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My Daily Prayer These Days…
I place my trust in the God of the Gallows.
I place my trust in Odin.
ALU.
Odin by Sam Flegel
Terrible bragging about a birthday gift lol
So, awhile back I mentioned that my husband did months of research and created a collection of Heathen charms and prayers for me. After he gave it to me for my birthday (and it was like being courted all over again; ^___^ though the man now knows more about Heathen lore than I do. Yesterday I was complaining that in the cultivation of virtue I’m my own worst enemy and he quotes the “Havamal” at me…in Old Norse. lol), I chose some art and a friend formatted it and I had some personal copies printed. This will never be available for sale. The art is for my personal devotional use only. The book is for my own use only but I can’t help but share my new Zauberbuch. It is…you know, I don’t have words for how incredibly moved, awed, and absolutely delighted I am by this. Look. it is awesome. ^_^
Whisperings from the Tree of Pain
Pain isn’t a bad word. Sometimes it’s just the horse one has to ride to get from point A to point B. Sometimes, it’s a by-product of blockages being removed, and old wounds being cleaned out. Sometimes, it’s the synergy of a relationship transforming into something new, deeper, and stronger. There are a thousand different permutations of pain and joy too and the Tree holds the memories of both. Maybe I’ll use this for the title of my next poetry book because sometimes immense fruitfulness begins with the sting of pain. We have to be shocked out of our complacency. I recently learned a series of charms and prayers that I now do daily that helped me cut back my chronic pain by – no joke – 65-70%. Here’s the thing though: the first thing that happened was all the muscles that had been locked against my body for so long relaxed. It hurt so badly. It was a very peculiar type of agony. The releasing of decades of the experience of endurance hurt as much as the pain of endurance itself. It leveled out in a day or so and I knew what was happening but even so, it still surprised me. Sometimes bodies are so weird and sometimes pain is fruitful. As Swinburne wrote, “ pain is not the fruit of pain.”
I had a pedagogy seminar yesterday (I have a fellowship that involves six pedagogy meetings throughout the semester). It was interesting and I enjoyed it but it ran until ten pm at night after a full day of teaching and I was tired and mid way through, I started getting a severe migraine. The fluorescent lights in the classroom we use for this particular series of meetings sometimes do give me headaches. This one was bad though so on break I took my migraine medication and a strong muscle relaxant. Within ten minutes. *poof*! Headache gone. Then things got strange. Pain had led me through a door where I was hearing with my heart rather than just my ears, understanding through the dulcet whispers of my God rather that with my rational mind alone. One of my classmates A.F. had to present and he started with a meditation and it was, to my Odinic heart, like water on parched soil. Our direction was to listen to the meditation, prayerfully, taken a pause from the rest of our academic contemplations. Then we were to write down answers to at least two of the questions raised in the meditation, which I’ll share below. It was exactly what I needed spiritually at that moment and because of the pain, I’d taken medication. Because of the medication, I was able to sink very, very deeply into the words of my colleague. Because of that katabasis, I was able to receive exactly what Odin wished me to receive and when I emerged, my heart, mind, and soul were on fire again with the blessings dropped from His lips, like gold, like glittering jewels, like magic. Runar, secrets and keys for me alone (because how could something that fits any one of us so intimately fit any other soul?). So much gratitude, I have so much gratitude for this whole experience, and my psychopomp: Pain gentled me into it.
I will share with you the brief meditation my A.F. shared. It was something originally given by Howard Washington Thurman. I found it here, which is a Church site, but A.F. is Christian and keys and wisdom can be found in so many unexpected places.
“How good it is to center down!
To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by!
The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic;
our spirits resound with clashing, with noisy silences,
while something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment
and the resting lull.
With full intensity we seek, ere thicket passes, a fresh sense
of order in our living;
a direction, a strong sure purpose that will structure our confusion
and bring meaning in our chaos.
We look at ourselves in this waiting moment—
the kinds of people we are.
