Why Devotion? – A Reader Question

Yesterday, well after I’d closed my Wodinic Wednesday, I received via email a question from D. It’s a good question and I wanted to highlight it and my brief answer. 

D asked: 

“Hi Ms. Krasskova,
I’ve read your blog for a few months, read your book “He Is Frenzy,” and some of two others. 
My question for you, (if it isn’t too late) is: what does a being such as He get from having adherents or people that give offerings? I’ve read that Mímisbrunnr is the akashic records. If that is so, doesn’t he have access to everything that has occurred? What more could he gain? 
Thank you for your time and willingness to assist. “

This is a good question, which is why I chose to make it and my answer a separate post. So, here’s my response: 

“HI D., 

I hope your morning is going well. 

I think, in answer to your question that it is more a question of what WE gain from contact with the Gods. I don’t believe that the Gods *need* us in any significant way to prolong or ensure Their existence. That would, after all, make us more powerful than They and that is antithetical to the Divine order. So, if They don’t need us, why devotion, offerings, etc. I think it is that we gain something significant to the cultivation of our souls from such contact. 

I also think that there are cosmic rules that the gods Themselves put into place (we see this in the “Iliad” where Zeus is forced to allow His best beloved son Sarpedon die). They will stay Their hand lest the balance of creation be destroyed unless we open to Them, and allow Them to work through us. This in turn allows us participation in the ongoing reification of creation and the divine order thereof. We heal the world in whatever small way we can, by the devotional work that we do, and it is the most important work we will ever do. 

Now, were I a Victorine, I’d say that the Gods were so enormously full of love , that it was overflowing, and humanity was created because the gods needed someone, many someones with which to share that love. 

In the end, it may simply come down to a matter of the Gods having been our creators and what parent doesn’t love and wish contact with His or Her child? 

Regardless, I think it’s a mistake to think of the devotional relationships in terms of gain. It’s not mercantile. It’s relational. 

That’s my answer in brief. You may find me adding to it as the day progresses. I think all the things we’re asked to do in devotion make us bigger, stronger conduits of the Gods. Be well.

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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.

A Heathen Perspective on Justice for Workers

By Rev. Galina Krasskova

(I was asked to write this for the Grad. Student Union at my school, as many theology students are contributing similar material on their own religions’ POVs. This is not written specifically for a Heathen audience but rather for those who may never even have heard of our traditions. And yes, I have been ordained, both in 2000 through the interfaith seminary I attended, with FOI in 1995, and within Heathenry, the latter in 2004).

Heathenry is the umbrella term for a family of contemporary polytheistic religions that venerate the Norse and Germanic Gods and Goddesses (1). This body of religions, the denominations of which span the world, also encourages veneration of one’s ancestors, respect for the land and its spirits, animism, and community. The restoration of Norse polytheism began in the 19^th century in Europe and eventually began to flower in the United States in the late 1960s (2).

In Heathenry, practitioners often look, (in part and in addition to personal discernment, prayer, devotion, and pastoral direction,) to the Prose and Poetic Eddas, medieval texts written roughly two hundred years after Iceland’s conversion to Christianity but containing stories and information pertinent to liturgical practice in order to guide their understanding of Heathen cosmology, history, and even virtue ethics. This is where we must begin any discussion of a Heathen perspective on Justice for workers.

Firstly, we ourselves are the product of the handwork and the craftsmanship of our three creator Gods. Oðinn, Hoenir, and Loður (Loki), first crafted the worlds and then carefully carved and designed the first human beings. They used Their gifts to carve the likeness of a man (Ask) from a felled ash tree and a woman (Embla) from a felled elm, inbuing them with breath and soul, intellect and cognition, and the sensorium, an awareness of beauty, a pumping heart, and skin in a panoply of hues. All trees are part of the World Tree (Yggdrasil) and by choosing this substance for the creation of humanity, I believe the Gods were making it clear that we too are part of what sustains the goodness of the world. We are crafted by our Gods to be good, pious seekers of wisdom (3). With our Gods as craftsmen, we were worked into creation with the greatest of artisanship and this alone, sanctifies craft and work. It is not the only time this comes up in our cosmology.

