The Yeti\’s Cyber Smithy

What about taking up donations or something like that to get her here?????

By Rhiannon on Aug 27, 2007

It’s good to see that there are those who actually see thru the frost and their rhetoric..its just a matter of time now…the smoke will clear..

By gina on Aug 27, 2007

let me know about donations..

By gina on Aug 28, 2007

I wouldn’t rush to use Freya as a support since she seemed to have some involvement in the framing of Bernard King who was recently found not guilty for possessing child porn.

By thunorwine on Aug 28, 2007

Well, GOOD FOR FREYA!!!!

She is one of the few people I know willing to stand up to the crap people do to others thay think they can abuse. There is nothing in any ethical “bible” anywhere that says that it is ok for someone to steal, plagerize, or harm others as long as they have some form of popularity (or are published, even if it is schlock), and the ones they are abusing have no right to protect themselves. Anyone who says there is also probably believes that there is some sort of “Spiritual Ethics” police out there protecting us from an author writing a line of BS and a false Bio to make themselves a new GURU. Since this happens all the time (AS IN SIRONA KNIGHT) there obviously isn’t, so we must instead be responcible to protect ourselves, and this is what Freya does.

Does that mean she is perfect? Of course not. Can she makes mistakes? Probably, but at the same time that doesn’t imply that a person is not prosecuted doesn’t mean they are innocent. We all can’t know the “truth” all the time, no matter who we are, but in the case of Sirona, I in fact do.

I know Barbara Rose Swensen personally, and she published a book in which several sections were lifted directly from my computer’s hard drive without my permission and published. I can prove it too, but no one ever stood up for me, after all, Barbara was “special” and a “famous” writer, so no one even considered to think how she came up with all the written knowledge she produced about “Exploring Celtic Druidism” while providing no religious training as background. Where does everyone think those ideas came from - BARBARA????? PLEASE!!!!! I’ve had to study for 3 decades for the understanding that she only cast a shadow of in that book, and then warped the rest.

And she’s done nothing but try to harm those of us who she got the work from — ACTIVELY. She even used her gossipy and backstabbing mouth once to cost me a job that was to help me feed my family, and it wasn’t even for her benefit, but rather just to harm me and mine. She’s BAD, and MEAN, and HARMS people, so who the hell thinks it’s OK for her to hurt others, while standing up to her is supposed to be wrong? Obviously, it must be people who think that superficial “success” as a writer of popular pagan material for the starving masses looking for something to believe in is somehow more valuable that the sources of that knowledge. So to hell with us, as long as they have their book du jour to read and feel that they are somehow advancing on a spiritual path while avoiding the work and study required of the rest of us to actually get there.

Freya felt the same when Barbara stole her work, and in her standing up, she also stood up for others like me. I thank her evey time I hear of her courage in standing up to abusers like Barbara. This time is no exception.

The Wiccan Rede has nothing to do with the rightful actions of someone protecting themselves from harm, and the people who are saying it does are just elitists who think its ok to choose who has the right to defend oneself based on who is more “popular” in their eyes. What horsecrap.

My own tradition, the one that Barbara published our writings in part about, is much older than the “Wiccan Rede”, a religion that doubtfully has roots before the early 20th century, and the Rede itself even more recent. So, frankly, I think it might be interesting to apply the religious law she herself quoted from us in the book she published on our material:

“An evildoer must not be coddled, for if you do so, he will think you weak, and will seek to do even greater harm having never been shown the just consequences of his former error. Therefore, punish error, but without malice, and quickly.”

Obviously, I was weak, as I didn’t act against someone as evil as “Sirona Knight”, but Freya Aswyn isn’t, and we are all better for that.

By AnnaDryw on Aug 29, 2007

AJ, I appreciate what you have said, and will respond to you personally, as it would be rude of me to have to relate on your blog how the situation really came down. You see, we were at the beginning of her fame as an author, and we are also why Llewellyn doesn’t publish her anymore. Unfortunately, although it is true that not publishing bibliographies is a serious problem with publishers, this wasn’t the case with her. Nuf said in a public forum, I’ll be writing you tomorrow.

Freya actually called me over this years ago when her trouble with Barbara began. I didn’t know her before that, but I’m very familiar with Stephen, and his wonderfully deep level of scholarship. Thorsson and I haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I respect his work on runes, and even more that in Ogham. Yes, they were both cutting edge, but I know that Barbara doesn’t have the background to produce this kind of work on her own. Yes, she is pleasant at parties and very clever. She was who I asked to be on of the officiators at my wedding for pity sake (old timers like me generally don’t have elders to do things like this for us so have to have youngsters do it). She’s just not a deep thinker, and her training was literally like leading someone by the hand.

