Why The Slump?

Why The Slump? April 27, 2016

There has been a slump in my writing, mainly because I’ve been doing a lot of other things the last while that isn’t directly tied to my nature based practice. That and I am finding it challenging to write on something without feeling like I am rehashing old material, just so that more people can see it. To which I put together the Holidays, Rituals, & History article and tab so people can quickly find most of our stuff without the rehash. But I still feel like I’ve said pretty well all I could say, or just that I am “preaching to the choir” – this [insert issue] has already been thoroughly covered elsewhere so no need to repeat it here, even if it becomes phrased in my own way of looking at things.

Feeling like I should be writing more, and with the incentive of a hobby of mine, I followed one bit of writing advice – write more. But because a lot of what I would like to write about isn’t Pagan oriented I needed to have a different avenue. So I started Canadian Mutt.

Image Credit: Rua Lupa
Image Credit: Rua Lupa

I called it Canadian Mutt because I am one. For those not familiar with the term, its just a statement of being of mixed heritage – commonly a blend of various European peoples and a healthy dashing of a variety of Aboriginal peoples. Often leaving the amount of each as a bit of guesswork.

Coming from such a position has left me many a time in the proverbial middle of divisive discussions. Where people expect you to pick one side or another, and I simply am unable to – usually coming at it from a middle way, because how else am I to go about it? This had made me realize that much of what I talk about outside of the Pagan sphere revolves around this kind of situation. So it felt appropriate. Not to mention my handle being Rua Lupa – literally Gaelic for “red-haired” and Latin for “she-wolf”, being grammatically bastardized in an Anglophone order because if it wasn’t I’d keep being referred to as Lupa for short (and we already have a Lupa!), instead of the preferred “Rua”. For those who have a tick against that sort of mangling, you may be relieved to find that I also go by Fáelán Ruadh ua Aodha (Old Irish) as an Ealdormerian SCAdian. In both cases I’d go by Rua/Ruadh informally.

And the SCA (The Society for Creative Anachronism, a historical recreation group that focuses on pre-17th century history, being primarily medieval) is a large portion of what I’d like to share and write about too.

That being said, I want to make this new blog open for others with mixed backgrounds to share their experiences and ideas with how to tackle divisive topics that have resulted in them finding a middle way that works for them. The “Woofs In The Woods” tab being dedicated to Canadian Mutts*, and “Yips From Abroad” being dedicated to mutts* from everywhere else. Leaving “Rua’s Rambles” for my personal miscellaneous stuff that’ll help get my writing groove going, as well as my crafting groove. For the crafting side of things it adds some helpful reminders on the progress and encourages me to, you know, finish them… while at the same time show others how they can do some nifty things too! Because I love spreading the crafting bug!

The biggest thing that is holding me back for now is getting my SCA heraldry registered, because I need an IAP (Individually Attested Pattern). This means that I need to find three historical examples of heraldry that used the same pattern that I’m really dogged to use on my device – I have two so far, just so damn close! So if you are popping over to check out the new blog, its so far me memeing all the crazy heraldry I come across in my searches. Once I finalize that – and I will find that third one damn it! I plan to write about SCA Arts & Science projects I’m working on and other social topics that have been on my mind. Hopefully I’ll get my groove and hammer out more goodies here.


*And I mean this in an endearing solidarity kind of way ^_^


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