The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives? —
what are the motives that order our days?
What is the end of our doings?
Where are we trying to go?
Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused?
For what end do we make sacrifices?
Where is my treasure and what do I love most in life?
What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?
Over and over the questions beat upon the waiting moment.
As we listen, floating up through all of the jangling echoes of our turbulence,
there is a sound of another kind—
A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.
It moves directly to the core of our being.
Our questions are answered, our spirits refreshed,
and we move back into the traffic of our daily round
with the peace of the Eternal in our step.
How good it is to center down!”
How good indeed and I answered those questions, at least a couple. We talked about whether or not language was incompatible with spirituality (no, but I think one must be aware that to give voice to one’s experience with the Gods, or any experience really, is an act of translation. We translate the inexpressible into words and try to interpret it for whatever interlocutor to whom we are speaking and it goes out into the world a pale shadow of the original experience yet still, if we have done our job right, with power. All communication is an act of translation and interpretation. If it is then written down, there is yet another level of mediation. All language is a pilgrimage from and to the experience – in my case the experience of my God.)
I thought about the questions asked in Thurman’s meditation and the questions he asked and the halls of my bloodblack heart burst open. I belong to a God of language. Language is a living thing, each word, each phoneme, each letter. It leaps from the divine tongue onto mine, cold fire racing from the incomprehensible labyrinth of His mind into my synapses. It is carried on the breath that bore my soul. What we do with that is up to us. How we allow it to shape and form us, and how we carry it into the word to shape and form others. Ansuz teaches us that a word once uttered cannot be called back. Words have their own agency apart from us. The Tree of Pain is the Tree of Life and it flowers in unexpected ways. We cannot control that. The language we’re given, the words we hunt down and pierce with the spear of our mind bringing up through the gold riven passage of tongue and teeth and vocalization, like an angel’s song, are manifestations of my God’s essence and His hunger for More.
It and HE open doors. New language is created in every interaction, the intimacy affected by falling into the direct regard of a God leads to a new generation of being, an alteration in our essential ontology and ever so slightly we don’t fit any longer into a world that knows not this language animating and forming and shaping our souls. We see the cracks and into those chasms in the architecture of creation we can whisper. What do we whisper? That which we have been given in order to restore the world. The secrets our Gods give us to make us, remake us, rename us, rework us carry with them an obligation to create, remake, and rename our broken world. I am finished now. Here endeth the lesson. Let it stand as a warning: To those who serve the forces of unmaking, to those that serve evil, that serve the Enemy of all creation: there is no place we cannot go. There is no place we cannot see. There is no space small enough through which you might seep that we cannot block with our song. We see you, those of us taken up by the Holy and we will stand against you for you are nothing. Hollow ghosts walking. We are fire and light and dazzling darkness filled with wonder and we serve creation and the Gods Whose loving hands and fearful might have made manifest graceful beauty and wondrous unpredictability of the architecture of the worlds. We will breathe back what the Gods have given us in our making and you will see the glory that erases devils. Fear us, you who follow the Unmaker. We’re coming for you and our prayers have power.
A blessing on all who read this. A blessing on all who love their Gods. May your world be filled with wonder. May you be protected from the rot of the unmaker. May your life bring beauty into the weaving of our world’s wyrd. May you ever be surrounded by our Gods’ protection and may your heart be girded with courage that you may find joy and may you find the work of your hands, mind, and heart that nourishes you. ALU. This is my prayer. ALU ALU ALU!!!
Here is a song for the day.
Wodinic Wednesday Q&A
Happy Wednesday, folks. Once again it’s Woden’s Day and so, I’ll be doing my Wodinic Wednesday Q&A for my readers. Until 10pm EST tonight, I’ll keep this blog open to reader questions. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions on whatever topic you think I might be able to tender an answer (for example: Odin, Heathenry, Norse Gods, devotion, spiritwork, mysticism, occult practices, my academic field –early Christianity, specifically pain and the body, eunuchs, asceticism, etc. ballet, and anything else you might be interested in). I’ll do my best to answer or direct you to where you can find an answer.