In our creation story, there is a tribe of Holy Powers called the Duergar, and they are associated with the creation of beauty, and hard work, generally being portrayed as blacksmiths and jewelry smiths. All the sacred tools that the Gods and Goddesses possess: Thor’s Hammer, Oðinn’s Spear, Oðinn’s sacred oath ring, and many other gifts have come (usually thanks to Loki) from the Duergar (4). Hard work, the sweat of one‘s brow, one‘s ability to create beautiful tools – all things that lie securely in the realm of the duergar, are at the heart of our Gods‘ power. The Duergar also have an association amongst many modern practitioners with money and exchange, both things being seen as sacred and necessary to sustain one‘s family and community. One does not cheat Them. In every example where one tries to cheat or underpay the Duergar, misfortune and tragedy follow. This is so much the case, that some of our religious specialists even have strong religious taboos against trying to bargan an artist or craftsperson down on the price the his or her work.

Beyond this, where I would turn for an ethic of workers‘ justice would most likely be part of the Poetic Edda, called the Rigsþula or “The Lay (Song) of Rig.” Rig is an epithet of one of the Gods of contemplation and protection of divine order: Heimdallr, Who guards the worlds the Gods have created, including the world of humankind, from evil and destruction (5). In this Lay, Rig travels about the human world, engaging with the various estates, or social/political classes. He gives and receives hospitality from families within each estate, behaving equally with each, and more importantly fathers children within each estate. This latter is particularly important. Firstly, the names of the children include (working up from lowest social status to highest): servant/service worker, cattle herder, worthy-woman,  day-laborer, yeoman farmer, nobly born, the capable one, Lord, wise-woman, and possibly king (6). No particular emphasis is placed on one state being better than another, save for the acknowledgement that life is easier when one has a home and property. Each state has its positives and negatives, each is Gods-blessed, and in fact, each is infused quite directly with divine essence. Each level on the rung of social category sustains the one above it and in so doing sustains the whole community. In Heathenry, a reverent, well-functioning, healthy and prosperous community reifies the divine order. There is no prosperity when one’s neighbor is going hungry.  Later and numerous times throughout our sacred corpus, the God Thor, with various traveling companions (most often Loki) is called “Friend of Humanity” and travels about the world visiting various people and households further reifying this divine regard (7).

What can we draw from this medieval text that is used so assiduously by contemporary practitioners? Were I preparing a sermon on the Rigsþula, not something our liturgies involve but an interesting thought experiment nonetheless, I would suggest that the travels of Rig/Heimdallr, instantiate the idea that all work is worthy of dignity, that all work is sacred and equal in the eyes of the Gods. The natural corollary to this is that all work is worthy of respect and proper remuneration. The Eddas don’t talk much about the value of hard work. Part of this is, I suspect, when they were written. The literary body that Heathens term “the lore,” is comprised in large part of texts written by and for the nobility or at least the educated class; however, many of these stories were written iterations of the remnants of a polytheistic oral culture preceding the literacy that came with Christianity and as such reflect, at least in part, an older religious tradition and ethos (8). Part of it is that given the time in which these stories were first told, hard work was a community given. Everyone worked hard, sometimes terribly hard. Another popular Eddic lay, the Hávamál (Sayings of the High One) (9) is a long series of gnomic statements culminating in a description of the key mystery rite of the God Oðinn. The majority of these statements center around how to treat one’s kinsman, neighbor, or friend and the need to live one’s life in a way that allows for courage and hard work (10).  Life was precarious and there were even laws of hospitality guaranteeing that a stranger would be given shelter and food were they in sudden need. No one was expendable.

I want to conclude with a prayer:

I pray to our great, good, immortal Gods,

watch over us and guide us as we seek to cultivate virtue in ourselves.

Help us to be courageous and reverent.

May our discernment of right action be clear,

and in alignment with the order You have All created.

Sustain us in our care of each other and, I pray,

sustain us in the care of all the communities of which we are a part,

not just our religious community, not just our families,

but our Fordham community too.

Let us not engage in divisiveness

as the wielders of the sickle would have us do.

Let us instead, stand together as a community,

supporting each other in our work,

and by doing so, walking in reverence,

reifying the wondrous order our Gods have made.

ALU (11).

