over the moon

queer witch || worships the morrigan || they/them || sidebar (crow) image by mynameistran on deviantart

[kittyoperas]

must be the season of the witch.

for @ioncrescent

[vitterdotter]

I actually don't want to direct people to the fylgja as an alternative to the closed "spirit animal". it feels like telling someone they can engage with a closed practice, as long as they call it by a different name.

[w-y-r-d]

I wanted to hear more about your thoughts on this... So in my view, the fylgja is a part of a person's soul. Everyone has one, regardless of the religion you practice. So why do you think a person can't engage with that part of their soul unless it is with a Norse or Germanic framework?

[vitterdotter]

I do share your view, in the sense that I believe everyone has a fylgja (although I do believe the opposite could be argued, if the later vardoger spirit is an evolution of the fylgja, which not everyone has according to some folklore).  However, I also hesitate to present my beliefs as universal, even when I myself believe them to be. Partially, it's because I don't want to portray my culture's belief system as the one that got it "right", and therefore it is universal  There’s evidence that ritual experiences, for example, are filtered through cultural belief lenses (“The Norse Sorceress” Ch. 1 discusses this, but I haven’t had the chance to explore this more yet).  The idea that two people can experience the same ritual completely differently based on their pre-existing beliefs (often shaped by culture) suggests to me that what I experience as the fylgja will not be a universal experience.  I think this rests upon the fact that the fylgja does not exist in an isolated vacuum, but rather upon a foundation of other Norse/Germanic religious beliefs.

As I’m sure you know, the fylgur are (female) forerunner spirits that are deeply related to fate in the sense that they share our fates (and therefore can also provide premonitions, including premonitions of our deaths) rather than shaping our fates.  This concept alone relies on a few Norse/Germanic beliefs, such as belief in wyrd/ørlög and belief in the Nornir who shape this.  The fylgjur as female fate spirits also connect them to the disir spirits, and our interactions with the fylgjur can be shaped by how we understand the disir to be venerated and petitioned.  The fylgjur as potentially ancestral rests on Norse/Germanic ideas around the ancestors and what happens to the “soul” after death.  The fylgja as one part of the soul also works in combination with other parts of the multifaceted soul, which becomes especially clear when looking at magic surrounding the fylgjur.  Sending the fylgja forth appears to rely on a combination of hugr and önd, shapeshifting with fylgjur may be connected to the hugr and hamr, and baneful attacks using the fylgjur appear to be dependent on beliefs surrounding önd and possession.  The fylgja, although it is one independent spirit, is also inextricably tied to other beliefs around the multifaceted soul.  Therefore, engaging with this part of the soul requires belief in and engagement with other parts of the soul, which also depend on other beliefs in Norse/Germanic cosmology (e.g. Oden as Allfather and giver of önd), and I feel like the more you zoom out the more everything within a practice is interconnected with and dependent upon one another.

Because of this, I do believe it is difficult (although maybe not impossible) to do true eclecticism in a way that’s culturally sensitive (and I say this as someone who syncretizes, and I myself struggle with engaging in multiple beliefs in a way that’s respectful to each system).  I think that once you start removing the foundational beliefs that fylgja rests on, the concept changes so much that it might as well no longer be related to the original other than in name.  I think that to work with the fylgja requires you to also accept many other beliefs within the Norse/Germanic framework that may also be in conflict with beliefs that people working within other frameworks have.  And while I recognize that there’s some overlap with other belief systems (such as the dependence on wyrd/Nornir, and the existence of fate and fate-shapers in other frameworks), I think that ultimately, if you’re filtering the fylgja through another dominant system, the idea of the fylgja changes and ultimately misrepresents belief in the fylgja (whether done consciously or unconsciously).