Now for a few other interesting things.
Firstly, I went to see the movie Cabrini this past week. It was absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend it. It really gives both a glimpse into a powerhouse of a woman who became the first American saint, but also a heart-wrenching glimpse into what life was like for Italian immigrants and the poor in the late 19th/early 20th century in New York City. The acting was Oscar worthy in my opinion. My only complaint: this woman who emphasized prayer in everything she did was never shown praying (save perhaps once and then it’s really ambiguous). There were moments where prayer and her connection to her God should have been emphasized and weren’t— ostensibly to make the film more accessible to non-Catholics. It was a lost opportunity to highlight the piety that drove her and this omission got rather annoying by the last third of the movie. Even with that, I highly recommend the film. This saint has a shrine, and it’s one of the few in the US that has first class relics (her body – minus her heart which was sent to Italy). I have a fascinating with bone chapels which this is not, and by extension bodily relics, which this has. When I went to see the movie, my husband and I had the theatre to ourselves, and this was good, because watching the dramatization of what this woman had to go through in order to found what became Cabrini hospital had me cussing a blue streak! I keep an eye out for movies that present religions and devotion positively and while this is not a Heathen movie, it did that and it’s such a rarity in today’s media I wanted to recommend it.
Secondly, here is a short Instagram video about mindfulness. I’m not at this point by any measure, but I like the anecdote the woman tells. It makes me realize how far I have to go in moving mindfully in the world. Thank you to my friend, Mary Ann for this one.
Finally, I’ve been thinking about one of our healing Goddesses, Aurboda. She is the mother of Gerda and in my particular tradition considered particularly skilled in pharmacology. I think because I’ve been making salves lately, I’ve been praying to Her more than usual, so, here is one of my prayers. It’s written in a style that I first discovered in Mechthild of Magdeburg’s “Flowing Light of the Godhead” and it really works for me:
Prayer to Aurboda
We praise You, Aurboða, companion of Eir, companion of Mengloth, great in the ways of healing.
We praise You, Aurboða, wise and pious in making offerings to the land and the spirits therein. They are Your allies and a source of Your power. Yours is a bond of mutual respect.
We praise You, skilled in herbs and medicines, great apothecary of Lyfjaberg, Whom even other healing Powers consult.
We praise You, Canny Seeress, Who knows the ways of reverence, Who easily untangles the snarled skeins of wyrd and reads them rightly.
We Praise You, Mother of Gerda, Who raised Your daughter in the ways of Power, a jewel in the hall of the Mountain tribes, Carrier of Your peoples’ sovereignty.
Oh Wisdom beyond Measure!
Oh Mighty Healing Power!
Oh Tree of richness and plenty!
Oh Caretaker of the land!
Oh Protector of all the spirits of the earth!
Oh Jewel of Prophetic Wonder!
Mighty Apothecary of the Gods, ever and always do we praise You! Hail to You, Aurboða! Teach us ever and always we pray, to make good offerings, to walk in the ways of respect and reverence, and to honor the land that has shaped us, every day of our lives.
**********
That is all for now. I might not get to your questions until late tonight, but I promise to answer them before the day is done.
Wodinic Wednesday Q&A plus a few extra things
“Hail to You, Loður and Hoenir. Hail to Your hands and Your will, which in tandem with Odin’s crafted us to be beautiful, clever, pious, and wise. May I be worthy of Your protection today and may Your mighty hands preserve and protect me from evil. ALU.”
Wodinic Wednesday Q&A
Y’all know the drill, folks. Ask your questions and I’ll do my best to answer them. I have an early meeting so it might not be till later tonight that I get to answer, but I will do so before the day is done. I”ll keep this forum open until 10pm est for questions.
