Monthly Archives: November 2020
Four Adorations to the House of Mundilfari
(the idea liberally stolen from Aleister Crowley)
- Facing east upon rising (which ain’t gonna be dawn, Aleister).
Hail to Dagr, herald of the Sun, Who storms across the sky paving the way for Sunna’s light. Hail to Glenr, Husband of the Sun, Who parts the clouds to show Her glory. Hail to Mani, Glorious Moon God, Who cedes the sky to His sister’s command. Hail to Sunna, wondrous Power, Whose blessing makes the world anew. From the Abode of Night I greet Thee. From the Abode of Night, I pay homage.
- Facing south at Noon
Hail to Sunna at the height of Your Power. Hail to You, Who triumphs over darkness. Hail to Your strong hands, oh Mighty Goddess, to Your mastery of Your fire, to Your force and the luck You bring. Hail to You as You instantiate order and rightness in our world, and all the worlds upon which Your blessings fall. From the Abode of Morning, I pay homage.
- Facing West at Sunset
Hail to Sunna in joy and power. Hail to Sunna, and Her mighty steeds. Hail to Sunna, ceding the sky to Her brother. Hail to the Sun Goddess and Her duty rightly done. Hail to Mani, riding out gleaming and glorious. Hail to Mani, Who intoxicates and teases. Hail to Mani, sharp-edged fighter, ensuring divine order as fiercely as His sister. From the Abode of Day, I pay homage.
- Facing north, at midnight
Hail to Nott, Whose wise beauty blankets the sky. Hail to Sinthgunt Who orders the stars in Their gleaming. Hail to Mani, wondrous Power, radiant splendor. Hail to this God, generous with His blessings. Hail to the House of Mundilfari. From the Abode of evening, I pay homage.
Sunwait – Week 3: Sunna and Thurisaz
I feel like we’re getting into a nice rhythm with our Sunwait rituals. I’m really loving this gentle and ritualized progression toward Yule, and as I said the other night to a friend, I’m really, really glad that we decided to incorporate Sunwait into our hearth cultus this year. Since we decided to do our rites on Fridays, it’s also a lovely way to cap off the week (a particularly significant transition since we tend to immerse ourselves in ritual and devotional work over the weekends).
So, last night, as is our norm, we began by bearing fire around our space, chanting the fire cleansing song that I learned more than twenty years ago, and asking Thor to cleanse, purify, and bless our space. I wrote about Thor before here. He may specifically be invoked as “Guardian of the Shrine” before rituals to consecrate the space and rite. Thor is awesome. Then, I explained the purpose of the ritual – we all knew, as we’d agreed as a household to do this, but stating that intention was one more way to center our minds and allow for a smooth transition into the appropriate headspace for reverent veneration. After that, I offered the following prayer to Sunna and lit the three candles (the candles for weeks one and two are only about half way burned down):
Prayer to Sunna
Force and fire, that is what You are,
Swift precision as You plough across the sky,
Driving back pollution, and cleansing the path
that Day must tread. Force and fire,
bringing the light that restores our souls,
bringing Your glorious brightness to our world.
You are force and fire, gleaming and fierce.
Battle ready, You are indomitable.
There is no obstacle You cannot surmount,
No enemy You cannot conquer.
You drive forward the rhythms of the world.
You smite malefica, wickedness, evil,
and all that stands against the order created by our Gods.
These things You obliterate with the force and fire
of Your passing. That order is Your order,
blessed and structured by Your holy hands,
and always will You defend it.
Teach us, oh Sunna, to stand courageously
no matter how afraid we might be,
in defense of that order too.
Hail to You, Glorious Goddess of the Sun,
May You grant us bravery in our devotions,
as You move across our world
leading us to Yule.
After this, I galdred thurisaz which came so joyously (there’s really no other word for it). It was like the force of a storm wind hitting the house. That’s how it felt to galdr this rune. He came immediately and with such a tremendous kinetic energy that it left me wired for hours afterwards. We passed a horn filled with sparkling apple cider and hailed Sunna, Her family, Thor, Odin and the runes, our ancestors, and more. After this, we sat down in sacred space, in holy space, and brought out our divination materials. We had been talking earlier about the small asteroid orbiting the moon, and had wondered if it was a physical representation that Mani had had a child. We meant no impiety by divining, but if He had, we wanted to know how or even if we should include that child in our veneration of the House of Mundilfari. We stumbled into epiphany and mystery and I am still shaken by it.
