A Bit About Symbol

Friday’s Sunwait ritual ended with a symbel and this was the first time my assistant had ever attended one. Ours was relatively informal so afterwards, we had a long discussion on what to expect if it were more formal and we had more than nine or ten people present! This article is drawn from some of that conversation. I’ll preface this with noting that different traditions/denominations and groups may choose to perform symbel differently from what I describe here. This is how my religious House does it and the way I do symbel was largely influenced by my years in Theodism (1). 

Symbel or Symbol is just the Old English word for “feast” (2). From the start, this tells us a bit about this rite: firstly, it may be a religious ritual but it’s also quite literally a community affair. It’s a feast, and the focus is as much on the community and building bonds between community members, reifying relationships and hierarchies, as it is honoring the Gods (3).  At its best, this rite reifies the cosmic hierarchy, the architecture of the worlds, our devotion and gratitude to the Gods and the unity of the community itself – whose hierarchy is in microcosm, a reflection of that greater macrocosm of divine architecture. At its worst, it’s a shit show where the ego of those seated at the high table is the only thing being venerated. It takes a deft and pious hand to really manage symbel well.  In the religious sense, doing it poorly means bringing ill luck and the consequences of impiety if not blasphemy down on the entire gathered group. The head of the House and/or the Lady of the House  (if they’re different people) are responsible for this (4). 

I’m going to describe the ritual and the ideal set up of the space and then I will talk about bearing the horn, why it’s almost always (and I believe personally should be whenever possible) a [biological] woman who bears the horn, and what happens during the actual rite. 

In the perfect world, I would set up my symbel hall with one long table at the front of the hall, for the heads of house, and their right hand men/women, immediate family, and honored guests, etc. Then, in a rather squarish horse-shoe shape, I’d have two very long tables (or more likely two or three tables put together to form each leg) extending perpendicularly from each end of the high table. If the group were really large, there might be a third extending from the middle of the high table. 

Barley Hall-Great Hall – York, UK as it would have been in the mid 15th c.

If I wanted to get really structured, there would be a fancy salt bowl or box at some point on each table. It’s not relevant where it’s placed at the high table, but it is a hierarchical marker on the other guest tables. Everyone may be welcome, but the more rank and familiarity, worth – not in the human sense of this human being has worth but in the ritual sense of this human being has contributed in thus and such a fashion and holds these honors within this community – the closer to the high table one sits, and thus, more likely above the salt. I don’t enforce this in my House symbels, but there are groups where formal symbel will include this hierarchical marker (and yes, seating someone of status below the salt can be a passive insult). Figuring out the seating in a high symbel can be as bad as figuring out the seating arrangement in a wedding where both families hate each other! This is a rite to honor the Gods, but it also developed in a feudal society and served and serves the purpose of recognizing one’s position within one’s community. That makes it a rite full of pitfalls, all the more so, because it’s not a formal liturgy in the way that Blòt or even a faining is. The liturgical structure is there, but blended seamlessly with the communal, social one. Ideally, both are consciously brought into alignment, but I can seriously count on one hand with fingers left over the times I’ve seen that done effectively in really large symbels. 

Here’s a particularly important caveat: There will always be figures who don’t fit into the normal hierarchy. Shrine priests, sacrificial priests, ancestor workers, spirit-workers, vitkar, shamans and the like – your spiritual specialists—are outside of any community hierarchy like this. They commune directly with the Gods, and it is from the Gods their authority comes and likewise it is the Gods Who hold them in fealty. These people may impact the luck of the community, their presence protects the community, their work is to maintain and make sure the community maintains right relationship with the Gods, and they are absolutely necessary to a healthy community and should be treated with greatest honor, but they are, to borrow a linguistic term, hapax legomena where the whole hierarchical group is concerned. They are their own tribe and class, essentially and have their own hierarchy within that grouping. Seating them can be problematic if one doesn’t realize this. I personally, would put my priests and spirit-workers at the high table or damned close (this particular spirit worker would avoid symbel like it was a house on fire unless my position as lady of the house demanded I host one. Many spirit-workers may feel the same. We have way too much to do. When the community or group we tend is engaged in symbel, most of us I suspect, prefer to enjoy a little Sturmfrei!). My solution would be, in a functioning community, to discuss this with the spiritual specialist in question before the rite. If, however, another spiritual specialist is visiting, that person should be given a position of honor and should be seated next to one of the community’s specialists (it would then become a matter of hospitality and work for that community’s specialist to attend)—I’d personally invite my spirit-worker, or priest to attend (if I weren’t that person in my own House! Lol) and I’d talk to that spirit-worker, gyðia, goði, et al and let him or her tell me what he or she prefers. 