I do this to honor Odin as knowledge seeker. Perhaps pour out an offering to Him today if you are so minded. Happy Woden’s DaY.
Thinking About Malocchio
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So, the other day while at work, I got hit with the eye. I didn’t realize it at first, but later started – out of the blue- to get a blistering headache. Thing is, I hadn’t gotten the full power of the eye, something I’ll discuss in a moment. Because of this, I was able to shake off the migraine very quickly, something that never ever happens. When I got home, and explained how I’d suddenly been struck temporarily ill, my husband asked if I had gotten hit with the evil-eye. I went to divination and Hermes confirmed that absolutely I had been, but that I’d dispersed most of it. Here’s the thing, I didn’t realize at the time, that I’d thrown back most of the power of the eye. Here’s what happened (though I’ll paint a broad picture to protect identities because I do wish all involved well).
Now, I can’t cast the eye. In order to do so, one has to be passive aggressive and usually envious, jealous, or otherwise vindictive. I’m aggressive-aggressive lol. If I have a problem with someone, I come right out and tell them. Most people who can throw the eye aren’t doing it on purpose. They have a minor gift and deep resentment. I’ve written a small book that goes into more detail about the eye here. A few days ago, at work, I happened to run into a colleague and a few of his students late in the afternoon and being professionals, we bantered. I know however that he is not only deeply hostile to me, but at one point was scrolling back years on my blog to find dirt on me that he could report to the administration. So, while we were friendly, there was that underlying hostility. My colleague said, as we were bantering in front of other students, “I call her [inoffensive and even funny nick-name here].” I said, laughing, “Trust me, I’ve been called worse.” To which my colleague responded as though he were joking but with veiled hostility, “I keep my true thoughts for my office” I just looked him right in the eyes, smiled, and made a hand gesture (not the one you think, you filthy animals lol) and said, “Right back at you.” Something about that combination of word act and gesture dispersed 90% of the power of the eye, the rest of which I dealt with by means of a quick prayer. I’ve been hit with the eye a couple of times, but I’ve never been able to disperse it so quickly or in this particular way. I’m perplexed. I never thought it would work that way, for all that certain gestures, like the manus fica, — not the gesture I used– are traditionally said to banish it.
What have your experiences been, if any, with the evil eye? Have you had similar experiences? Word-acts (by which I would include prayers, invocations, charms) are very powerful things. I have just never had things come together in such a way as I describe above before.
Now, as a corollary to this, I have recently had some insights into using nazar charms (especially jewelry). Odin sacrificed an eye into Mimir’s well to gain wisdom. His eye and by extension eye charms can be powerful warding charms against malocchio. I took several of my nazar earrings, pendants, etc. and dedicated them all to Odin, blessing and charming them in the way that is traditional in my House. When I put one of these charms on, I say the following prayer:
“Eye of Odin, plucked for power, ward me now from every evil. Hail to You, Blindi, Báleygr, Gunnblindi. Hail to You, Herblindi, Hoárr, Vinr Mims, Hail to You, Odin. May I be worthy of this protection. Alu”
I have several brooches and necklaces with nazar charms on them that I’ve dedicated in this way, saying this prayer every time I put them on. I used to dismiss evil eye lore as just superstitious folk lore but the past decade has been vastly educational and I’ve found – the hard way, I might add – that our ancestors knew things and a lot of that folklore is surprisingly spot on.
If you’ve had experiences with malocchio, I would very much like to discuss in the comments.
I love this image. I found it here: https://odindevoted.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/valknut-eye/
Wodinic Wednesday Q&A
Hi folks, it’s your resident night-owl. 🙂 I’m writing this just after midnight so it’s technically Wednesday, Woden’s Day again. As I’ve been doing for the past year, I am opening up my blog to reader questions today. I’ll answer anything you throw at me (and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll do my best to point you in the right direction). Feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments. I’ll keep this open until 10pm EST.
Hail to Woden, frenzied God ever hungry for knowledge.