Sunna wanted this story told or I would not speak it.
The holy order of the heavens will not fall.
She and Mani were joyous and the rune that fell was wunjo:
Joy, perfection, a blessed gift.
They had a child, star of heaven, Himinstjarna,*
A glorious daughter (fehu tells us how to honor Her:
Song and beauty, art that elevates the soul,
Land and life and glory, freeing the world of its disorder).
I thought it lovely and we were moved to tears,
Then I realized what a terrible omen it was,
but what a powerful hope too.
The sun and moon will not fall:
Their continuity is ensured by Their child.
She will bring Them back from the darkness.
A magical gift, hope for our world.
Mani prepares to go to war.
Taking up His scimitars again,
For He was a warrior in days of old.
But the holy order of the Gods will endure.
Himinstjarna: praise Her.
We closed the div session and then sang Sigdrifa’s Prayer, which is our way of closing almost every ritual. After that, we staggered off to get food, because after the spiritual work that was done, we were ravenous. So, that’s where we are and I think the House of Mundilfari will play a far larger role in our devotions from here on out.
*this is Her name to the best that we could translate with divination, and an ON grammar.
Happy Thanksgiving
To those in the US, have a lovely Thanksgiving today. I hope your time with your family is one of relaxation, gratitude, and joy. To those who cannot celebrate together due to Covid restrictions, or who are alone on this day, may the solitude be a time of rejuvenation and serenity. Most of all, let the day be filled with gratitude, and I am grateful for all of you, my readers.
Sunwait – Week 2
Last night, we held our second Sunwait ritual. I like this practice. I wasn’t sure how it would be, incorporating something so obviously modern into our household practice, but it’s making us so much more mindful of the coming yule and what that means, and how we can best prepare. It’s also making us far, far more aware of the important role the House of Mundilfari plays in our liturgical calendar (and seasons, days, planting, harvesting, all of it). They literally hold the architecture of the worlds together.
For our Sunwait wreath I bought an advent wreath from Lithuania. My dad’s side is all Lithuanian so I liked that it was coming from the same place half my ancestors did, and the one I chose was quite pretty. Of course, that only covers four candles so I was two short. For that, I found a smaller two-candle holder on etsy that had Jormungand biting his own tail in the center and runes about the base (I think, it hasn’t arrived yet – I’m making due with a small cast iron holder that I already had for now, but I think it has runes on it. If not, I’ll put them there lol). Last night we lit the Uruz candle.
I have a bag of candles of various sizes that I keep in a closet upstairs, and a huge, huge box of tealights that I picked up last year so we didn’t need to buy candles for our Sunwait. I just chose six of roughly the same size at random. When I was prepping the candle for last night ( carving the rune on it, putting oil on it – I used solomon’s seal oil because I like it—and then rolling it in a blessing incense) part of the bottom broke, so I just cut it off making it was even again. It was a large candle and I didn’t want to waste it. Were I using it for some sort of conjure charm, I would probably not have used a broken candle, but once I doctored it, it was just fine to burn for ritual.
I prepped a horn (my husband cracked up when I was preparing. I held up a young but lovely bottle of Puilly Fume and said, “We’re drinking this tonight. It’s too good for the horn but what the hell.” I was joking, but his response was priceless. For the record, nothing is too good for a horn that is to be used in ritual for the Gods. We tend to use various meads but not tonight. I set out an offering of the wine for the Gods, ancestors, and spirits of our household, and a separate offering for Sunna and Her family. I consecrated the start of the rite with fire and blessing chant. Our housemate Tatyana gave the prayer for Sunna (which I’ll include below), I galdred uruz and oh boy, did the rune click. It came as the horn that connects to the well of the dead, the well of memory, of Urda and the Tree. It came with a sense of pounding vitality and life. It came as mystery and initiation, the transition of young to adult, of boy to man, girl to woman, child to fully functioning member of a tribe. We hadn’t intended to do a full symbel as part of the night’s rite, but given how strong the connection between the horn carried in ritual and uruz was during the galdr, we ended up including it. So, after the galdr, we passed a horn, hailing Gods and ancestors. We closed with Sigdrifa’s prayer and then poured the offerings outside.