End Notes:

1. For those wanting to learn more about Heathenry please see Krasskova, A Modern Guide to Heathenry. Newburyport, MA, 2019 and Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing, 2015.
2. See Krasskova, Transgressing Faith: Race, Gender, & The Problem of ‘Ergi’ in Modern Heathenry. NY, NY: Sanngetall Press, 2013.
3. Prose Edda, “Gylfaginning,” chapter 9.
4. Prose Edda, “Skáldskaparmál,” 43.
5. The Eddas, Skaldic Lays, and many of the Sagas may be found here in English and Old Norse: http://www.voluspa.org. The translations used are public domain. Heathen lore consists of a number of texts of which the Eddas are only a part.
6. The manuscript is unfinished. All translations of the various names are my own unless otherwise stated.
7. It goes without saying that this cosmology and the religions in which these Gods are venerated have *nothing at all* to do with Marvel and its terrible, appropriative, and religiously disrespectful franchise.
8. We always have to remember that these texts are highly mediated, not just by virtue of having been written after the indigenous religions of Scandinavia, England, Iceland, and Germany were largely erased by an often forced Christian conversion, but also because we’re working in large part in translation, and we are living in a very different world than our ancestors. I always encourage people when reading theological texts, or texts that are being used theologically, to look at the world behind the text: the historical context; the world within the text: the story itself/what’s actually happening and by and to whom in the text; and the world in front of the text: what we ourselves take from it. See Stichele and Penner, Contextualizing Gender in Early Christian Discourse: Thinking Beyond Thecla. London, UK: T&Clark International, 2009 on different ways to read religious texts.
9. The High One is a by-name of the God Odin (old Norse spelling: Oðinn).
10. Stanza 59 is a good example of the emphasis on rising early and getting the most out of one’s own workday. For a sampling of its stanzas on friendship see my own article here: https://tinyurl.com/323pw8ar.
11. A powerful expression that my particular denomination uses in much the same way as “Amen.” It is comprised of three runes that we interpret as “may the blessings of the Gods (ansuz), flow (laguz) into health and wholeness (uruz).

Copyright 2024 Galina Krasskova

Contemplative Living Series – Shiva’s Rule – I will strive always for mindfulness and clarity of soul.

As always, I want to begin with the disclaimer that Rules for the Order of the Horae, including this  rule, may be found here. I’m not part of this Order, but I am using their rules as a jumping off point for these explorations of contemplative and/or devotional living. Please note, these rules were originally intended for a contemplative community. I’m expanding upon them, beyond the boundaries of contemplative living, in ways that I hope will be beneficial to devotion in general and living a devout life in particular. 

I give this rule to Hoenir, one of the three creator Gods in our tradition. As a creator God, Hoenir gifted us with cognition, firing synapses, our minds, our ability to reason, our intellectual curiosity and, more and more I am coming to think, our capacity to sense the holy. The cultivation of that latter capacity is really important for cultivation of virtue, for developing oneself as a human being in relationship with the Holy Ones, and also, for finding the right way to fill our moral hunger, and for becoming a good and honorable lineage carrier. 

I think this rule is about mindfulness and doing the work. That’s such a slippery platitude sometimes, isn’t it? “Doing the work.” Wtf does that mean? I think for me, and the way that I would teach this to my students, it means not giving up and always, always seeking for greater understanding of the holy Ones. It means seeking always to live ever more fully in a way that honors Them. That means dealing with one’s own issues, acknowledging both our good and less than good motivations and seeking to better them. It means confronting our fears and the slimy, twisting, envious, nasty little parts of ourselves too and clearing out the spiritual detritus. Sometimes it might mean getting secular therapy and reevaluating how we care for ourselves on a physical and health level. 

At its heart as well, this rule is about developing discernment and using it in our daily lives, our spiritual lives, and how we engage with the Holy Powers. This rule comes last in the set because, I think, it encompasses the work we put into the other eleven rules and those other rules help us here in this work toward our Holy Ones. I think that this is a “rule” that we can all follow and should: spirituality, our lives lived in devotional relationship with our Holy Ones is not something static. It is ever evolving and we are ever going – hopefully!—more deeply into understanding. That understanding encompasses us, our world, our devotional lives, the Holy Ones. We are working toward ἁρετή – excellence and goodness. That’s not a one and done. It’s a lifetime’s practice. 

