THANK YOU MAGGIE KUHN

“Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind – even if your voice shakes” –Maggie Kuhn, Founder of The Gray Panthers

 

At age 34
I sat in the Women’s Congress audience
Enthralled by this old lady
And everything she said
Seemed meant for me
An older student
At the university
I couldn’t even speak from my desk
Without shaking
So although her words performed no magic
At the time
I conjured them up
When I really needed them
Stars and sparkles wreathing my face
Sneezing a bit from the moon dust
And for the next few years
Speaking in auditoriums for my career
No trembling, shaking, or fear
Just Maggie Kuhn’s words
Transforming me two decades later
Now I am old enough
To be a Gray Panther
(Although I was completely gray
By age thirty-seven)
And when once I wanted to be
Abby Hoffman, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez
I now want to age gracefully
Be grateful for aging
Be like Maggie Kuhn
It is not her birthday
Or death day
I just want to say
Thank you, Ms. Kuhn
I hope I can live up to your words
Now that I am on the path you blazed…

 

“Old age is not a disease – it is strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses.” Maggie Kuhn, Founder of the Gray Panthers

 

(c) 2018, 2026  Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE: Maggie Kuhn

 In Celebration of A Room of One's Own Day

THE NINE SPELLS OF GROA

Based on the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda

(a work in progress)

 

INTRODUCTION

The necromancer Svipdag*

Raised his mother Groa** from the dead

“Mother dearest, forgive me for disturbing you

But is there any way you can teach me your craft

To keep me safe?

I fear my cruel stepmother has set me up

And I will never complete this quest

To meet and marry my fated bride Mengloth" ***

 

Ah, we mothers who love our children, our sons

Groa reaches back through the years

Worried that the gods will be angry

Remembering her aid to Thor

Who once carried her husband

Orvandel the Bold in a basket

Breaking off his frozen toe

Then flinging it into the sky

Becoming the Star called “Orvandel’s Toe” ****

In gratitude, Groa loosened a flintstone

Lodged in Thor’s head from the war

So because he was grateful, she knew

The God of Thunder would never punish her

For saving her son

Nor punish him for his Necromancy…

 

Here then is the GROGALDR

Related in the Poetic Edda

Modernized rhymes by me

For us modern English speakers

 

#1 If restrained, shake from your shoulders

Do not be afraid, be bolder

Think of your father Orvandel

 

#2 If traveling far, bolts of the Fate Urth

Shall guard you (whom I once gave birth)

No matter what side of the road you take

 

#3 If threatening rivers of kelp

Invoke the gods to help

Let the waters fail from your strength

 

#4 If you chant against those using the gallows

Into thine hands shall the hearts of the foes

Grant peace from the warriors to you

 

#5 If your legs are completely bound

Impossible for you to move around

Break the chains with thought

 

#6 If storms rage on the sea

From wind or wave you are free

The boat will always remain calm

  

#7 If mountain frost seeks to kill

This chant will not allow fatal cold to chill

Your flesh remains warm and safe

 

#8 If wandering at night on murky way

No curses of the dead will hold sway

No harm comes from the spirits

 

#9 If meeting a warlike giant

Make your words defiant

I give you wit and wisdom to win

 

Footnotes

*Svipdag translated as “Swift Day” and son of Groa and Orvandel The Bold

**Groa (volva or Viking seeress/shaman)  and mother of Svipdag

***From the Prose Edda, Star may be what we now call Rigel in Orion or Alcor in Ursa Major

****Mengloth translated as “Necklace Glad” and she may be Frigg or Freyja (associated with a magical necklace) as suggested in the Prose Edda