FEELING GRATEFUL

This morning I woke up feeling really grateful, so greatful I made my first quote - pic.  I am not sure if I spelled everything correctly, though...

I was thinking of "who needs enemies when you have friends like this...". When I came up with this "quote". There is always something to be grateful for, isn´t it!
When I was growing up I used to read the books about Polly (?) She used to play a game called "Be happy- game".  She had a very unfortunate life, but she always played that game. The game is to always find the positive and good side of  everything, -  and that way you will be happy.
It´s a pretty awesome game. I used to play it myself alot. But now I can´t remember the last time I did.....

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

Christmas Eve. This is the most peaceful day of the year that I know of. There is no other day of the year that feels quite like this day. It is so peaceful and calm. It has a warm, beutiful, serene athmosphere.
The world feels totally different from all other days. It´s like the world has changed.

It makes me think of the enourmous power of thought. Could it be because everybody in the whole Norway, and Sápmi are focusing on the same thing? Having a joyous time with their families. Focus on peace, understanding and kindness?

What if people could focus more on these things in everyday life. Would we then have less wars for example? Would the world be a better place? The world feels like a better place in christmas.
(I am not speaking for all of them who suffer even more in christmas because of family or other life issues)

Maybe it´s just because everybody has taken a break. All the conflicts and stress is on hold for a while. But if that "only" could change the feeling of a whole city - and the world, then that is proof for me how much thoughts and emotions affect the world in general.

It´s the universal energy - we are all a part of one. And everyone of us affect the outcome. Change will only come if most of us agree on something - and go for it. As many of us as possible should focus on the message of peace, and we would have peace on earth. Can it be that simple?


  

A THEORY ON HUMANS

Please tell me what you think of this crazy theory of mine:
 I believe that the human kind will after a while split up to two different species. This will tak a number of years, but I think it could happen.


So the two species would be:

1. Plastic - human: The artificial human. You know the kind that eats only prossesed foods.  Sugars, fastfood, powders and with plastic injected all over their bodies. They also suffering for all the new illnesses (stress, ADD, diabetes etc) caused by filling their body of different kind of poisons and artificial stuff.  (yes, I call for example raffined sugars and E- numbers poison)

2. Organic - Human : Organic food is a really big thing here in Norway now (even bigger in Denmark). It tastes so much better and it is nutricious compared to much of the fastfoods you can get. The body acts totally different to this food, and will therefore have a enitrely different development compared to the "constructed" human in the first example.


So my theory is that because there is such a big difference, there might be that if there are people who only eat organic, and others who only eat prossesed food, they will develop differently, and eventually become two different species.

Am I crazy or? To me it sounds like something that could occur.... !!

MY STORY

Yesterday I said this:




But like I said, in his blog I will try and tell you my story.
And today I can say that this is very true in my life:

MY SAFE PLACE

"Bade-jávri" as we called it.

This is a method I use for whenever I feel nervous before going on stage. It is a very well known trick for anyone who struggle with any kind of anxieties. Whenever you feel nervous or unsafe you may use this method. It has always helped me with my stage fright. In the beginning when I started perfoming I knew that I had to find some way to manage my nervousness,  and this is one of the ways I do it.

I squeeze my lucky pouch before I go onto stage. Ground myself and visualise the place in the picture of "bade-jávri" in my mind. I see myself singing and dancing on this beach to the trees, lake and mountains. And I always know that they are happy to hear me sing and see me dance.

A safe place is a place you go to in your mind where you know you have full control. There is no one who can enter without your permission. You decide who can enter and what happens in there.
When I go to my safe place I usually visualise it looking like this lake. It is in Gárdin / Ravnastua Fjellstue where my grandmother lived for 50 years.
She called Gárdin the most beutiful place on earth - and so do I. <3 br="">

RETURNING FROM WAR

I threw myself to the ground, like a wounded soldier back from battle
The ground as my nursing bed
I can breathe again. The relief!
I have survived another battle!
This was a long one. I almost did not make it.
I let the breeze blow away all my thoughts of attack, and rested the mind.
The silent sight of the trees standing steadfast as if nothing could break them. 
The earth energy brings the feeling of power and security.

