Veleda's Dwelling

Copied from Poul Anderson's Cosmic Environments:

(A statue of Veleda.)

"Star of the Sea."

Let us stretch the scope of the phrase, "Cosmic Environments." It is usual to contrast the cosmic with the mundane but, of course, this world (mundus) is part of the cosmos. In this sense, perhaps, everything is cosmic, especially when it is given some transcendent significance. An organism's environment is everything surrounding it, whether natural or artificial, thus including human dwellings.

Veleda dwells in a tower:

"...heavy-timbered, iron-bound, raised for her to dwell in alone with her dreams." (3, p. 497)

It is guarded by a man with a spear. Servants abide in the single chamber on the ground floor. Veleda dwells in the loft-room approached by a ladder. She sits on a high stool while a lamp casts wavering shadows among beams, chests, pelts, hides and instruments of witchcraft. Perhaps there is a cosmic connection?

Going out for the evening. To be continued...