[Glorantha] Initiation for heortling women

From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20>
Date: Sun Jun 25 14:00:13 2006

> donald@grove.demon.co.uk (Donald R. Oddy) wrote:
>
> > Given that Ernalda is supposed to be passive
> rather than active
> > the "I Fought" part seems rather inappropriate.
> Perhaps the women's
> > initiation is more on enduring and surviving chaos
> rather than
> > fighting it. So, yes they experience IFWW but see
> it from a
> > different angle - "I Endured, We Won".

• Carl Fink <carl_at_fink.to> wrote:

> Passive? She's DEAD before the Dawn.

No, she's only sleeping - and that means her body is lying down while her soul goes off doing the important things. "Passive" does not mean "does nothing". Early version of myth here
http://www.jane-williams.me.uk/glorantha/stories/elbq.cfm

> If they're assuming Ernalda's role,
> new women should experience death and rebirth, more
> analogous to the
> Lightbringer's Quest than to IFWW.

Yes, there seems to be some confusion here; IFWW isn't something Ernalda did, any more than it's something Orlanth did. It was Heort, not Orlanth.

It's an experience shared by all Heortlings - ALL, not just the minority who are male. A statement of individual responsibility for the collective survival. "Fought" is being used in a more general sense than mere weapon combat here. "Resisted", "refused to admit defeat", or similar phrases are less catchy but perhaps more accurate. Everyone gets to experience being alone against an overwhelming enemy, and what they have to do is whatever they can to resist, even when all is obviously lost and there is no one there to help or support them. That may mean carrying on giving their support to Ernalda even when she's obviously dead, for instance.                 

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