I guess I just get a little frustrated by the tendancy these days to accept the superficial because it’s available for $19.95 at Barnes and Noble without critical thought. Think about how much of yourself you pour into your own work, and for someone to turn around and just reprint it would be so sickening. As an academic writer, I know for a fact there are internal ways to cite and give credit where it is due if one wants to. These kind of people just don’t want to. A bibliography in my case would have been pointless. My published work is academic and in journals, not in popular books, and certainly not my religious material that got reprinted wholecloth. There are generations of people who were disrespected by that, not just me, some was mine, but more was from a long list of pagan scholars and brilliant minds, but She claimed it for herself, without even a mention of who we are. And I have to live in the same small town with this woman. Imagine how that feels!

Ok, I digressed, but the point is, one CAN give credit without a bibliography. In academic writing we do or our work is laughed off as schlock. Sometimes names can be mentioned. The old “don’t tell anyone I’m a pagan” days of Gardner and Brit Trad blood oaths are long gone. Yes, some people are closeted, but most serious teachers are not, but that doesn’t give student the right to publish our teaching materials without credit. Or maybe some support. She never even sent a thank you, and I’m sure the same was true of the Farrars as well. Barbara had no excuse though. I’m completely open in the community, and our teachings are not held in secrecy oaths. We didn’t think an ethical member needed to have one. I guess that was wrong.

Does it seem unreasonable to expect that a teacher spend decades teaching novices and helping them on their way should be treated as yesterday’s news the minute someone gets a chance to be “famous”? Aren’t those who bring the knowledge forward entitled to better treament? I think this says a lot about the way things are now throughout Western culture. We may talk of the old ways, but we disrespect the ones who keep them. This is the most injurious thing we can do to our children (Frost example aside, sorry !)– deny them a sense of history and tradition. We do not need to be tied to the past, but we do need it as an anchor, a mooring that adjusts and can be moved as we grow. I think this is a casulaty of the current self-help spirituality off the shelf movement. Books can inspire, but the real living happens among the living. And there are some wonderful minds out there to learn from if we just take the time to sit and have some tea with them sometime. They’re everywhere, and they’re very real. No book signing event required.

I think this is really what galls me. Actions of individuals completely aside, no one bothers to really look anymore at those around them, and there are some brilliant people right next door oftentimes. It is all about fame, and if one has it, one is listened to by glassy eyed fans, but without it, no one even bothers to ask, especially if work is required. Yes, I’m sad about the loss of any quality in students, a willingness to really put oneself out to interact with teachers who spend real time (valuable time for them) offering to aid others in their work to learn about the nature of spirituality. I know learning from a professor in a secular education setting is certainly more efficient, and it used to be in spiritual pursuits too. I personally think it still is, but most people spend all thier time confusing spiritual knowledge with commercial success. This is tragic. But for an entire culture that doesn’t want to see anything differently than what thier preconceptions see, I guess this is par for the course. A teacher might tell us we are wrong. Happens all the time in universities. THat’s why fundie religions like Jehovah’s Witnesses tell their people not to send their children to College or they might be tempted by thoughts and ideas that take the away from the “Truth”. Hiding away with a book that is clever but can only by its nature (not because of any evil intent, just the limitation of a written medium)give superficial address to subjects of such depth our greatest minds have yet to plumb their depths isn’t going to bring someone to Enlightenment. But the interaction of two intent human minds just might …

The teaching material Barbara published was designed for graduated, interactive building of ideas between a teacher and student, not as a self help guide for some amusement off the shelf. It doesn’t work very effectively that way, but rather as the core of interactive and oral teaching in unison. Having it published just makes people think they are really getting it, when in fact the real depth is lost in the printing. And THAT is what I see as evil, the deliberate subversion of an ancient teaching technique for a buck. They will never know what they missed, and think that they got all there was. I mourn for those for whom this could have so much more.

By AnnaDryw on Aug 30, 2007

I have known Freya Aswynn personally for many years, also supported her when others were against her. Not any more! It was my granddaughter she used to make false allegations about another author. She put pedophillia and bestiality on his computer and then persuaded him to give my granddaughter the computer and buy himself a new one. She even managed to convince me of his guilt……. until she gave her own laptop to my grandson for his games. On the laptops history was evidence of her visiting sites such as BOYLOVERS, BOYLINKS and others, the laptop was taken to the police, and a while later we were informed that any images saved had been encrypted……… make what you will of this, she now lives in Spain. She left the uk in a bit of a hurry.

By Mags on Sep 8, 2007