Guests of honor, lineage carriers and elders of other traditions should be seated at the high table, or as close as possible to it. If you have more than one elder, all other things being equal, seat them in order of how long they have been initiated. How you seat your folk will tell everyone what your priorities are and what you truly value. In the best symbels that is devotion and the Gods. In the worst, it‘s one‘s own ego, wealth, perceived or imagined power, and those who are willing to play along. 

People usually garb for symbel, so this is the time to get fancy and in many groups this involves dressing according to the way our Heathen ancestors would have. It‘s a nice bit of formality and a nice way to connect to our ancestors. It‘s not necessary and there‘s nothing wrong with guests being dressed in secular clothing. I find garbing for ritual allows me the protection of specifically liturgical garb into which I‘ve worked wards, blessings, and protections and also helps with the mental tradition of „now I‘m moving into ritual space.“

Symbel often includes a husel. To translate: the ritual of community symbel is an evening rite, one that often includes a sacrificial feast, i.e. a feast where the meat has been provided from a blòt performed earlier in the day. That earlier ritual is one of our greatest sacraments. Usually, offerings are not eaten in our tradition. When we do a blòt, we‘ll do exensive divination before and after (and once during!) to determine what the Gods want done with the meat. Often, quite often, the answer will be: share it amongst the people. Sometimes, though, the God in question wants it to be given in full to Him or Her (5). If this is the case, since one will ostensibly have spoken with one‘s spirit worker or priest (who will do the divination), one will know this beforehand and a second animal can be acquired, and given in sacrifice with the request to the Gods that Divine blessings fall on that animal and that it nourish the community and restore and reify the bonds bewteen community and Gods. There are always ways to negotiate and work around issues that arise and thankfully we have divination to sort these things out. Do not short the Gods to do a symbel.  If you cannot provide a second animal and the God wants the whole thing (which is a rarity, I might add. Most want it shared.), have your specialist ask what can be done. This is, after all, an ongoing relationship and conversation. There are groups that don‘t perform blòt, though they may use this term for non-sacrificial rites. There are many reasons for it ranging from not having a priest trained in sacrifice, to not understanding the importance of it to our tradition, to not having the funds to provide the animals, to not living in an area where it‘s possible to do sacrifice. I‘m a blòt-priest but at our symbel Friday we didn‘t sacrifice. There was no need to do so and it was not a high symbel. We shared out a post-Thanksgiving feast after our Sunwait ritual and after first having made offerings to all our Holy Ones. If you hold a symbel, you have to feed the people. It doesn‘t have to be meat from a sacrifice but there has to be food and drink!

Before any ritual, I ward the space by calling on Thor and bearing sacred fire around with a special chant and then I call upon Heimdallr. That’s my regular opening. People will have already been ritually cleansed before we get to that point. In symbel, everyone is usually seated at this point as well. The first part proceeds like a regular feast but there is a point where a horn is passed around. 

This role of horn-bearer is a holy role. Usually, the role of horn-bearer is fulfilled by the Lady of the House who functions as a stand in for Urd. I, however, will only do this if no one else is available. The Horn-bearer (called the “Valkyrie” in some traditions because in Valhalla, Odin’s Valkyries carry the horn to the warriors in the hall – and probably beat them in line when need be lol) must be the manifestation, the embodiment both of Urd and Her well, but also of frith. Often mistranslated as peace, frith is right order. Ideally that is peace, but not always (6). This means that the horn-bearer has specific tasks: 

