Heathen Disaster

Norse polytheist with an open question box! • Guided by Freyr and devoted to Freyr • Fascists, white supremacists and homophobes DNI #allfathernotsome

[broomsick]

Inclusive heathenry

Hi hi! @broomsick here! Welcome to my blog!

Sun ♋️ Moon ♈️ Asc ♐️ | any pronouns

I am agender and major! Please don’t hesitate to ask me questions by messaging me or sending an ask!

I’m a practicing norse polytheist but very interested in other pagan practices so please tell me about your beliefs, I’m willing to hear everything about them!

I try to spread as much information about norse paganism and norse myths as I can, as accurately as possible. I worship the Æsir, the Vanir and the Rökkr, and will post about all of these. I also venerate Jötnar and landvættir (skogvættir more often than not), as well as the Dísir. I worship some specific spirits outside the scope of the norse path, namely the Greenman, who I see as a forest spirit, and the Fox spirit. I will post about the sagas as well, as I am currently reading them.

Question box is open to new witches and new pagans, or just to anyone respectful!

My tags:

#eddas = passages from the eddas

#sagas = passages from the sagas

#norse paganism = my religion

#prayers = my devotional writings

#spells = my spellcraft

#asks = questions I’ve answered

[sacredlittleember]

this is exactly how certain spirits feel to me — not fully person, not fully landscape, but something in between.

the kind of presence you would meet at the edge of the woods, half-grown from light and moss, carrying a branch like a staff and saying absolutely nothing because it doesn’t need to.

some beings are not here to be understood. just respected.

[oathtoblood]

“Beowulf calls Sigmund’s and Sinfjötli’s deeds foul as well as fair, the Völsunga saga portrays the two as outlaws living in the woods by robbery. The old Indo-European notion that warriors bear a burden of sin was thus still alive in northern Europe through most of the Middle Ages. So was the custom of sending young men as wolves into the wilds for training in survival and conquest of new land. Sigi, Sigmund’s grandfather, was such a wolf-warrior guided by Woden. Sigmund and Sinfjötli are thus true-to-type wolf warriors: of ambiguous morals, boundless strength, and fierceness in battle. They were also men to whom Woden’s presence brought the power and magic that was in the beginning.”

— Michael Speidel, Ancient Germanic Warriors: Warrior Styles from Trajan's Column to Icelandic Sagas

[sacredlittleember]

I know so many people feel cut off from the natural world because it feels inaccessible — because of illness, disability, money, transportation, location, fear, exhaustion, or just life being life.

But I promise you, nature is not as far away from you as it may feel.

I’ve felt that too. Some days I desperately want to go outside, to be surrounded by trees and dirt and wind, but I’m limited by my own circumstances. So I’ve had to learn how to find the natural world in smaller, softer ways.

Sometimes I sit on my porch, lie on a blanket, and just stare at the sky. I thank it for being there. I watch the clouds move. I let the air touch me.

Sometimes I look out my window and see birds, and immediately think of Hera.

Some days I’m too sick to get out of bed, so I get a glass of water, swirl it around, and listen to it. And yes, maybe it sounds silly, but I hear the ocean in it. That water still belongs to the natural world. It still came from somewhere ancient.

If you can’t go to the woods, you can watch a nature documentary and thank Pan or Artemis or any deity you associate with the wild.

If you can’t walk barefoot in the grass, you can touch a houseplant.

If you can’t sit under the moon, you can look at a photo of her.

If all you can do today is breathe, then breathe with the earth. That counts too.

Nature is not only found in forests, mountains, rivers, and beautiful places far away from you.

It is in your tap water. It is in the birds outside your window. It is in the weeds growing through concrete. It is in the sky above your home. It is in your own body, your breath, your hunger, your tiredness, your heartbeat.

Please don’t feel discouraged if your connection looks small right now.

Small is still sacred.

You are not separate from the natural world. You are part of it. 🌿

[cunningqueer]

Btw it's okay to believe magic is real. You don't need to try to logic your way through or obscure science and "spicy psychology" the magic into "rational" things.

I'm 30 years old, I believe in magic and I believe it is **magical**

[templeofmercury]

This is also true of religion. You don't have to justify it in materialist terms, an ardent materialist won't respect what you're doing no matter how you frame it. It's perfectly fine to have beliefs based in subjective experience that you can't prove to anyone else.

[broomsick]

Yes the Gods are loving, but they are also mighty. They are flawed, but they’re also giving and kind. They don’t need to be one or the other. All of their countless opposing facets can coexist at once.

[broomsick]

Óðinn has so many facets, and although it’s not very much talked about, I love to picture him as a loving figure, gently guiding the dead into the otherworld.

[busridetohelheim]

I am so glad someone else sees it!