"Please heal me!", I cried.

Whirling sensations began in my body. Little helpers running around me checking me for injuries. 
I felt all my internal wounds being tended.
My exhausted mind being nourished.
I felt my breath again. I was safe and attended to.

POEM BY MOTHER THERESA

ÁHKKU - MY GRANDMOTHER

Our grandmother Inga died in 2013. It is hard to explain what she meant for me. She was a person who held our family together, cause her home (Ravnastua / Gárdin) was a meeting place for the family and also tourists. She was a remarkable person. I don´t think anyone who met her could ever forget her. She always had the most memorable comments to things. My aunts had an idea to write a book about her, and it would be a great book to have!

My grandmother lived until she was 93, so she had a long life which she loved. She lived in Gárdin over 50 years of her life - and received a silveraward from the king for running this mountain house. She gave birth to 9 children, my mother included, and she was married to her cousin Julius - who unfortunately died when I was just a child. He died because of a heart failure while he was in the mountains and went to rest beside his tractor. She didnt want anyone else but him, so she lived alone for the rest of her life. 30 years approximatly she lived as a widow.   
To tell you about her is a task too big to even start, so I will stick to telling you about the song.

MESSAGE FROM ELF GARDEN IN REYKJAVIK

In 2013 I went to Iceland for the first and only time (for now). It was a big luck that I actually went, but I learned the most exciting things about elves there - and it made me want to learn more!

My brother Ove and I went to a guided trip in the Hellisgerdi park.  http://www.elfgarden.is/
This very nice lady, Ragnhildur, showed us through the park and told stories about the elves that lived there. This park is open to everybody, so its a public park. Luckily there are very few times that anyone does any damage to the park, although it has happened. But stories tell that the elves there will not allow anyone to mess with their park. They have guards.

She said that for everything that grows - a tree, flower, grass etc, there is always at least one being that lives with that thing. For example a tree or a group of trees have at least one being that lives with it. The tree cannot live without this being, and this being cannot be there without the tree.

There are all kinds of beings - not only elves, trolls, fairies, dvarfs etc. There are many more beings and they can all live in the same stone or area and not see each other. Ragnhildur would walk past a stone, and in one side there where beings of light that sing magic into things (!)- and on the other side of the stone there would be dwarfs living. They all live in different dimensions, and all of them don´t have the ability to see each other. Some of them don´t have the ability to see humans. So for me this was a big eye opener! It is a fairly common thing to not be able to see other beings. They can´t see us either...

DID I MEET ULDA GIRL?

Picture from Pinterest.

I lived in the basement of my mother and fathers house from I was about 13 until I moved away when I was 16. I had alot of room there, and my own bathroom. It had its own front door too, and a huge room with sofa and chairs etc before entering my bedroom. I was the only one living on that floor.
This happened summertime. Summers where always a really fun time for us, cause we would just do whatever we wanted when we wanted. There is light day and night, so life is kind of eternal, or it stands still. No hinders, no beginning or end, just life. Experiences.


I was sleeping in my bed when i heard this whisper: "Eliiin Eliiiiiin." 
I thouht it was my friend Leila (who I told you about before), when she comes she could always think of some prank or funny thing to do just to make people laugh. I thought she had came to visit me. Doors where always open for everybody when I grew up. We never used to call in beforehand and check if we could come visit, we would just turn up whenever. And if they are not home - we go to someone else instead.

I looked up from my bed, but I couldn´t see anyone, so I went back to sleep.

SOUL RETRIEVAL

My brother Ove Kåven har written this blogpost. I asked if he wanted to write a post for me, cause he has become very intrested in subjects like these lately, and so have I, so its perfect!

You can read one of my personal experience with loosing pieces the soul here.

Soul Retrieval
==============

When people experience traumatic events or losses, a part of them will sometimes try to escape or dissociate from the event, in an effort to survive, or just get away from the pain. Sometimes, these parts don't come back. The result is a person that doesn't feel whole. The person might suffer from chronic depression, be unable to feel joy, feel out of touch with the rest of the world, feel like they're seeing themselves from outside of their bodies, or even be chronically or severely ill. And there may be a gap in the memories, so that the person can't remember anything about what caused the trauma. To fill the hole in their lives, they may become addicted to things like entertainment, gambling, sex, or drugs.