This concludes my contemplative living series, at least insofar as the Rules of the Order of the Horae go (there are only 12 rules). What would you like me to focus on next? Odin’s heiti (something I’ve wanted to do for awhile) or various Orphic aphorisms and sayings of note? Let me know and I’ll get started.  

Happy Tuesday, folks. 

Contemplative Living Series: Brigid’s Rule- I will maintain loyalty to the endurance of my order.

As always, I want to begin with the disclaimer that Rules for the Order of the Horae, including this  rule, may be found here. I’m not part of this Order, but I am using their rules as a jumping off point for these explorations of contemplative and/or devotional living. Please note, these rules were originally intended for a contemplative community. I’m expanding upon them, beyond the boundaries of contemplative living, in ways that I hope will be beneficial to devotion in general and living a devout life in particular. 

I give this rule to Thor. Thor, as I have experienced Him, is the epitome of groundedness, of loyalty, of steadfastness and I think that when we are living within a tradition, or within a religious order (in this, I’d apply the same rubric to both) at the end of the day, what we contribute and what we gain comes down to just that: steadfastness and loyalty to the tradition. It’s a matter of choosing to stay the course. I would say this same type of commitment can be applied to one’s household and family too. This is the Rule that provides a bridge over difficulties and annoyances, vexations large and small that come from living with others in close quarters. What are we working toward? Why are we together and how can we nurture each other’s vocations and each other’s devotion to our Gods? This rule demands, I think, a tremendous commitment not just toward religious life and to one’s tradition, but also a willingness to confront, admit, sit with, and resolve difficult and uncomfortable emotions. It demands a respect for the hierarchy of a House but at the same time and in equal measure, demands that the elders of a House and tradition live up to their responsibilities toward those coming up in that tradition. That web of mutual and interlocking obligations means that we cannot ignore the small fissures that can easily grow into chasms of resentment and envy. Everyone needs to own their shit, so to speak. That is a type of radical honesty and deep commitment to self-knowledge (Γνῶθι σαυτόν) that I don’t think we are commonly encouraged to cultivate in relationships. To do our religious work well, within a House, a tradition, particularly within a religious order, I really do think it needs to be a cultivated and nourished expectation. It keeps everyone focused, working together, and spiritually clean. It also denies the opportunity for raw and painful emotions to go rancid within the heart. Deal with difficulties when they arise and always, always keep your common goal and ultimate telos in mind. I would also caution to pray regularly and before such discussions. Prayer, it should go without saying, needs to bracket all of this all the time. 

I also think this commitment and the prayer practice and strength of one’s elders throughout the lineage can be a great shield wall against one of the most devastating of spiritual sicknesses: acedia. I’ve written on acedia here https://krasskova.wordpress.com/2018/03/03/fighting-the-noon-day-demon/. I encourage everyone to go read this. I have fought my own battles against this evil spirit and it is intensely difficult to conquer. There are accounts dating back into late antiquity of monks and contemplatives fighting acedia, and it is especially something that will zero in on those living in religious community. Thor is a Power upon which one may call when acedia or any other spiritual malaise, sickness, or attack threatens. He will come with His might and with the force of Mjolnir and drive out the disorder. His very presence creates ordered space and evil spirits, and pollution cannot exist within sacral and ordered space. 

I think this Rule also tells us right up that spiritual work is hard. Whether one is a lay person committed to regular devotion, a contemplative, or a specialist or anyone else, spiritual work is difficult, challenging, often upsetting, sometimes unspeakably joyful but the daily grind as with anything else can be just that: a grind unless we choose to consciously elevate it. It’s up to us to keep in mind our telos, both with building our traditions but also with our souls and our relationship to our Gods. 

I don’t even know what to say

But I want to share something that happened to me earlier this week. This didn’t involve anyone in the polytheistic community and I’m removing any identifying information – it’s not really relevant to the story. I’m still within a six day process of purification and cleansing as a result of what I’m about to describe, at least one of which left me vomiting and sick from pollution, and I’m not even sure what to say about all of this, but I wanted to share it as a cautionary tale. 

As an artist I often attend local events. This past week I attended a talk and exhibit by an artist who works within a particular religious tradition (not one of ours). I walked in and saw a colleague, a lovely woman that I’ve known for several years wearing the biggest evil eye charm I have ever seen. In retrospect I need to ask her when next I see her if she’d had a preview of the art and knew what we were in for but had to attend anyway for work reasons. 