Hail to Woden, Who sacrificed again and again for wisdom and power.
Hail to Woden, scarified, roaring, ravenous God
Who grants His people a desire to know, to learn, to grow, to share His mysteries.
For all that You are, oh my God, I am grateful.
For all You have given me, I am also grateful.
Hail Woden, Hail Gangleri, Hail the Seeker of knowledge.
Statue from my shrine made by S. Ravenswing.
Learning the Runes – A Few Tips for those Starting Out
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(I’m reposting this — I posted it last year– due to a brief question and discussion on this week’s Wodinic Wednesday. Perhaps it will help those of you starting or working with the runes. – GK)
One of the key mysteries of our tradition is that of the runes. The word itself, rún, rúnar (1) means just that: ‘secret’ or ‘mystery.’ Our high God Odin (Oðinn) hung on Yggdrasil for nine nights and nine days in agony, pierced by His own spear, a sacrifice to Himself. The result of this ordeal was acquisition of the runes and the knowledge and ability to wield them. There is much the story doesn’t tell us, starting with where the runes originate, what they are, and what their connection to the fabric of creation might be.
I talk about all of these things in my book Living Runes, so I won’t focus on that too much in this post. In short, I think they originate in the Ginnungagap, are a family of living, sentient spirits, and are worked into the architecture of existence in numerous ways, creating loopholes through which the holy can seep (or work) again and again. When I think about this, they’re so often in motion, coursing through creation the way platelets, plasma, and blood cells course through our veins. They may rivet the more liminal parts of creation in place, or they may whirl and dance through the world working His will and their own. I think it varies and it’s something I’m still exploring in my own practice.
What I wanted to discuss today is one of the techniques that I employed when I was first learning how to really engage with the runes. This is also something that I give to my apprentices when they are learning the runes for themselves. Usually, this is done after one has initially met the runes through offerings and galdr – a round 1 of ‘getting to know you,’ shall we say. Once a student has passing familiarity with the runes, knows what they are, has maybe galdred a bit, or meditated with them, once he or she has his or her own devotional relationships to Gods and ancestors securely established (2), when that student is ready for the second round of in-depth engagement, this is what I have each of my apprentices do (and no, this isn’t in my book). I do this myself every now and again myself. One never stop learning after all!
Before I describe this, I want to offer one caveat. If you are going to do this, begin with Odin. He is Master of the Runes (Rúnatýr – God of the runes) and they are first and foremost His mysteries. Afterwards, next approach the Deity or Deities in turn to whom you are dedicated, Whom you would consider your fulltrui, Who hold the most significant place in your personal devotions. This is simply a matter of both protocol, and courtesy and respect.
Now, onto the exercise.
A). Make a list of the various Deities that you venerate or Whose insight you might be interested in gaining with respect to the runes. For instance, Odin, Frigga, Freya, Loki, Sigyn, Thor, Sif, Heimdall, Mani, Sunna, Sinthgunt, Eir. (Make your own list, starting with Odin. This is just an example, though it’s close to the list one of my apprentices recently employed).
B). Each night, meditate upon and galdr the same rune, first making offerings to one of these Deities, and then to the rune itself. So, start with Fehu. Set up a working altar or shrine, some place where you can make offerings to the rune of the night and to whatever Deity you’re approaching. If you have a personal household shrine (and if you’re doing this, you should (3)), you can go ahead and use that. The first night, make an offering to Odin. Offer prayers to Him and ask Him if He would be willing to teach you something about fehu. Make an offering to fehu itself, asking it if it would work with Odin and teach you something about itself. Then galdr the rune, meditate on it, write down your insights. Thank the two powers, Deity and rune invoked, and you are done for the night. Work through your list of Deities meditating on the *same* rune. When you’re done, move on to the next rune and go through the list again in the same order.
