🌱🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌸 @belialbi - Tumblr Blog

Above image - stone carving depicting a bound figure, possibly Loki.

Below text from "The End of the World in Scandinavian Mythology" by Anders Hultgård (Oxford, 2022)

"Dumézil finds the closest parallels to this in the Scandinavian story about Baldr’s death and Ragnarök. Duryodhana corresponds to Loki in Scandinavian tradition and they both scheme in similar ways to get rid of their enemies. They arrange a game, which they manipulate in such a way that their opponents are overcome. Yudhishthira corresponds to Baldr; he loses everything and is forced to leave, whereas Baldr dies and disappears into the realm of the dead. Both Duryodhana and Loki use other people in order to accomplish their plans: in India, the blind Dhritarashtra allows the game of dice with the supernatural opponent; in Scandinavia, the blind Hod carries out the evil deed. In both traditions, a gloomy period follows on from this: in India, the exile of the Pandavas; and in Scandinavia, the current world coming to an end. In the Mahābhārata, this is a fairly short period of time, but in what Dumézil believes to have been the original myth, it was much longer and represented the end time, Kali Yuga. In both myths, this period ends in a huge clash between good and evil forces. The good times that follow during the reign of Yudhishthira correspond to the renewal of the world in the Scandinavian myth."

dreamyvixen

strings-harmony

my altar space✨

argonavta

Greco-Roman curse doll

2nd century CE

yvesdebrabander

aleister crowley 1875-1947

caroline-vibecheck

Does anyone know why he was making this fuckass pose anyway

rednines

Represents the goat horns of Pan

pisces-core

bovinefigureoftheday

Bovine figure of the day: Hamish Mackie Longhorn Bull Head

justablkkid

cheerfulomelette

Children do not go to Valhalla

I saw one of those "Valhalla does not discriminate against the type of battle you lost" posts go by my dash. I really want to say something but the notes are full of people grieving and saying how much comfort this re-interpretation gave them and I'm not that much of a bastard.

This story of the littlest cancer patient going to Valhalla is kind of upsetting but I struggle to articulate why. It's like Christianity wearing my faith like a costume.

I don't want to call it cultural appropriation because, you know, Norse Paganism/Heathenry/Ásatru is a reconstruction of a dead faith - a (more or less) historically-informed best guess based on scanty surviving evidence (much, if not all, of that Christianised). It's public domain mythology, reuse and remix as you like, etc, etc.

But...

Valhalla is not and has never been a place of rest and healing, and to say it is is to fundamentally misunderstand the mythology. Valhalla is where Odinn is building an army to fight the war at the end of the world. It is not a place for children or victims of domestic violence or cancer patients or anyone like that.

If you're drawn to Norse mythology, if you're grieving and you want to believe that your loved ones are in a better place, let me give you a different story.

It starts with a little girl, a child whom the gods deemed monstrous. Her name is Hela and she's the daughter of Loki, so she every right to claim a home in Ásgard. But, as I said, she was called monstrous for her appearance and her heritage and all but cast out. She was given her own realm, far away from the gods, and tasked with caring for the dead that Odinn (etc) have no use for.

The charge that the gods give this outcast child was considered shit-work. Un-honourable, if not actually dishonourable. An insult for a goddess.

But Hela took that duty with solemnity and made Helheim a home for her wards. It's not a hall full of warriors feasting and drinking and fighting. It's quiet; a rest at the end of a hard life. A place full of children and grandparents, mothers and fathers, farmers and shepherds. You and me.

Helheim, like its mistress, is misunderstood and maligned. When we, who have no place in war, die, Hela will accept us into her hall, care for us, and let us to rest, instead of demanding we keep fighting forever.

It's where most of us will go, and that is not a bad thing. There are no entry requirements. It's not heaven, it's not even The Good Place, it's the default - to be with our people, to be cared for and looked after, to be free from pain and struggle. Helheim is a place of acceptance, care, peace, and rest. It's not paradise, but I don't think it sounds that bad.

dionysianivy

Dionysus Mainolês

“The Mad, the Furious, the Raging One.” An epithet for Dionysus Mainolês, from mainomai: to rave, to be insane, be out of one’s mind, to be frenzied, full of inner rage (fury).

princesssokphanny

A once-in-a-lifetime shot — the moon perfectly framed by a rainbow. Caught at just the right time. 🌈 🌕

teapartyforthewitches-deactivat

Hello, I'm just entering the witch community and I was wondering if you have any tips for someone who wouldn't be able to get their own supplies due to being a minor living with their parents?

Hi hun, sorry it’s taken me so long to reply!First of all, may I ask why you have to keep it from your parents? Do they not approve or are against it?

Honestly, I’m not really sure how to answer this, asI’m a very new witch myself. Maybe one of my followers and/or @breelandwalker might be able to help me out here?

breelandwalker

Hello, witchling!

I’d like to echo OP’s question for your practice, because it does sort of affect the answer. If you’re in a living situation where it’s not feasible (or safe) to practice at home, you may want to consider working with no-component or low-component magic. Study materials can be found for free at public libraries or in public domain archives onlines, and you can use ebooks or password-protected drives to keep your notes and materials sage. You might also find a separate space for your practice, like a park or community center or a friend’s house.

The good news in any case is that witchcraft can be done with literally anything, or even nothing at all. (Energy work is a whole thing.) I find a great deal of my components in the spice aisle at the supermarket, at the local craft store, at farmer’s markets, and even in office supply stores. I also find useful items just walking around and foraging, or in my own garden, or just in things I have laying around the house. Fancy overtly-occult items are nice and all, but they’re not required to make your magic work. Being able to use what you have on hand or make magic with minimal materials is a good skill to develop and a fun creative exercise anyway. The most important component in any spell is the witch casting it, so keep that in mind as you build your practice.

In all things, PUT YOUR OWN SAFETY FIRST. If you need to put off studying or starting a practice until you’re in a better situation, do it. In the meantime, you can always development witchcraft-adjacent mundane interests like folklore, mythology, philosophy, religion, art, history, biology, botany, environmental science, gardening, cooking, geology, gemology, and so on. You’d be surprised how much you can learn about magic by studying topics surrounding it, and it’s a great way to build your practical skills and a functional knowledge base that will serve you well later on.

Hope this helps, and good luck!