I got some coffee and sat down to watch the artist’s presentation which included a slide show, after which we were able to go into the gallery space with her to look at her art.  This was a troubling event for me. On the positive side, the art was beautiful, and while I knew about the secular version of this type of art, I was completely unfamiliar with the religious tradition thereof and the historical examples that the artist highlighted in her brief talk were quite lovely. As an (acrylic) artist myself, I very much believe that art is meant to elevate our souls to our Gods and that to bring beauty into the world, to cultivate it, create it is to praise the Holy Ones. The artist even articulated similar sentiments early in her talk but then she began discussing some of her more modern and vaguely political art and for me, it went downhill – not because of the politics either. 

At one point, I strongly feel she blasphemed her own religion and I myself felt stained by having been present. At every turn, both in her talk and in the small gallery, she demeaned her religion’s traditional beliefs in evil spirits, the use of its sacred symbols (which she uses in her art), and even iconography of angels as “superstitious” in the most contemptuous of registers. I suspect, because there were religious people present, she kept repeating that more than she normally would have or else felt that she needed to apologize in case anyone suspected her of practicing her traditional faith. The blasphemy occurred with a piece that reworked a traditional protective charm to elevate both living human women and a particular demon over God. It was difficult to listen to. I don’t expect that colleagues and artists will be religious, but I was caught off guard by the outright blasphemy (that certainly affected a number of people from her own community who were present). When later looking at the art in the gallery I found much of it sterile. The pieces that sang were ones that celebrated human emotions – a piece celebrating new-found love was particularly powerful. The rest was just… sterile, and I couldn’t figure out why until I saw the final piece in the exhibit: a painting of an important historical religious figure with a powerful symbol of this religious tradition, sitting in front of a very modern, very fancy muscle-car. The image itself was tepid but her description noted that this painting symbolized how it was time for tradition to give way to modernity. It never occurred to this artist to question whether or not this was a positive thing (I don’t believe it is). It never occurred to her that tradition may be the curative for the ills of modernity and if we paid more attention to nurturing our religious traditions and to devotion we’d have an easier time dealing with the issues of repairing the world. Basically, I think her art did nicely and sometimes beautifully capture human emotions, like love… but God, and elevation of the Holy eluded her to a degree approaching hubris. Perhaps this is an artist’s prerogative, but it was something that I did not find particularly pleasant to be around. She dismissed the piety and tradition and traditional practices and beliefs of her religion so contemptuously that after an hour I was ready to scream. The blasphemy however, to be specific was consciously and knowingly elevating the demonic or even the human over her God. In this art form, that happened in the context of a traditional amulet form where the apex of the art piece should have been a statement that God conquers evil. This artist changed that to “God praises X” (the demonic name); and she meant it.  

I walked out of the talk (and noticed that several people did not enter the gallery, even though they had been present for the talk) and went home, feeling more disturbed by the moment. When I got home, I immediately purified myself. Being present during blasphemy, even if it isn’t of one’s own religion (and really, if someone is as blasphemous – and this woman was knowingly elevating the unholy above her God – toward her own tradition then it follows that she’d be just as offensive toward other religious traditions too) and what I can’t understand is why she even connects her art to her religion when she obviously has nothing but contempt for that religion. From her words, she doesn’t seem to realize 2+2=4 and instead finds the tradition itself onerous. Yes, one can venerate a God outside of the tradition handed down at the behest of that God…I suppose. But to do so while attacking the tradition with one’s words and art is disgusting. 

I was so physically sick from it (a symptom that I often have when exposed to extreme spiritual pollution) that my husband went to the divination mat for me to see if greater cleansing protocols were required and they were. It took hours to even begin to feel clean again from a brush with something blasphemous. Was it her words? Was it the art? Or was it rather that art is a conduit for the holy and when someone takes that and consciously, knowingly, pridefully twists it into something shitting on the work of their God, it can be used by something else, something foul, something aligned against the holy? Or at best, it is soulless. Either way, our ancestors were right: what we view, what we expose ourselves to has the potential to grievously affect our souls. We need to make sure that the creations of our hands do not by our intent, serve the unholy. The line between art and magic is very thick after all. Caveat videns. 