Next week, the rune is thurisaz and I am curious to see what insights Sunna will bring, working through this rune and what it will teach us about Yule and the coming holy time.
Prayer to Sunna for Week 2 of Sunwait
(by T. Vitta)
Great Sunna, the Lovely Wheel,
Rides the sky,
Echoing herds of aurochs
Riding down the ancient planes of Eurasia.
Heat and warmth,
Some of many mysteries of Your unyielding will,
Locked into the soil,
Germinating ceaselessly.
A steadfast journey,
Rooted
In its sacred task,
As one by one
You wake all creatures of the flesh.
Every living thing
Learns from this strength,
Rooting itself in turn
Into the earth,
Gaining its strength and wealth
From the soil.
There is nothing that you fear, Goddess,
No darkness,
No cold,
No sadness
Too dark or dreary for you to waive away.
A fiery circle,
You bring raw vitality to all that you touch,
Reminding the very earth itself
Of its waking power.
We are fed through the basic fibers of life,
We grow from these,
But embedded in all
Is the All-Shining,
Warmth that will without fail come back again and again
And cajole life to beckon.
Teach us Sunna
To likewise have the courage and the endurance to be free.
Just as you move through the sky
You teach us of Your will and your stamina,
So we ask that you teach us to be strong, willful and courageous
In the face of all our challenges,
How to manifest our will
Even when life
Is drained of beauty and hope.
You are the fierce contender,
Interminable will
Manifesting,
As you ride through the sky,
Raw vital power
That will ride to face all that stands in its way.
Teach us to likewise ride
Without flinching and cut through those who stand in our way,
How to manifest the best parts of us
And how to never lose our shine,
Even in the darkest of times.
Hail Sunna!
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Knitting & Crochet Patterns
Makers, crafters and DIYers I have been spotlighting in my Yuletide Shopping Guide resources to help you create items related to polytheistic religious traditions. So far that has included cookie cutters, craft molds, and fabric related to Mesoamerica, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Northern Europe. I’m shared machine embroidery design files, cross-stitch and embroidery patterns, and today I have knitting and crochet patterns (including amigurumi) to share.
- Anubis, Bastet, Sekhmet, Set (Egyptian)
- Bastet (Egyptian)
- Helios (Greek)
- Hermes (Greek)
- Ares (Greek)
- Aphrodite (Greek)
- Pan (Greek)
- Ouranos (Greek)
- Kronos (Greek)
- Poseidon, Hades, Zeus (Greek)
- Gaia (Greek)
- Ganesha (Hindu)
- Ganesha (Hindu, this is a different pattern)
- Kali (Hindu)
- Celtic Knot Pillow
- Elder Futhark Blanket
Please let me know if there are any errors, with all the copy/pasting it is easy to make a mistake. If there’s something you think I should spotlight in the yuletide shopping guide, please contact me and let me know. So concludes our fabric resources, but there will be more resources to come! Stay tuned.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Cross-stitch and Embroidery Patterns
Makers, crafters and DIYers I have been spotlighting in my Yuletide Shopping Guide resources to help you create items related to polytheistic religious traditions. So far that has included cookie cutters, craft molds, and fabric related to Mesoamerica, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Northern Europe. I’ve shared machine embroidery design files, and today I’ve got needlepoint in the form of cross-stitch and embroidery patterns.