1. She bears the horn to each person (who hails the Holy Ones and hands it back to her) in a particular order. The horn-bearer if she is Lady of the hall, establishes and recognizes the hierarchy within the group. The lady and lord of the hall will have worked this out between themselves well before hand – 99% of the time, it is already a given known because this is a working community. The “working out” part is relevant when one has guests. How do they fit into the established and ever evolving order? The order in which the horn-bearer passes the horn is a visible demonstration of that order. If she is not Lady of the hall, this should be worked out in advance with the Lady of the Hall (7). I worked out a system where if my horn-bearer gets confused about whom to give the horn to next, she can just look at me and I’ll quietly indicate it.
2. The horn-bearer makes sure the horn never goes empty. 
3. Most importantly of all, she makes sure that nothing impious is said over the horn. For the duration of symbel, the horn is a manifestation of, a doorway to Urda’s Well. What is spoken over it is a thread of powerful wyrd, not only binding the community together, but carrying –as all wyrd carries—consequence. It is laid like law in the well. The Horn-bearer witnesses each word spoken: in praise, in hail of the Holy Ones, in remembrance, in oath, in the sharing of the good things that have come to us….and if something is amiss, if someone speaks ill of the Holy Ones, if someone neglects to honor a particular group or spirit that ought to be honored (8), if someone promises something in sacred oath he or she cannot fulfill, or promises and gives no payment for failing to come through…the horn-bearer challenges and may refuse to allow the person to drink. In this, she should have full support of those in the hall. Usually, it’s enough to explain the problem with a promise and ask that the person more thoughtfully reword. Give that person time to do it and offer the horn again. 
4. While normally we tend to honor only Heathen Gods at our rites, if a guest is present who belongs to another Deity, especially if this person is an elder of another tradition, those Deities may be and should be welcomed and hailed. Invite the elder to do this or do it yourself as head of the hall. 
5. The horn-bearer should fulfill her role with grace and reverence. She should, however, be UNOBTRUSIVE. At no point should she make the ritual all about her. There should be no jostling, or whispering charms, or drawing attention to oneself. She is representing Urd and what she is doing is crucially important but it’s not about her. If a horn-bearer cannot do her job without such vainglory, get someone else to do it, even if that person is of lower rank in the House. It is a very high honor to be appointed horn bearer

During the formal part of the symbel, as opposed to the general feasting and merriment, the horn is passed around the entire group via the horn-bearer at least three times: first round is for the ancestors and land spirits, second to the Gods, third for oaths, other hails to the Holy Ones, or boasts of the good things given – boasts made in gratitude not arrogance. This third round is the most difficult for the horn-bearer who must be vigilant against foolish and thoughtless oaths. What is said over the horn matters. It becomes law in the Well. All who were present while those words were spoken bear responsibility for them. They are bound by wyrd. This is why many of us are very, very selective about with whom we share ritual. 

During the third round – and there may be more added (I usually do nine rounds with the horn)—the heads of House may give gifts. Others may give gifts too. This is usually done as an expression of fealty and responsibility: a patron to client/elder to student or neophyte. One doesn’t have to give gifts, but if one does make sure they are of decent quality (9). An ounce round of silver is a traditional gift. People may be elevated in rank, honored by the heads of House for accomplishments (many are often shy about boasting, so this is a good time for them to receive recognition). Anyone of higher “status” may gift anyone of lower status but this implies a bond, a relationship of service and obligation on both sides. It involves the higher ranking people actually caring and being involved in the regular life of those they gift. (for me to know someone’s accomplishments for instance, means I socialize with them). Gifting is not neutral in this setting. It expresses relationship and mutual obligations. In addition to all those things, it can be an expression of appreciation so just be sure to choose your words wisely and precisely so there is no ambiguity. 

Finally, the horn-bearer should be a biological woman. Most of our roles are not gendered (Theodism aside). For a long time, I didn’t see any reason for the horn-bearer to be female but the past fifteen years or so of running my own House changed my mind. (If you are in a male-only group, I would suggest making an offering to the Nornir, and just passing the horn amongst yourselves. Don’t have a horn-bearer and don’t call it a symbel. It is not ideal but needs must. In a formal symbel however,) the horn-bearer is performing an act of women’s magic, of frith-weaving. The integrity of the hall rests on the shoulders of the lady of the hall, or in this case, the horn-bearer. She is the embodiment of Urd, and of luck and bounty. She carries hamingja in a way that transforms the hall. She calls forth the best of those gathered– all in honor of the Holy Ones. Our first named holy Power was female – Auðumla, the great Goddess of frith-weaving is Frigga, and the Nornir govern Fate, with Urda ordering wyrd in Her well. Men have powerful functions within a sacral setting, but this particular role can, I believe, rightly be expressed only by a biological woman (10). 

Symbel is a weird combination of merriment and solemnity. Usually, the passing of the horn occurs after the meal and with the conclusion of the horn-bearing, the formal part of symbel also concludes. It’s a challenging rite to get well because the lines between sacred and profane (in the anthropological sense) are so blurred or intertwined. It’s deeply rewarding when one does it well though. It’s so important a rite that I tend to reserve high symbel for the two solstices. 

Please feel free to post any questions in the comments. I’ll do my best to answer them. 