Oath rings in Heathenry — great piece

Hard Knocks – Oaths and Doors

Ve is another name for Loður, a God Whom at least one skaldic poem equates with Loki. In our House, we absolutely see Loður as Loki and His other by-name is Ve…food for thought there. Great food for thought.

Sunna in Kenaz, a prayer, and a sigil

Last night was the last night of Sunwait. Next week is Mothernight, Yule proper, and then we usually do a ritual the day following for Sunna and Mani. I don’t have a prayer to share for Sunna in kenaz – I spoke extempore during the rite. What I will share is an insight given as we were in ritual.

My assistant Tove got an insight of Kenaz as a kiln, warming and annealing the crafts that nourish us. Her drum beats as I galdred came as the hammer hitting the anvil of the forge through which craft is made. It opened a door with the rune galdr, during the rite, took us right back to the moment of creation, when Audhumla watched as the three Creator Gods Who rose up out of time to craft the worlds, and the House of Mundilfari took Their places in sustaining that greatest of creations.

Sunwait is such a beautiful way of transitioning into the Yule period, of traveling down, with Sunna in Her glory, to the nadir of Her journey and all the deep mysteries that lie there. I will write more about this later, but for now, I wanted to share two things, a prayer, and then again, the sigil for wealth and abundance that I made in October. It’s been a rough year for all of us and I pray that 2024 brings us goodness, gladness, and what we need to thrive.

I forgot to take a photo of the shrine before we began the ritual – a lot was going on! – but the photo at the very end of this post is a shrine picture from an earlier sunwait rite.

Secondly, here is a prayer. Ok, I’m going to preface this by fully admitting that as a Heathen, this prayer or type of prayer is weird (to me) but my Gods is it effective. I initially got the germ of what you see below from a brief run in with a co-worker, a work-friend and very, very nice man. He is one of the most rooted, grounded people that I have ever met. Every time I see him, he brightens my day. When last we spoke, he mentioned that he was going through a difficult time, and we talked for awhile, and then he said, “I’m going to be fine. I pray the blood every day,” and spoke with such firm and unwavering faith and conviction that I was deeply moved. I had heard the term “praying the blood,” and knew that within certain iterations of Protestant Christianity this is a powerful point of connection with their God. One prays the blood, pleads the blood, is washed in the blood (of Christ, obviously). I couldn’t get the image out of my mind, and as I was on my way home after that conversation, I got pinged with the epiphany that this might be something our respective traditions could share (or that I could adapt, as I did below, as spiritual tech). We too, after all, have Gods Who have shed Their blood in powerful ways, ways from which we ontologically and spiritually benefit.

So, that led to several weeks of meditation and prayer. I was uncomfortable at first even trying to articulate this, and then gratefully Odin’s wod was given and I was inspired. I wrote the prayer below at a moment where I was feeling under intense spiritual attack. Then I surrounded myself with the power of its words and the wod of the Gods riding within them. I was utterly and completely protected, and I knew it, knew to the core of my being that nothing was capable of penetrating the power of that God-stuff, which They had infused with holy power and purpose. So, I use this now as part of my protective arsenal.

Normally I wouldn’t share it. I have a book of prayers and tech that I’ve collected over the years to combat spiritual attack. Most of it is for kept in-House, but this past week, in a session of deep divination I was instructed to share this specific one, and so here you go. Use it or not as you wish.

 

Praying the Blood

By G Krasskova

I come to You, Odin, I come to You, Lodhur, I come to YOu, HOenir
and I place myself, my entire soul, heart, mind, and spirit under Your protection.
Guide me and lead me, oh my Gods, and I will go where You would have me walk.
Until I breath my last breath back into Your mouth, oh God, Odin, Breathgiver,
Soul-giver, I will serve You and Your Brothers in all ways You command.

I stand before the Tree of Power and I call upon the sacred blood,
the blood of sacrifice, the blood of creation, the blood of my Gods.
I plead the blood of He Who Hung on the Tree, Galdrafather,
He Who with His own spear gave Himself to Himself in sacrifice.
I pray the blood of Odin upon my self, my soul, my home, and my family.
May we be drenched and filled with its protection.