Norse
- Tree of Life
- Yggdrasil and the Nine Worlds
- Yggdrasil with deer, squirrel and birds
- Futhark with Yggdrasil
- Runes (Elder Futhark)
- Helm of Awe with Futhark
- Helm of Awe
- Odin’s Ravens (Hugin & Munin)
- Odin’s Ravens (Hugin & Munin)
- Mjolnir
- Mjolnir Sampler (runes, troll cross, and other symbols)
Egyptian
Miscellaneous
- Goddess Fortuna (Roman)
- Brigid Blessing (Celtic)
- Huitzilopochtli (Aztec, the listing is misidentified as Tlaloc)
Please let me know if there are any errors, with all the copy/pasting it is easy to make a mistake. If there’s something you think I should spotlight in the yuletide shopping guide, please contact me and let me know. So concludes our fabric resources, but there will be more resources to come! Stay tuned.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Machine Embroidery Design Files
The Yuletide Shopping Guide was created to spotlight items that support our religious devotions and practices, help artists who are struggling in this pandemic year, and to help some of the artisans in our religious communities too. I’ve started early to share resources for cookie cutters, craft molds, and fabric related to Mesoamerica, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Northern Europe. In hopes this early start will allow the makers time to get ahold of materials if they intend to make something for this holiday season.
Next up, is needlework (cross-stitch, embroidery, crochet and knitting). Before we tackle hand wrought patterns, I decided to go ahead and spotlight machine embroidery designs first. These are downloadable files that work with embroidery machines. Most of these design will make Northern Tradition polytheists happy, but there are a few designs with Celtic connections, or that might appeal to the Kemetics, or the Hellenics.
- Valknut
- Mjolnir
- Viking Collar, Wolf Motif
- Gullinbursti
- Helm of Awe
- Triple Horns
- Vegvisir with Futhark
- Odin’s Ravens
- Not All Who Wander Are Lost (Yggdrasil, Valknut, Vegvisir & ravens)
- Celtic Cats
- Triskele
- Greek Key Border
- Ankh
- Eye of Horus
- Egyptian Eyes (left and right)
- Bastet
- Bastet (a different design)
Please let me know if there are any errors, with all the copy/pasting it is easy to make a mistake. If there’s something you think I should spotlight in the yuletide shopping guide, please contact me and let me know. Stay tuned for more!
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Fabric – Norse and more
The Yuletide Shopping Guide was created to spotlight items that support our religious devotions and practices, help artists who are struggling in this pandemic year, and to help some of the artisans in our religious communities too. I’ve started early to share resources for cookie cutters, craft molds, and fabric related to Mesoamerica, Ancient Egypt, and Ancient Greece. In hopes this early start will allow the makers time to get ahold of materials if they intend to make something for this holiday season.
To our Northern Tradition polytheists, get ready to vike yourselves some fabric for your projects this yuletide. There’s a plethora of mjolnir (Thor’s Hammers), lots of runes too, Odin makes some appearances, a rune card pattern great for kids, and so much more. I have bought so much fabric.
Arts_and_Herbs
Arts_and_Herbs Has a small fabric collection with varying sizes of a Valkyrie pattern based on archaeological finds, in addition to a mjolnir pattern, a sun wheel pattern, and a runes pattern.
VikingFairy
Viking fairy offers two patterns both use a combination of runes and symbols connected to the Norse Gods, one looks like it could be a good option for the kids.
Odinist
Odinist has patterns based on archaeological finds, as well as a really adorable rune card pattern which would be cute for kids.
Bearhide
In addition to a rune pattern in various sizes and colors, Bearhide also offers a fabric collection encompassing runestones, mjolnir patterns, and a mixed pattern of runes & symbols.
Wren_Leyland
This is less religious, and more just cute. This Viking ship voyager pattern seems perfect for projects for the little heathens in our midst. Presented in a fabric collection with a variety of coordinating fabrics.
Even more fabric possibilities
- Yggdrasil and Our Gods – This pattern is so complex it’s hard to see it fully online. We see the world tree Yggdrasil and its connection to the worlds. In Asgard we see Odin riding his horse Sleipnir, Thor raising his hammer high, Freya with a cat drawn carriage accompanied by her boar Hlidsvini. While Loki is airborne with the giant Thiassi who has just stolen Idunna’s apples. We have bifrost with valkyries, Fenrir, frost giants, and more. You’ll need 48 inches to get the full repeat pattern, 42 inches gives you all the mythic elements but you’ll lose part of the rainbow sky. There is a smaller version of the print too.
