Catching up on Nerthus Submissions

It’s finals time again, folks, so I’ve been mostly offline slogging through writing a couple of papers (I think I wrote my first MA thesis in less time than this one paper is taking, but at least I’m enjoying the topic). I’ve had multiple submissions to the Nerthus agon, that I’ll be sharing below in a moment. The Agon ends at 9pm EST tomorrow so if any of you are thinking abouit submitting, you have one more day. 🙂

Here are the outstanding submissions.

Prayer to Nerthus
By D. Fields-Bryant

Mama
As a child I call to You
I know You though I have never beheld Your face
Our veiled progenitrix
My heart pounds the shaman’s drum
As I greet You in Your domain
I both long and fear to be enfolded on Your lap
For You are Lady of both bounty and sickle.
Embracing Your form
My senses are filled with Your heady perfume
Petrichor and bog flowers.
Wise Earth Mother
Shrouded Keeper who marks the boundaries of my steps,
Winnow me
Separate the grain from the chaff
As I strive to be worthy
Of You and Your succor.

I Praise Your Name
By K. Usik

I Praise Your Name
She comes in guises, in masks
To me, She comes in black earth
Like writhing soot, Her roots touch each and every one of us
For that, I praise Her Name
In deadly might, She gives life
To insect, to grass, to waterways, to us
She is in us
I have never seen her face
Knowing the price
But I have felt her, cocked smile, as She points to the Earth
Savage soil
Seeds bursting
Emerging
Fehu, Ingwaz, Jera
Underground waterways
These are all mine, She says
And so are you
For how are we without Her? I want us to sing Her praises
As we did millenia ago
Your ancestors praised Me, and now you have a debt to do so
She whispers
Knowing Her, how could you not?
It is the absolute joy
In burdock, clover, dandelion, and plantain…
All weeds, we say
But that is where She gives Life
The soil, the blood, and bone
That is where She is
I call Odin the Great Sweeper
But She is the Great Swallower
Intense She is in Her Might
She sucks you in straight to the soil, to Life and Death
That is why we are trapped in Her Name
But I do not want to live in a world without Her
No
She is Life within Death
She is Death within Life
And to that, I owe her a debt
And to that I praise Her Name
Great Earth Swallower
Roots of Rivers
Bogs of Bones
Grower of Grains
And
Lady of the Forest
I praise Your Name

OK, folks, if you’ve emailed me and I haven’t posted your Nerthus piece, email me again, because this is all I have outstanding! Happy Saturday.

*************

Be sure to check out my other sites:

Wyrd Curiosities at Etsy

My academia.edu page

My amazon author page.

Walking the Worlds Journal

My art blog at Krasskova Creations

My blog about all things strange, weird and medieval.

And if you like what you see, consider becoming a sponsor at Patreon.