Notes: 

1. There are many theological disagreements that I have with Theodism but they do two things well: symbel and blót. I think the whole of Heathenry can benefit from the work that Theodish Heathens have done in restoring these two rites. I should also note that this ritual presupposes that a working House is also a community and even a tribe, with a clear leader and bonds of loyalty given to that person. It bridges the gap between the structure of a secular community and the structure of a liturgical one.
2. This is contrasted with the OE word husel, which is also a feast but one involving a sacrifice. This word was so deeply embedded in liturgical language that it became the word for the Eucharist once England Christianized. It may also be spelled housel. I think I’ve even seen it spelled hüsel at least once. I suppose these were regional variants? There’s also the fact that spelling wasn’t anything near standardized until the modern era (something to note if you’re working on your genealogy – the spelling of surnames can vary substantially, and even the same person may spell his or her name differently and sometimes even in the same document!). A faining, which I mention later, is a ritual where no animal is sacrificed. It’s the most common type of religious rite, I think. Many denominations use the words “faining” and “blòt” interchangeably. 
3. For this reason, I actually don’t care for symbel. It’s way too easy for the focus to become solely on the people attending and their egos – something I find utterly disgusting and impious – than the Gods and the blessings that the Gods have given and will give to those in the community. It takes a very devout hand to manage symbel effectively, not allowing it to degenerate into a human-centric gathering. If that happens, it does not remove the sacral obligations and consequences, particularly with the horn, it just means the group in question has fucked it up and will bear those consequences usually having no idea what they did wrong. If one wants to have a party in period garb, rock on. Just don’t call it a symbel. Keep the religious aspects out of it if it causes you too much pain to give the Gods Their due, or if you just don’t feel up to a proper symbel. It’s a lot of work!
4. Theodism tends to be very gendered in ways that I find frankly ridiculous. They start itching when women carry blades despite the historical fact that women have always fought, and we have plenty of archeological evidence for female warriors. Was it the norm? no. Did it happen? Yes.  Likewise, a hall run by only a woman would seem unusual in Theodism but there’s no reason whatsoever that can’t happen. Most denominations of Heathenry, my own included, have very few gender restrictions. Women can and do function as clergy, holy women, spirit workers, and heads of house. The same can be said of men and trans-people. 
5. Usually, unless divination says otherwise, for this blòt-symbel combination, unlike a regular blòt, the blood is given to the Gods, and then the meat to the community husel. I would give the choicest cut to the spiritual specialist who performed the rite, and any spirit workers, then the rest is cooked and shared (it can be cooked first and then thus divided). Divination is always done, or should always be done, because sometimes the God being honored will want the entire animal given in offering to Him or Her ( in our House, we usually give the whole to the Deity in question for regular blòt). I’ve had this happen with Odin. If that’s the case on a symbel day, prepare two animals and ask for special blessings for the community on the second, and sacrifice it with the blood and life gifted to the Gods and the meat reserved for symbel. In Theodism, it’s usually the head of the group that does the sacrifice, but I firmly believe this should be reserved for a trained sacrificial priest. The “lord” or “lady” does not need to elevate him or herself at the expense of proper piety. Such work is holy work and belongs to the class of holy people, your priests. Amongst our Gods, Freyja is the sacrificial priest and noted as such in the lore. 
6. In our tradition vengeance can be a sacral obligation necessary to restore frith. There are a lot of steps before it gets to that point, and many ways to intervene, but theoretically, restoration of frith can involve a significant amount of violence. 
7. For instance, someone can say something over the horn that requires breaking this order and challenging them. Someone might feel so polluted that the horn-bearer doesn’t want to pass the horn without consultation, In the first situation, the horn-bearer should verbally challenge with the full support of the heads of the hall. In the second, hospitality demands a bit more savvy. I personally would say that I needed to refill the horn – to allow the horn to go empty during symbel is very unlucky – and return to the high table to refill it, and while doing so have a quick word with the lady of the house, at which point right action can be determined possibly with divination and if you think I won’t stop a ritual in an emergency to divine, think again. I’d rather do that than risk polluting a rite though ideally everyone is vetted, known, and everything divined on beforehand. 
8. I once attended a Theodish symbel held on a civil war battlefield. One group did Hrafnar style seiðr (that style is itself, in my opinion, often a shitshow) and then later there was symbel. There wasn’t much respect for spirit workers or seers or priests in this group, the ritual was held on the battlefield site, less than 100 yards away from the battlefield graveyard, several people were well aware the dead were active – some had seen them. At no point in the symbel did anyone, including the head of the hall, mention or honor those who had fought, bled and died on the very land we were working on – this despite the fact that during the seiðr session the dead had been so disturbed, and so active that I walked out and, with a friend, buried a ton of items in offering to them, including a carved horn and jewelry. The woman leading the “seiðr-rite,” was oblivious to their presence. The appropriate thing during symbel would have been for the first offering, the very first hail to have gone to the dead of that land. Since no one did that, thought about doing it, sensed they should do it, or had the common sense to try, I made that my first hail of the evening over the horn, repairing the damage that had been done with the power of Wodinic-blessed words.  The space upon which you hold your rites needs to be taken into account. So do any spirits walking that space.  
9. I was once present where amber bracelets were given to the lower ranking women, but they turned out to be plastic. Don’t be an asshole. Better not to gift than to gift crap. It’s insulting. It’s rough on the Heads of the house though. They pretty much have an unspoken obligation in really formal symbel to gift everyone something. 
10. It may simply be that she is outside the male hierarchy—men socially tend to express competition in a much more obviously disruptive way than women, who are if anything more vicious but also more devious about it. Look at any class of middle-school girls and boys. The way girls typically bully is different than the way boys do and often goes unrecognized by adults – there have been actual psych studies on this. Yes, much of this may be socialization but nowhere are those patterns going to be more obvious than in symbel. Men will behave differently in the presence of a woman who carries herself with grace. A woman of virtue and good bearing elevates the entire assembly and if the way I’ve chosen to phrase that offends, I cannot possibly express now little I care. I tend to prefer the way men handle things. If I could find a sacral reason to avoid having a woman in this role, I’d probably do it, but I’ve been to symbels where women carried the horn, the occasional one where men carried the horn, and there is a difference, and it affects the sacrality of the rite. Why? Maybe because we are as the Gods made us and each of us brings different gifts to bear. Ask and Embla came from the Tree, and we are each extensions thereof and have our part to do in sustaining it and by extension creation. 

