[Marianne]

Hi Joanna,

Can you also write to us more about Odin as breath? I really loved your beautiful post and your sentiments. I do wish we in America were being more kind to one another and respectful. It is so refreshing to read your post about how different it is in Germany. I do wonder if more of Europe is like that or mostly Germany due to its Odin deity. I am also wondering if you could tell us a bit about how prevalent the recognition of Odin is today in Germany whether in the collective unconscious (or archetypal psyche) or consciousness and if no longer religious then how common in the folklore?

I have spent the last three days being very sad about this mask situation and people who will not wear them and how the people who do not want to wear masks treat the people that do want to wear masks. I also see a lot of deceptive behavior and people even breaking off their relationships because they are fighting over wearing masks or not or one person feels the other person isn’t protecting them and thinking of the “other.” Jung did say that in humans there are two basic instincts: the will to live and the will to die. I can understand that a body that is old and weary will feel its death instinct and be ready to die in its own time, but I also now see with the corona virus presenting itself (and also have for years in the lack of regard for the health of our environment) see people behaving as though they really want to die or want to kill humanity. It perhaps is disguised as denial, or defiance, but it is foolish to laugh in the face of death–unless someone just really doesn’t care and is suicidal. I think that some people are just so mad about losing what they feel is their freedom that they just want to kill people with their breath. I know how horrible it sounds, but it’s like the mythic “kiss of death” though the “mist of breath.” Or, “kiss of breath.”