I think that people who are not working within the Norse/Germanic belief framework should ask themselves why they are interested in working with a part of their soul that they don’t share the underpinning beliefs for.  I’ve seen this idea of the fylgja representing an instinctual/animalistic part of you, and while I personally disagree with this characterization, I think you can engage with an animalistic part of your mind in a secular or culturally nonspecific way.  If there’s an interest in engaging with this part of your mind in a more magical/spiritual way, I think that there’s a lot of different ways to engage with shapeshifting, which can allow you to explore what it feels like to be an animal.  If interest with the fylgja stems from a deep sense of kinship or connection to a specific animal, I think that people can explore alterhumanity and/or working with spirits of that animal.  Ultimately, I also think people could really benefit from creating a fursona, if that’s what the interest really comes down to.  I do also want to highlight that fylgjur aren’t strictly animals, and if interest in fylgjur stems from an interest in fate-related spirits, there’s a lot of frameworks that have similar spirits.  Similarly, the ways that interacting with the fylgja in magical ways that are discussed above can be achieved without fylgur in other frameworks.

Long story short, I think that accepting the fylgja as one of your soul parts requires you to commit to belief in many other Norse/Germanic beliefs.  And if you are committing to belief in a Norse/Germanic framework, while holding other beliefs as true, it takes a lot of reflection to understand contradictions without disregarding one culture’s beliefs away when it becomes inconvenient.  

[salixsociety]

In my personal view it's quite dangerous to conflate a personal religious understanding of something as universal (e.g. your religion informing how you personally view someone's spiritual existence) with that thing being a free for all for anyone to use. A lot of closed practices, or maybe even most, have a cosmological understanding of the world that extends to everyone outside of their tradition too, by nature of those outsiders still being part of the world we share. Just because they inevitably apply their culture to other people, which includes ourselves, doesn't mean we have a right to it or that we could ever understand it. Similarly, just because a Christian views me as a single-souled being, doesn't mean I have to accept that or engage with the concept of a soul at all - nor would it automatically give me the right to engage with Catholic mysticism. So thusly, just because I or the person being reblogged would apply the concept of a fylgja to another person by nature of that person existing in the natural world, and us having beliefs about the operation of said natural world, doesn't mean they have a right to engage with that as though it is theirs.

Ultimately, 'fylgja' is a very strongly cultural word - as all words really are. But this one in particular, like sejdkvinna said, by nature of being native to the specific faith structure and cosmology of the Old Norse, exists in a cultural framework by definition. While words for concepts that a lot of cultures will share, like 'dog', even though that word may have slightly different connotations or associations, it still has an anchor point that is grounded in something that requires almost no real understanding of someone's culture to understand. A dog is a dog is a dog, for the most part - even if to one of the speakers a dog is a protector of property, and to the other a dog is culturally seen as a pest. The dog described is a physical being that can be easily perceived in a way that or more or less objective and the same across perceptions, even if those perceptions are tinged different shades by cultural understandings. 'Fylgja' is not like that. Fylgjur cannot so easily be argued to have an objective or measurable existence in the world, nor is there a way for somebody who has no familiarity with ON culture to easily grasp what the hell a fylgja is. Even though the hypothetical you, coming from this cultural prerogative, can easily apply the idea to other people and understand that from your worldview they fairly objectively have one - which I have in common with @w-y-r-d - doesn't give that person the right to claim that thing as their own. At least not in the sense of then going on to engage with this spirit without any of the cultural context for it. That would be fully fledged appropriation. It's rather different if they are just taking your interpretation of their fylgja and making it part of their self-image without otherwise engaging with it in ways that would require an understanding of what the fylgja is and how it works.

Cultural context, and more pressingly cultural erasure as a result of lack of understanding of said context, is still important and still relevant when it is a white-dominant culture it's happening to. It contributes to the homogenization of white cultural groups in a way that feeds directly into the goal of colonial white supremacy: which is to create one single white identity that can be weaponized against the supposed 'other races'. Not to mention that despite people throwing around claims of ON culture being long dead and gone, ON culture is not only an ancestor culture to groups and traditions that still exist and are scrambling for survival in the modern day, it is also a real culture that actually existed in the past, that was lived and perpetuated by people who deserve respect and autonomy.

Not only do they deserve to be honored for what they've given us when we use their words and their beliefs, but the descendant cultures that are still alive today are entitled to their words as their own, just like Indigenous Americans are entitled to their words for their cosmological concepts. Letting words become meaningless for the sake of easy access and commodification - as is generally the unspoken and unacknowledged motivation in seeking a quick, one-stop alternative for a "spirit animal" - helps absolutely nobody, and it teaches people entirely the wrong attitude when it comes to approaching culture and appreciating it.