I stand before the Tree of Power and I call upon the Sacred Blood.
I plead the blood of Odin, Who ripped out His own eye,
tossing it to Mimir’s Well, in His quest for wisdom.
I pray the blood of Odin over me and mine, our souls, our home,
and all that we love and I ask for its protection.
I pray the blood of this God as a shield against all who would do us harm.

I stand before the Tree of Power and I call upon the Sacred Blood,
the Blood of Lothur, Loki Whose lips were bound with wiry sinew,
crafted by the duergar, even as He brought gifts of might to the Gods.
I pray His blood upon myself and my family, my home, and all those I love.
May it stand as a fierce shield between us and all who might wish us harm.

I stand before the Tree of Power and I call upon the Sacred Blood,
The blood of Loki and His sons, torn asunder, bound in a dank and serpent filled cave
while His wife — mighty and fearless — stood guard by His side.
I plead the blood of His children Narvi and Vali, the blood of His own wounds,
and I pray this holy blood upon myself and my family
that we may be immune from all demonic attack and harm.

I stand before the Tree of Power and I call upon the Sacred Blood,
the blood drawn by Hoenir, Lothur, and Odin, the blood of Ymir,
first holy Being drawn from the primordial ooze by the Sacred Cow.
I call upon the blood infused with the power of the Holy Gap,
infused with the power of Audhumla, infused with God-stuff
and I pray its protection upon me and mine, my home, my family,
my work, and all that I cherish. May it stand as a mighty shield,
a fortress of power between me and any being wishing me harm.

I plead the blood of three Mighty Gods, Odin, Hoenir, and Lodhur,
I pray the blood upon myself and my Domus,
I place my trust in the Holy Ones,
I plead Their blood over every part of my life,
every part of my family, my home, my work, our health,
our finances, every part of those I care for. I plead Their mighty blood
over everything in my world, and all my blessed spirits.
I pray the blood of the Brothers upon all my life;
And I have full faith in Their protection.
Alu.

Finally, I’m sharing again this money sigil. I created this in late October. Meditating upon it, sending energy into it will bring money and Gods know the way things have been going, we can all use a little more money. Print it and meditate upon it, and work it consistently over time. That is all. Happy Sunwait.

May Sunna and Her family always be hailed.

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. 

Clarification

Several people have asked me why I removed my post severely criticizing the very misguided protestors who are “standing with Palestine.”  I think this Israeli-Palestinian war and moreover the way it has been covered in American media, has really ripped the mask off those who think themselves good and moral people and has shown something truly vile lying beneath the surface. Children who cannot even find Israel on a map are turning out in droves advocating the eradication of Jews. 

I deplore the damage, the harm that is happening to children in Gaza but I support Israel in this conflict.  Rape and the brutal murder of children and pregnant women is not “resistance” to some imagined colonization. It is terrorism. Had Hamas hit a military base only, I wouldn’t feel so strongly about this. They didn’t do that though; they purposely targeted civilians, just like they position their own bases and hide outs underneath hospitals, day cares, and schools. The people who suffer the most from the tactics Hamas deploys are the Palestinians themselves, by the way. Yes, I very much oppose the  pro-Palestine marches and riots, many of which use virulently pro-Hamas language.  I think these protests are , in many cases, a gloss for vicious anti-semitism that has astounded, just astounded me. I never expected to see such anti-semitism bubble up in New York City of all places. That is my position, BUT innocent children are dying and I deal every day with young people who are really, really scared and hurting.  

I am also a vitki, a wyrd-worker, a diviner, a priest, and I believe that there is a force of evil that seeks to unmake our world, to corrupt our minds, hearts, and spirits; moreover, I believe that Evil has been feeding on the terrible, terrible emotions evoked by the horrors we’ve seen on the news, by the wars and genocides, by the hatred and fear drummed up from every side. It feeds, gloats, and seeks to push us to greater and greater destruction. It takes our moral yearning, our moral hunger, our yearning for justice and twists it into something that justifies terror.  It is not our job to feed the Beast, the Enemy. It is our job to restore frith. That can be a violent process to be sure, but it should be clean and my post and the emotions behind it, at the time I wrote it, were not clean. 

That is why I removed my post. It was not clean. Regardless of what we feel about this, our job as devout people, is to pray for peace.