What you’re essentially doing is building your own book of correspondences as you engage in this process. I would also repeat this, either approaching the same Deities or perhaps with a new list (though always begin with Odin. He is the doorway to the runes in many respects), every few months. Be polite when you approach both Powers. You are not after all, entitled to Their wisdom. As with anything, the more polite you are, the more productive this is likely to be. Even having worked with the runes for close to thirty years, I still keep this in mind every time I approach them. At the end of your list, or even somewhere in the middle of it, do one night where you do NOT approach a Deity, but work only through the rune itself.
I stumbled on this process of approaching various Deities like this accidentally. I was having a bit of trouble with something and struggling to figure out how to work the rune I had decided to call upon. Completely unexpectedly, Sigyn sorted it out giving me an unexpected bit of insight. I thought, ‘wait. You know runes?’ Now, I shouldn’t have been surprised – She is a Deity after all –but when we have deeply personal devotional relationships with our individual Gods, it can be easy to forget that They are well, Gods. It can be easy to think that we know Them as we might know a friend down the way. We may indeed know a little given that relationships are mutual processes, but no matter how much experience we have in devotion to a Deity, THEY are always so much more.
One of the things that I really like about this particular exercise also, is that it allows the one doing it the opportunity to approach Deities he or she may not have previously considered approaching. It allows for a potential devotional relationship to bloom. It gets one out of one’s comfort zone, away from the regular way of doing things and allows room for unexpected insights to occur.
There are things to consider when you are engaging in this process: how does the rune feel? When you galdr, do you get any images running through your mind, any words popping up wanting to be worked into the galdr, any other sensory expressions of its presence (and that may include taste and smell too)? How do you feel before, during, and after? Has your impression of the rune changed at all? Do your best to keep a good record of this. It is helpful when you’re going back to check your progress. Be sure to stay hydrated and maybe eat a little protein after your nightly sessions. I would also be sure to center and ground well afterwards.
Finally, the futhark tells a story. Each Aett (4) contains its own mysteries. It is normal that some runes will prove harder and more difficult to access than others. That’s ok, and the reverse is also true. Most will have one or two runes stepping forward as a guide through the futhark and through one’s work therein. When you encounter a rune that just won’t open, that’s ok. Be respectful, do your best, make your offerings and come back to it later. There are runes (for me, mostly in the third aett) that have taken years before they allowed me to so much as dip a toe into their mysteries. Again, as with so much spirit-work, you’re building a relationship. Part of the process of learning to work with runes is that they are learning your mental patterns, internal language, internal symbol set and you are learning something of theirs and the two of you are building this pidgin (is that the correct linguistic term?) by which you can communicate. You’re learning each other’s language and building a shared syllabary through which you can productively communicate. That’s going to take time. Some things cannot be rushed.
Before I close, I want to take a moment’s focus on the first aett. As with our sacred texts, there are numerous ways that one can approach and interpret the narratives that we’re given. Since there are numerous patterns in the way the runes relate to each other, one can tell many stories. While these stories are not direct engagement with the runic powers, they are a means of conceptualizing and learning from them. They are doorways into each rune’s power. Here is a very brief way of reading through the first aett connectively. Fehu is the luck that flows through our blood (ancestral luck, hamingja), vitality, wealth, abundance, power. Like a sap through a tree or chlorophyll through a leaf, it flows through our veins and the veins of our soul body giving it life – just like Loður gave us sense-awareness and color, and the roaring pulse of our heart’s blood when the Gods created humanity. Uruz is raw power, maegen, the ability to tap into, access, and use one’s luck. It is initiation that awakens us to the Powers, challenge by which we earn the right to use what we have been given. Thurisaz is a challenge to focus, to discipline, to hone and temper our power. It’s the hard work we do to strengthen our spiritual and ethical