When I first lost my mother, I had a Flash of Inspiration (thank you Allfather, Mad God of Creative Ecstacy) and wrote a little myth about Óðinn as a bus-driving psychopomp. In this myth he was loving in the way a blue collar worker is— gruff, but kind and blunt about the truths of the situation.

[broomsick]

Psychopomp is the right word! That’s exactly what I meant, I’m glad you see it too.

[broomsick]

Óðinn has so many facets, and although it’s not very much talked about, I love to picture him as a loving figure, gently guiding the dead into the otherworld.

[broomsick]

Prose for Freyr

Rain is giving by your will, and poured with your blessing, golden King, from the meadows of Yggdrasil, where among the hidden people, you were enthroned.

Burn at the deepest reaches of the earth, along the webs of roots, under every flower. Draw life from decay, blooms from the ice, music from the hours of dawn, unspoken and true.

Trees and rushing rivers, in their might, flow with your pulse like blood. Glorious peace, by your grace, is bestowed upon grief-stricken souls, the gift of harmony beyond conflicts and strife.

Daily trials cloud the mind like fog, in the endless cycle of resting and waking, the tidal force of doubt where your hand reaches, to grasp mine and leave your mark.

Hope, the world’s undying truth, goes to dust with each sunset, and with each sunrise, is reborn again. Hear me, King of Kings, fragrant and luminous, ruling from the high seat of golden Álfheimr:

I thank you for your countless gifts, the welcome rain and sun, the moments of perfect bliss, which you give freely. I praise you for your loving presence, your grounding power, your steady guidance.

Hail to the Son on of the sea, the Brother of Freyja, the God of the World. Hail to the boar-rider, the joy-giver, the bestower of wealth-gifts and peace.

[ur-folk]

“The wolfish aspect of the Greek god Apollo seems to connect him both to death and to fertilizing and live-giving powers, in consonance with the other doubled or contradictory aspects of this god, who surely resembles another god with wolf names and companions, the Norse Óðinn”  

“The wolf-image ordinarily would be attached to the aggressive second function warrior but what might be called wolf-kings are also seen: Lykos or 'wolf' was a king-name in ancient Thebes; Sigmund and his son (in Volsunga saga) took their lycanthropic posture and powers from wolves' skins once worn by two shape-changing princes (konungasynir, Vols. c8) while the violent war-king of Norway, Harald lúfa, himself showing a near-berserk image, had his own berserker band of Wolfskins, Úlfhèðnar (Heimskringla 19).”

-- Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (1997), page 647 by J.P. Mallory and Douglas Adams

[oathtoblood]

Thorshammer amulets found in Scandinavia and the Baltics from the Late Viking Age (10th Century AD)

[broomsick]

A measure of wisdom | each man shall have,

But never too much let him know;

For the wise man's heart | is seldom happy,

If wisdom too great he has won.

The Hávamál, stanza 55

[broomsick]

Jewel of the Gods,

Your fair heart beats still;

Bleeding God, gold adorned

My own sings with praise.

To the otherworld confined

Is the ice-melting light;

Eternally gloried and mourned

Is the adored Æsir Son.

[broomsick]

Happy May Day all! I pray for the season to bring you all success, rest, and more importantly, lots of occasions to connect with nature and the sun ❤️

[broomsick]

“It is so said, that Óðinn did this by way of atonement to Skaði: he took Þjazi’s eyes and cast them up into the heavens, and made of them two stars.”

Skáldskaparmál, 4: About Þjazi’s Line

[broomsick]

Glory to the wild, the deep woods, the quiet roar of winter

Glory to the scorching sun, the rain that rips through the clouds

Glory to the unreachable peaks, the carved rock of valleys

Glory to roots and stretching branches, and slumbering life;

Praises and veneration for the seasons.

Praise the foe of Beli, the wane son

Praise the giver of wealth, the elf lord

Praise the son of Njörðr, brother of Freyja

Praise the king of kings who is called Yngvi.

[broomsick]

One week left until May Day! Here are a few ideas for a quick and easy solitary celebration:

Make your home smell like flowers! Using a fragrance diffuser, room spray, scented candles, or any other method on hand.

Open the windows and the curtains, let the sunlight and the outside air in. I find that on tough mental health days, when it's difficult to even leave the house, this is enough for me to feel refreshed and in tune with the season.

Wear colorful clothes and jewelry! Let yourself stop caring what people think, and show your joy outwardly.

Eat a simple, healthy and nourishing meal! I always go for something cold, like a salad or a bowl, because it reminds me of the summer season!

On a warmer day, grab a cold drink and sit outside, in the yard or on the balcony, and just bask in the sun for a while.

Play with fire! In the gaelic tradition, Bealtane was a fire festival, symbolizing the return of the sun. If a bonfire is out of the cards, then simply lighting a candle will do!

Treat yourself to a new houseplant, a bouquet of flowers to decorate the table, or even start planning for your garden.

Engage in spiritual work related to the sun!