IS ONE MOMENT ENOUGH?

The darkest days of my life.
Nothing seems to work. Everything struggles.
No aspect of my life has light upon it.
No future.
Who knows what will happen. Is there even a spark to light a fire from?
Is there even a slightset bit of hope? Is there anything at all?

I must find out. I must search in the dark for that one thing to hold on to so I don´t fall, disappear and vanish.

Panic! Who´s idea was it to search the dark anyway?
I prefer to sit still until the lights come on.
No one can tell what´s in there. What we will find...
Fear of course. Fear of the dark, that´s the first thing found...

But you came. You came into the darkness and searched with me. Like you said you would.
In one hand you held my hand, and in the other you held up light. And you loved me. 
There is no need to feel fear again!
As long as I trust you, you will never let me down. 

MY DRUM TAUGHT ME TO JOIK

I did not learn to joik in my childhood (learn about joiking here). I never thought that I would be yoiking either, I have always seen myself as a singer, and I never yoiked much, for different reasons I will tell about soon.
But a few years ago I started thinking more and more about what singing actually is, what is music, why do I really want to sing etc...?  I just got very philosofical about things and life. And I wondered about joiking as well. What is joiking anyway, and why don´t I joik?
Always when I travelled abroad people where intrested in hearing about it and hearing joiks. I started thinking that "I am sami singer, so I should joik as well!"

I had made a drum at a workshop at this shaman festival Isogaisa, and I sometimes would take it out and try it. I listened to it carefully and it felt like the drum was making the sound of the earth. It´s hard to explain, but the sound made me feel the earth more, and it connected me to it. I enjoyed drumming  - just making sound and I started hymning to it at well... I sang different songs, and just played with it.
One day I suddenly started making sounds similar to what american-indians would make. Humming in a way, and at this point I felt myself opening up. I felt that this sound came through me - it was not soemthing I created - like I do when I sing, but it was something that came to me from the earth.

WHAT IS JOIK?

Yoiking is the sami traditional way of using the voice. When I tried to find information about it to share with you, I saw that wikepedia has alot of updated info on this! Here you go:


A joik (also spelled yoik), luohti, vuolle, leu'dd, or juoiggus is a traditional Sami form of song.
Originally, joik referred to only one of several Sami singing styles, but in English the word is often used to refer to all types of traditional Sami singing.
As joik originats from the Sami culture which is not a text based culture, there are no references to how and where joik originated. In the oral tradition legend tells that it was the faires and elfs of the arctic land that gave yoiks to the Sámi People. Just Quigstad who recorded the Sami oral tradition has documented that in several works.^[1] According to music researchers, joik is one of the longest living music traditions in Europe, and is the folk music of the Sami people.^[2]
The sound of joik is comparable to the traditional chanting of some Native American cultures,^[3] but non-verbal singing as such is by no means limited to these cultures.
With the Christianization of the Sami, joiking was condemned as sinful. The Norwegianization assimilation policy and the church and ecclesiastical movement's views on joiking as sin have played important roles in the devaluation. In the 1950s, it was forbidden to use joiking in school in Sami areas, and one of the reasons that joiking was controversial may be its association with noaidi and pre-Christian mythology rituals. Meanwhile, joiking was strongly rooted in culture and tradition was maintained. Today joiking is still alive and is also used as a source of inspiration and an element in contemporary Sami music.

 

CHAGA

Innlegget er hentet fra http://isogaisa.org/hva-er-chaga.php   Skrevet av Ronald Kvernmo

Hva er chaga?

Chaga er en sopp som vokser på bjørk. Den blir tørket og malt, og av pulveret lager man te.

Chaga en hellig drikk?

Chaga fra bjørk - er fra gammelt av kjent som en hellig samisk drikk - og det er ikke uten  grunn! Mange mener at chaga regnes som den kraftigste naturlige antioksidanten som finnes, og at chaga er generelt styrkende, krefthemmende, bakterie og virushemmende. Og i tillegg har Chaga en rekke unike egenskaper. De gamle samiske sjamanene visste nok hva de drev med!