muscles. It is the force that shatters our illusions, clears us out, devours what no longer serves, frees one – sometimes violently – from constraints, burns like napalm in the soul until we order ourselves rightly and leave our bullshit behind. (Edited 3/7 to include ansuz, as I was writing with a migraine and accidentally left one of my favorite runes out). Ansuz is divine inspiration, ecstasy (in the classical religious sense), surety and confidence in the Work. It is the touch of the Gods, grace that allows us to persevere in our spiritual becoming even when it is hard. It is the opener of the way, that, if we are working to become rightly ordered, will show us the way forward. Raido is movement, momentum, overcoming of obstacles, the progress made when we accomplish the first three runic lessons and are rightly ordered with the Powers, and the power by which we may find our way through any obstacles in the way of that. Kenaz is the torch, the hearth fire, the offering fire, a candle on a shrine, the light of knowledge, piety, and devotion. It is that which we have been given to tend, to keep fed and bright and warm (our devotion, our traditions). Gebo is the process of exchange between us and the Holy powers, the law by which we are called to live our lives, the pious sensibility underlying every positively ordered engagement with the Powers, and with each other. Wunjo is the fulfillment of fehu, pleasure and ecstatic awareness of the powers, perfection and glory, joy and transformative power. It is the sum total of the other seven runes in this aett. One cannot access the fullness of wunjo, without first accessing and understanding these preceding runes. Wunjo is also the mead of inspiration, of frenzy, of magic, of inspiration on every possible level. How will you drink of it, how will it shape itself to your mind and talents? It will enliven you for the work to come with the next aett, which takes us down immediately into the place of the dead. This is the foundational work one must do in order to access the Mysteries, in order to be of use to our Gods, in order to become functionally realized human beings. It is ongoing work, and the runes can reflect that, though they are also so much more (5). I would also stress that this is only one way of lightly tapping into their insights.
I’ll wrap this up for now. As all rune work begins with Odin, so too should it end with praises to this God Who had the will to win them.
Hail to the God of the gallows,
Terrible and unrelenting.
Hail to the Wyrd-riven Wonder-worker,
Who leaves ecstasy in His wake.
Hail to the Bale-eyed Beguiler,
with His whispered charms
and savage conjurings.
Hail to the Lord of Asgard,
Architect of the Worlds
Who breathed us into Being,
Eternally let us praise Him.
Notes:
- These are the nominative and genitive singular forms respectively.
- It goes without saying that the runes are a specialty, as well as being a Mystery all their own, and not only does one not have to work with the runes to be a good Heathen, but those who don’t already have their spiritual houses, i.e. their devotional world, in some semblance of order, should not work with them. They are tools of magic and divination and it becomes very complicated, very quickly.
- Really, if you don’t have the most basic devotional space set up and active in your home, you’re not ready to work with the runes no matter how far along you think you are.
- This word just refers to a set of eight. There are three sets of eight that make up the elder futhark.
- They are sentient, amoral, non-human spirits. They have their own agendas and are allied to the All-Father Who also has His agenda. It’s healthy to never forget that.
First Wodinic Wednesday of 2024
Hail to the Seeker of knowledge, Sanngetall, the God Who hung, Who sacrificed Himself for wisdom. Hail to Odin, Who ever inspires us.
In honor of Him, I am opening up my blog this year on Wednesdays as well for any questions y’all may have. (I have one really meaty question about theology that was emailed to me, and I’m slowly working on that one. I may not have it till the weekend — my apologies, but it is requiring more time and thought than today provides—I am not ignoring it though!). Post them in the comments and I”ll do my best, folks. What I can answer, I’ll answer.
Also, this weekend, I will be doing my first one and done divination. Here’s how it works: No questions, I will do a general reading where I pull from a combination of systems (this weekend, I think I’ll probably stick with runes) and give you whatever I see. I charge $25 for this. If you’re interested, please email me at krasskova at gmail.com and I will invoice you. I do these readings Sunday or Monday nights and then email folks the next day.
That is all. I”ll keep an eye out today here for any of your questions. Happy New Year, folks. May it be a positive one for us all.
Gangleri's Grove 