, Frigg gathered twelve devils in a cave every Friday to plan evil for the following week. Twelve devils (to counter the twelve disciples) plus Frigg equals 13, hence Friday the 13th is an especially unlucky day.

Silly though it may be, I like that legend. The image is wonderful - a dozen devils, tails and leather wings and all, slinking into a cave to meet with the deposed and shattered Frigg, who's dressed in filthy white robes. There's a gritty, rough texture to the scene - you can hear the claws scraping stone, smell the foul breath and sweat.

There's something about autumn that sets me thinking on the dark side of the supernatural. The world is dying its annual death, entering the cold of a wintry grave. There's beauty in that death, in the slate grey skies and bare trees and the rust and ochre blanket of leaves. As summer's life dies away it uncovers something deep and ancient, the lurking unknown that fuels our dark terrors. I'm exhilarated by my own dread, stone and bone and rotting leaves and stark, black, naked branches.

Autumn and winter feel more real to me than summer or spring. Perhaps that's why I find such joy in the Easter story, the ultimate triumph of life through death. The Christian faith, in general, is one of victory through loss - life is attained only by fully embracing the reality of death.

We do get to spring, but only after autumn and winter.

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