- Odin, Freya, Freyr, Thor, Heimdall (color variations)
- Odin as a teapot, at a teaparty for his ravens
- Rune pattern in various colors
- Viking longboat pattern in various sizes and colors
- Odin and his ravens pattern (various colors)
- Runes pattern (in various sizes and colors)
- Midwinter pattern with the Sun, trees and deer
- Slavic Geometric Patterns
Please let me know if there are any errors, with all the copy/pasting it is easy to make a mistake. If there’s something you think I should spotlight in the yuletide shopping guide, please contact me and let me know. So concludes our fabric resources, but there will be more resources to come! Stay tuned.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Fabric – Ancient Greece
2020 has been a chaotic year. So I decided to put together a Yuletide Shopping Guide with the intent to help artisan members of our community & to help spotlight items that support our religious devotions and practices. I’ve started with craft resources for our DIYers, including cookie cutters, craft molds, and fabric related to Mesoamerica and Ancient Egypt.
Hellenics will be especially interested in some of these options. Among the fabrics there are designs featuring over a dozen of the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus. There’s quite a selection with fabric styles ranging from sophisticated, to cute, to brightly bold or more modern. Have you been looking for a toile and love Dionysos? Some of the patterns are merely a nod to ancient Greek culture and archaeological finds, but I opted to include those as well.
Pay attention to the product listings, as there are multiple options for fabric, some designs are also available as wallpaper, or as finished goods (like tablecloths, pillowcases, and face masks).
Miscellaneous Designers
Instead of starting with designers who have a large number of prints available in our Grecian theme, I thought I would begin today with some of the designers who might just have one pattern of interest.
- Hermes sneakers (with color variations)
- Dionysos toile
- Demeter
- Artemis in the Woods
- Artemis on the Hunt
- Artemis, Aphrodite, and Athena
- Greek urns, owls
- Hera, Zeus, Pan, Nyx, Demeter, & Hephaestus
- Mount Olympus with Greek Gods
- Artemis and Actaeon
- Zeus and Pegasus (various colors, sizes)
- Greek vase motif
- Persephone
- Greek Plates
- Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Artemis, etc.
ThinLineTextiles
ThinLineTextiles has a range of Greek influenced patterns in different sizes and colors, as well as some variations on a pattern with Atlas.
Spellstone
Spellstone has a pattern collection themed around ancient Greek culture with soldiers, owls, horses, and geometrics.
ColorOfMagic
Color of Magic has a pattern collection themed around Persephone in a range of colors, with coordinating fabrics with pomegranates, geometrics and more.
Siya
Siya has a wide array of very bold colors and coordinating fabrics with geometric patterns for her Greek goddess patterns (grouped by the designer in color collections for Evening, Summer, and B). Siya also has a stand alone pattern themed around Hypnos and Pasithea, and an ionic column pattern too.
Please let me know if there are any errors, with all the copy/pasting it is easy to make a mistake. If there’s something you think I should spotlight in the yuletide shopping guide, please contact me and let me know. Northern Tradition polytheists will love the next installment as I spotlight some fabrics for them.
I Will Have the Last Laugh
One of these days, before I die, my husband said that I should write my spiritual memoirs. Maybe I will and by every God that is, I told him, I will name names and explain just what I know about whom and how and where. So keep it up, mo’fos. I”m taking notes.
On a more serious note, I was going through some of my older journals, sharing a few things here and there with my current assistant and it brought home how important it is to keep this kind of personal journal. Journaling can be powerfully transformative, especially as we are first finding our footing in devotion and within our traditions. On a practical level, you have a guide, a clear record of what you’ve learned and how far you’ve come. It’s no joke that I write things down so I don’t forget them either.
Today is the start of the Nativity fast in Orthodox Christianity, where many Churches abstain from meat, poultry, and I believe fish, wine, and oil for the forty days prior to Christmas (not all churches do this, at least that’s my understanding, and there would be what to us could be called regional cultic differences among those that do). It makes me wonder what we can do, in ways congruent with our respective traditions, to ready ourselves for Yule.
Gangleri's Grove 