Utklipp fra Urtekildens planteleksikon:

Chaga er en sopp med en kaffelignende smak. Den har et adaptogen som virker immunregulerende, kreft/svulsthemmende, gen-beskyttende, generelt styrkende (tonikum), blodrensende, blodsukkersenkende, smertestillende, magestyrkende, leverstyrkende, betennelseshemmende, bakterie- og virushemmende. Soppen utgjør den kraftigste naturlige antioksidanten som er kjent. Av alle medisinske sopper har Chaga trolig det største mangfoldet av medisinske egenskaper.

 

THE ARCTIC FAIRY

I got my name ”The Arctic Fairy" at a bellydance festival in Leicester England. This festival is called Gothla.uk and it is a gothic bellydance festival. I hold this festival very close to my heart, it has had a huge impact on my life and art.

When I started bellydancing I danced dark fusion bellydance and Gothic bellydance. 

In 2007 I had just started teaching bellydance in Oslo, and was buying belts to sell to my students. I bought the belts from one of the organisers of the festival, Rosie, and she suggested I come to this festival. I did, and I have only missed 1-2 since.

Next year is the 10th anniversary for the festival!

I was invited to teach there many times, and also performed. This is the most important festival for me to meet people who like the same things as me.

One of the organisers, Heike Humphreys said to me once: ”You look like a demented elf who has been lying underground in the tundra for 100 years and then came out dancing. ”

And alot of people kept telling me again and again that this is what they get from my performance - the arctic-nordic feeling and expression.

STÁLLU

Photo from Wikipedia

Stállu is a creature in Sámi mytholgy. As children we used to fear Stállu, because if we did not behave it could come and take us away and even eat us.

If you think about it its much like a police officer. Who knows, maybe one day police officers will be mythological creatues as well! Haha.

I just released a christmas song about stállu. Since the Sami people did not have much of a christmas celebration before we got the christian traditions - Stállu is the most obvious thing to write about connected to Sámi christmas – but who knows, if I have time to do more research I might find something else for next christmas!

GIVING UP - (NOT DOWN)

Like I have written before, the last few years have not been easy for me. I had to stop dancing and my life in general was not good because of health issues. I tried ALOT of things to make it better, but nothing seemed to work. I tried my best to come up with how to improve my life. I seeked help many places, but I never quite found anything or anyone who could get to the bottom of my illnesses. I went to doctors, coaches, physitherapisths, massagists, chiropractors and so on, but nothing seemed to help.

I became more and more discouraged, and lost the will to continue fighting, trying and struggeling. I was loosing all motivation to keep on looking for ways to improve my life. It felt like no-one could help me anyway.... And thats when I decided what to do. I decided to give up!
I had thought this in a negative way so many times: "There is no use, I give up. I´m never gonna find anyone who can help me anyway...". 

But this time I did it in a postive manner. I said: " I give up. I give my body to the hands of god/ the universe/ the divine. There is nothing else I can do to save my body from aches and pains, and my mind from exhaustion. I leave it up to YOU to make me what was I meant to be. From now on I know that I am taken care of by YOU. The perfect outcome has already been chosen and I trust cycle of life to be on my side. Whatever happens is always the best."

A SAMI CHRISTMAS SONG!

Photo Geir Anders Hætta Berg.

Tomorrow I will release a christmas song in Sami language. Terje Andre Tovik Wollmann has written the melody, and I have written the lyrics for the song. The song is about the sami myhtological creature "Stállu".

About a year ago I met Terje at a concert in Oslo. I had not seen him for many many years. I only knew him because he is the ex-boyfriend of a girl I used to live with in Bergen.
I told him I was an artist, and he told me had started working as a music-producer, so we just figuered why not try and do something together. We kept in touch, and I told him that I had wanted to do a christmas song for may years, but never got around to it, and he was immidiately into the idea of making a christmas song together, and so we did!