I personally do not find myself to be a good fit for horn-bearer. I don’t have the right skillset to carry a horn. I’d rather be guarding the door. Even though I am Lady of my hall, I pass on the role of horn-bearer to my housemate, student, and friend who belongs to Freyja and who oozes frith and delight and brightens the entire room when she takes up her sacred work. It’s a pleasure to see someone so fit for this role performing it. I may be sensitive to hierarchy and hospitality obligations in a way that many horn-bearers aren’t, but as a spirit-worker, part of my work is challenging and finding the crap no one wants to admit or deal with and dancing on it. That is a warrior’s work. It does not a good horn-bearer make. Also, ancestrally, one of my lines was expelled from Scotland for feuding and another may have been involved in the Hatfield/McCoy feud, AND as an ancestor worker I speak for the military dead.  Sometimes to weave peace one must overlook offense and truth and I can’t easily do that. Too much of my work demands the opposite. Which makes me think that it might just be a matter of my being a spirit-worker and having a different *job* than any inherent unfitness for the role. In a pinch, I’d do it and I have done it –again, needs must and I was boots on the ground – but I’m not the best fit. So, just like not every man is fit to be a sacral lord, not every woman is fit to be hornbearer. It is a very special skillset. No one can do everything.

It may, of course, simply be that generations of our forebears did it this way because of social gender roles and expectations but I personally think there’s more there on a liturgical level and the rule with ritual is always: if you don’t know what every single part means, what it does, and how it fits into the whole, don’t change it. 

As an aside, most people who are wired to experience deity possession often find cross-gender possessions difficult. I do not, and in fact carry male Deities much, much more easily than female. This may seem like a complete non sequitur, but I strongly suspect there is a connection or at least that these things move in the same venn circle. 

The obvious question, of course is what to do if a trans-woman wants to bear the horn. My initial feeling is to refuse BUT if she seemed on the surface the best candidate, I would take it to divination. I would be more inclined to allow a trans-woman to serve as an attendant at the high table than horn -bearer though without divination being absolutely positive toward the latter. We have two Gods who temporarily changed gender, but neither is known for frith-weaving! I would also, however, note that in every healthy community, there are going to be people who do not fit the established norms. A good community makes some allowances for this and helps everyone find their niche (and by niche I mean sacred work), so to nearly every rule there can be exceptions. Serious divination by a professional diviner is always a good place to start with a ritual as important as symbel – see my ritual rule above.