December 21 is a cold day in Buðir, with not much light. It’s a day when a little human light works wonders.
And look what it achieves! By June 21, everything is light.
It works the other way. If you don’t honour the midsummer troll, you don’t honour the midwinter dark, or light up the night to make way for the sun. It’s just the way it is.
At midsummer (at Lóndrangar), the little ogre babies sprout pretty flowers and grasses.
The rest of the year, they’re just lumpy. Don’t worry. At midsummer, everyone is alive and well and it’s OK to be charmed. In winter, though, a wave might take you.
Only on the Buðarhaun lava field. Only on Midsummer Night’s Eve.
Don’t look too closely. Walk quickly on. Be careful not to trip.
First, you sit on a troll’s head at Midsummer, when even the stones come alive. If that sounds fantastical, you should really go to Iceland at Midsummer. You’ll see. In this way of the thrush, you get to hang out with a troll. Nice.
The other way of the thrush is to be the living thought of the troll, not in words or ideas, but in thrush. Nice, too!
Remember, trolls aren’t animate beings from fairytale, but places where rocks are made into home and mind through attachment. It could be you. It could be the thrush. It could be the thrush leading you into the Earth, where you find yourself.
Buðahraun
Around 10:30 pm.
A Farm in Iceland 