The reason why I wanted to make a christmas song is that when I was a child I remember christmas as a very positive time of the year. I used to cuddle up with my duvet in a chair in front of the telly and watch Disney - cartoons, and other programs. It was dark season, so it was constantly dark outside, so we lit candles and spent alot of time togehter with my family inside playing games, making christmas decorations, bakery and toys and gifts of course.

VIKINGENES JUL - VIKING CHRISTMAS

Vikingene skålte uten stans de tre lange nettene julefesten varte.

Vikingenes jul var preget av alkohol

Før julen ble kjent som dagen da Jesus ble født, var høytiden vikingenes viktigste fest. De pyntet med blod, drakk sterkt øl og forspiste seg på svinekjøtt til gudenes ære.

23. november 2015 av Esben Mønster Kjær fra dette nettstedet: http://historienet.no/sivilisasjoner/vikinger/vikingenes-jul-var-preget-av-alkohol

Julen var et lyspunkt for vikingerne

Vinteren var en hard og langdryg årstid for vikingene. Når frost og snø la seg over landet, søkte de ly i sine mørke hus og pakket seg inn i skinnfeller for å holde varmen. Beboerne hadde knapt med varme­kilder til å motvirke trekken fra det utette langhuset. Ildstedet i midten ga god varme, men gjorde også et stort daglig innhogg i vedstabelen.
Dyrene, som holdt til i den ene enden av huset, var også med på å varme opp rommet. Hester, kyr, sauer og geiter fikk ly for vinteren og bidro til gjengjeld med kroppsvarme og melk til smør og ost.
Med dyrene så tett på måtte beboerne også holde ut en konstant eim av møkk, uansett hvor mye det ble måkt. Stanken blandet seg med røyken fra ildstedet og kunne merkes i alle kroker før den sivet ut av et hull i taket.
Mens vikingene hostet og krøp sammen under skinnfellene, hadde de god tid til å bekymre seg for matlagrene. Gjennom sommerhalvåret hadde de stått på for å få avlingene i hus, men dersom utbyttet var magert, kunne det blir en utfordring å holde liv i familie, dyr og treller hele vinteren, selv med streng rasjonering.
Det var ikke fritt for at vikingene også kjente på kjedsomheten. Tiden sneglet seg av gårde i halvmørket innendørs mens menn og kvinner fordrev tiden med å produsere klær, flette tau, ­reparere hullete seil og slipe redskapene.
Vikingene hadde bare én ting å se frem til i mørketiden: julen. All frykt for fremtiden ble glemt, og vikingene ga seg selv lov til å fråtse hemningsløst.

#WESPEAKEARTH

A few months ago my dear collegue Sara Marielle Gaup (traditional yoiker in the band Àdjagas and Àrvvas) told me about her plan for the COP21 in Paris 12th of december 2016. This is a meeting with top leaders of the world where they will discuss the global warming and climate changes in the world.

She told me she had made a yoik, and she hoped that people from all over the world would yoik this yoik on the streets of Paris during this important meeting about our earth. She was going to ask sami artist and other to make their own version of the yoik, make a video and put it on youtube. She also asked if I would want to come to Paris and participate on this event.
I have thought about me going there since the day se asked, and I still want to go, but unfortunately my shcedule does not allow it. I am hoping my shcedule for next year leaves more blanks in it, so I will be able to do more things on impulse. Especially if it is for such an importnat cause as this!

I immidiately knew that I wanted to contribute to this. Because we are talking about our world, and there is nothing more important than our earth!  

HIRAS :: DEMURE

Waiting for my single to ble released!

WHY I SING IN SAMI

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Promo pic by Mari A. Lorentsen from 2008.
Shot ouside the sami kindergarden in Oslo. 

I left Sápmi when I was 16 years old and swore never to come back. I felt there was nothing to do there for me. We had high suicide-rates in Karasjok and the culture there was not particurlary supportive. I had my friends, of course, but when you live in a small town everything is see-through and you can´t really do anything without someone commenting on it.

I was happy living in the city and I sang in different bands and whenever I had the chance to. But I sang in English. I went back home to visit Karasjok less and less frequent and I noticed that everytime I came back I had forgotten words, and after about 8 years I was struggeling to say anything in sami. I had always had good degrees in languages, including sami, so it started to scare me. What if I was to forget the sami language, and not speak it at all – ever? That would be such a shame! I decided to do something about it, without actually having to move back, cause I didn´t want that either.  I decided I would write lyrics in sami, so that I would have something sami in my life.

I WANT MOSS

This moss is the favorite food of the reindeer. They use it for food and humans use it when need of toilet paper.

Last year when I was driving through Sweden i stopped at a place with alot of moss. It was all white everywhere and it smelled soo delicious it made me want to eat it. It had a very earthy smell. The smell made me happy. I had not heard about people eating moss. I later in Sweden heard that some exclusive restaurant actually serve this moss dried. I love that! 

When I came to this place it was on a break on a roadtrip. We had been driving for a few hours and I had to go pee, and I was happy see there was alot of moss there to use as toilet paper. But what happened when I used it I did not expect. When I used the moss it felt like healing. I was really surprised by this, and I started to think about what we usually use as toiletpaper. We don´t know what all of those papers contain. Even recycled toilet paper, how much toxcins are there really in that? If you think about it, women use that many times a day, and it is an area that gives basically access straight into your body. Except for the mouth - in many ways it is the most sensitive place on the female body. Through the mouth also comes direct access to the inside of body.  It stroke me how nice it would be to have this moss as toilet paper everyday. Reindeer hearders gather this moss to feed the reindeer with in winter, so maybe I should start gathering it for my own purpose. Haha That would be funny!

LYNXIE

As you know my latest single is called "Lynxie" - and it is my cat! (Listen to it here)
In sami tradition it´s normal to yoik your pet, relatives, animals, nature and everything, so why not make a song to my cat, cause I love her!

I was sitting on the sofa at home with a guitar - which I rarely do nowadays, and Lynxie was sitting on the other sofa sleeping. I really love her, just looking at her makes me calm and happy. So I just played something on the guitar and started yoiking her... And that was the start of this song. The refrain is actually the part I yoiked to Lynxie that day on the sofa. So it is a yoik to my cat.

I decided to write her lyrics, to let it show what Lynxie means to me and what I have learned from her. I many times wish I have her life. She is just relaxing half of the day, and then she goes to eat and drink, and goes outside to play and enjoy. And the expressions on her when she cuddles - it´s like there are no worries in the world, and life is a joy... I definately learned to enjoy life more, to take time to relax, and do fun and things that make me happy. And to claim my own territory, be more stubborn, and don´t let others decide what I should do.

And it helps that she is the most beutiful cat in the world. I wanted her because he looks like a Lynx. She is of the american breed Main Coon - one of the biggest cats in the world. But she is actually not that big. around 5,5 kilos. We will see if she grows bigger...

GOHPPU - GUKSI The sami traditional wooden cup.

Made by Jørn Are Keskitalo in Guovdageaidnu.

This is an example of the traditional sami wooden cup. Somwhere they call it guksi, and other places they call it gohppu. I am not an expert about this, but I will tell you what I know.
It is always made of some kind of wood, and sometimes decorated with pieces of reindeer antler.
When I was at elementary shcool we used to burn our names on wooden objects, and this is also common for the gohppu.

Everyone owns their own cup wich they carry in their belt with their knife, so that wherever you come - to a river, lake or visiting another camp you will be ready to get a drink.

I made this cup with my own logo in case you what to get something sami. Handmade cups made by craftsmen are  superexphensive, but the ones I bought these are "handmade in a factory" I guess... hehe cause it saiys handmade, but we know it´s not really... But anyway, it´s the best I could to not make the price not too high. You can buy it here: http://www.elinkaaven.com/store/

Lynxie likes it too!

GREEN ENVIRONMENT- GRØNNT MILJØ

Tre enkle ting du kan gjøre for miljøet:
1. Resirkuler all søppel.
2. Bruk miljøvennlige vaskemidler.

3. Ikke kast søppel i naturen. Plukk søppel (spesielt plast) når du går ute i naturen.

Three easy steps to do for the environment:

1. Recycle all waste.

2. Use environmental friendy washing products (detergents etc).

3. Don´t litter out in nature. Pick up litter (especially plastic) while hiking in nature. 

YOU ARE GOD!

Yes you are! And so am I. This is my belief. We are all part of a wholeness. Everything is energy; humans, objects, plants, animals, the earth. We are all energy, and therefore we are connected to eachother. 

I believe that God equals everything. Everything is God, and God is everything. I am a part of everything, that makes me God too. And it makes a fly God also…

A fly can change my life. Let´s say there was a fly in my kitchen one morning, and I got obsessed with trying to kill it. I bump my head on the refrigerator and have to go to the emergency where I meet my future husband. If that fly had not been there I would not have met him –not that day anyway.

Everything that happens has it´s meaning, and whatever you choose to do affects the whole world in one way or another. Your place on earth is always important, cause you affect the whole universe with your being, and we don´t even know a tiny percentage of how each and everyone of us have affected the world so far.

DENDROPHILIA - LOVE OF TREES

One result of my dead tree obsession period.

I like trees. Alot. Sometimes a bit obsessive. There was a period in my life when I was obsessed with photographing dead trees. Meaning trees that have fallen, broken, cut down, burning or just got old and rottened.

In wikipedia you can read this:

Dendrophilia (paraphilia)

Dendrophilia (or less often arborphilia or dendrophily) literally means "love of trees". The term may sometimes refer to a paraphilia in which people are sexually attracted to or sexually aroused by trees. This may involve sexual contact or veneration as phallic symbols or both.^[1]
One such example is Emma Mccabe who has said that she is in love with, and has plans to marry, a poplar tree named Tim.  


I think definately I am dendrophil, cause I love trees. I think of each and everyone of the trees as different individuals - like us humans. They all have their own energy and personality. For me it is very logical and natural. A old big tree would be like an old human -wise, calm and determinded. A small tree is like a child - playful and active. Active meaning it would make alot of seeds, or grow in different ways, get rid of some parts, and grow new for example.  

I have had times when trees have inspired me greatly, like they have inspired millions of people before me. The thing with threes is that they represent life in a great and wise way. We have all heard the "tree of life". 

LOOSING THE SOUL

Photo: Majja Eriksen

I was lucky enough to know at a early stage in life that I was a singer. Many people have no idea what they want to do in their lives, but I knew when I was around 4 years that I wanted to be a singer. My whole childhood I really truly thought I was a singer.

My aunt Sonja has told me that when I saw my father up on stage playing the guitar and singing, I had said "When I grow up I want to sing in a band just like my dad".

All my childhood I remember singing all the time everywhere, and dreaming about releasing albums and singing on stages. I was a part of the sami shows at the Sami radiostation and TV - NRK Sápmi when I was in elementary shcool, you could say that´s where I started my carriere.

ULDDAID VIESUS - I HULDRENES HUS

Muitalus ulddaid birra - En huldrehistorie

Máŋgejuvvon dás http://www.nrk.no/sapmi/78.-ulddaid-viesus-_samegillii_-1.12111861   lobikeahttá.

Eatnanvuolážat leat riggábut go olbmot mat leat eatnan alde: sis leat čáppa orohagat, hearvás fiinna biktasat ja ollu ruhta. Ja visot gollit ja silbbat mat gávdnojit eatnama vuolde, dat leat sin. Ja dasa lassin leat velá sin hálddus visot diet čiegát, máid olbmot áiggi mielde leat bidjan eatnamii, dakkár árahávddit. Ja dat leat biddjon eatnamii dakkár sániiguin ahte eai oaččo váldit iežát go lagas olbmot. Ja jus iežát váldet, de ráimmahallet.

Ja nu de báhcet ollu čiegát ulddaid háldui, go bárdni dahje nieida ii gávnna áhčis, iige áhkus čiegá. Ja ulddat eai atte daid čiegáid earáide go daidda rievttes maŋisbohttiide.
Visot, mii lea eatnama vuolde, ulddat hoidejit čábbát, ja seammá čábbát dat dikšot guovžža, mii nohkká dálvvi su biejus. Ulddat dat addet dasa borramuša, vaikko oaidnit gal ii sáhte ahte das lea biebmu čoavjjis.

WHEN I STOPPED DRINKING COFFEE

I stole this pic from hyttemag.no

This is the story about when I stopped drinking coffee. I was around 15 years old when I had a terrible coffeine-shock and got so nauseas and ill that I have never drank coffee again (I tried a few times after but I could not).
Many sami parents used to give their babies coffee. They would give them like a teaspoon a week or something like that. It was supposed to improve their health in some way, so it is very common for everyone to drink cofee. You can start drinking whenever you want, and most sami people I know start drinking coffee everyday from they are teenagers.
I never liked coffee that much so I didn´t drink it everyday like some of my friends would when I was 13 years old. I only drank it when we where going tell the future of one another. We used to read fortune-telling books and read each others futures in the coffee. We only had coffee for boiling then, no instant coffees or other fancy stuff.

KOMSAFJELLET - KOMSA MOUNTAIN

When I moved to my house in Alta 3 years ago I realised I had bought the best house ever!
One of the reasons being that it is close to the moutain Komsa. It´s said that is is a old sami holy mountain. Sami people used to go there an do offerings.
I was thrilled by this of course, and it made me feel more home here. I started doing walks there and in witer I go skiing there. Alot of people go there hiking cause there is a path that goes right up there and it a known well place to go hiking there. In winter they make ski-trails for people to go skiing there. Always when i go there I feel like I an enetering a totally different world. Lynxie likes to go hiking with me in the summer as well. And I have special spot there that I always visit.

I have noticed that the water we have in the house is the best water I have ever drunk. I like to think it is because we get it from this magical mountain, thats what I believe anyway. I drink alot of water from Komsafjellet every day. 



Ger Hesbeen gave me this link to read more about this: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komsa_culture

VEGETARIAN WITH MEAT, PLEASE.

The last year I have been very occupied with food, the environment and wellness and the future. In my fathers generation all food was ecological, cause we had alot of small farmers all over the country, and there was no money, only trading.  And in few years 20 years everything has changed. We hardly have any ecological food. We have so much fake food in the world, and we throw away too much of it!

  

I have been thinking about becoming vegetarian after I talked about alot of my friends who are vegatarian, and also friends that are intrested and concerned about the future of the world and nature. They say the that best we can do for the world is to eat less meat. Because it takes more power to grow food to the animals, then to eat vegetables directly.

Of course I want whats best for the world, but I don´t want to distance myself from it. 

I have a friend from long time ago who was vegetarian –he is now vegan. He told me that he stopped eating meat cause he got disquisted by it. His father had served him so much meat that he could not take it anymore. And also he was disquisted about how animals were treated by the food industry.

MY SAMI NAME

Gárdin Mountainhouse is what our family is famous for.

My sami name is not the same as my Norwegian name. My sami name is "Gárdin Inggá Brita Elin" not Elin Kåven.

After the war and the norwegians, swedish and finnish took over, the sami people where not able to buy land unless they had a Norwegian name. That´s why everyone had to start using Norwegian names.

The sami names contain of 3-4 generations of your family. The family is very important for the sami people of course, and people always want to know your familyname and exactly who you are and where you come from. The name explains exactly who you are. It is build so that it is easy for people to understand who you are. Not just your name, but your bloodline.

HUMANS AND THE WORLD

How arrogant are humans? Sometimes I get the impression that humans think we rule the world. But do we? It looks like we want to think we do anyway... Cause we think we are the most intelligent creatures there is to find.

But for me it looks like we are just trying to imitate the earth. We make fake wind, cold and heat (aircondition), fake seas (pools), fake food and fake fur. We make our own version of so many things, we make even fake humans by operations and injections. We do our best to imitate nature, and see ourselves as gods cause we manage to make things similar to how the earth has made it. Everything we humans invent already excist, only better... Why don´t we just use what earth has given us? It´s because we can´t control it. We want to control the wind and cold and warmth. We want to control our appearance and food and clothing. Our egos wants to.

I got very upset thinking about this a while ago. But then a shaman said to me: "This is normal, Elin, where else would we humans get our inspiration from?"