[w-y-r-d]

Makes sense, thank you both for the well thought out replies.

[baerchen-gets-better]

Could any of you point me to a resource about the concept of souls in Norse/Germanic faith?

[salixsociety]

Imo there's no good single source about the Old Norse soul complex / multipartite soul / whatever you want to call it, but the best single work I've personally read relating to the subject is H.R.E. Davidson's The Road to Hel (link below), which is primarily about ON death cosmology (which naturally deals quite a fair amount with a person's spiritual makeup). Other sources I've recommended in the past when people have asked about fylgjur specifically include:

This translation of Professor Else Mundal`s dissertation: “Fylgjemotiva i norrøn litteratur” is not flawless but a good introduction.

Icelandic Legends collected by Jón Árnason page ixxix

Dreams in Old Norse Literature and their Affinities in Folklore by Georgia Dunham Kelchner

Bridges Between Worlds by Corinne Dempsey

The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by HRE Davidson

These are all fylgja-research-centric, I recommend reading the Eddas for a better understanding as well, it's more important contextually than you may originally expect. I don't have any recommendations for the rest of the soul complex just offhand, but I'll probably be writing about it on my blog in the near future. I know a lot of people enjoy Winifred Rose Hodge's Heathen Soul Lore, which is a website as well as a book AFAIK, but be aware that it is a personal study, so very UPG heavy. I also recommend looking into the linguistics (etymology, cognates, descendants) surrounding the words used in reference to people and their spiritual makeup, as they are very illuminative!

[vitterdotter]

I personally believe that the best way to understand soul parts is to read (and reread) eddas and sagas, as well as later folklore. I think that reading about the soul parts in the contexts that they are brought up allows you to reflect upon and come to personal conclusions about what parts make up you, how they fit together, and how you can engage with them.

To add to this list that @salixsociety provided:

Sarenth Odinsson has some writings on the soul parts based on personal understanding that I think would be a good introduction to some of the pieces of the soul (it should be noted, how many soul parts there are, and what they are, is a spot of debate).

"The Viking Way" by Neil Price includes a section on a few of the proposed soul parts.

"Spirits through respiratory passages" by Eldar Heide gives some insight into some of the soul parts, especially önd, and gives some ideas on how certain soul parts fit together.

"Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend" edited by Henning K. Sehmsdorf and Reimund Kvideland looks at later folklore, but you can see traces of ON ideas in these sägner, especially in stories surrounding the hugr.

[spacewonder19]

July's Full Moon © astronycc

[prokopetz]

I understand why a lot of fantasy settings with Ambiguously Catholic organised religions go the old "the Church officially forbids magic while practising it in secret in order to monopolise its power" route, but it's almost a shame because the reality of the situation was much funnier.

Like, yes, a lot of Catholic clergy during the Middle Ages did practice magic in secret, but they weren't keeping it secret as some sort of sinister top-down conspiracy to deny magic to the Common People: they were mostly keeping it secret from their own superiors. It wasn't one of those "well, it's okay when we do it" deals: the Church very much did not want its local priests doing wizard shit. We have official records of local priests being disciplined for getting caught doing wizard shit. And the preponderance of evidence is that most of them would take their lumps, promise to stop doing wizard shit, then go right back to doing wizard shit.

It turns out that if you give a bunch of dudes education, literacy, and a lot of time on their hands, some non-zero percentage of them are going to decide to be wizards, no matter how hard you try to stop them from being wizards.

[prokopetz]

@bianca-hooks123 replied:

Man, Protestant churches would be so much cooler if there was Wizard shit.

American Protestants going into wizard shit withdrawal is how we get snake handling:

Snake handling in Christianity - Wikipedia

[electricpurrs]

[electricpurrs]

this post isnt inherently about werewolves and it definitely isnt about any ominous analog horror thing. this post is about how tonight is a full moon night and if you have the opportunity to go outside for a moment and see the moon you can be reminded of how beautiful the world you live in is and how there are always small things to enjoy and appreciate all around you! :-)

[electricpurrs]

ATTENTION ALL MOON HEADS

Tonight (August 19) we have both a Super Moon and a Blue Moon! definitely a good night to look at the moon :-)

if you can't see it, have some nice pictures of tonight's moon!

[electricpurrs]

do not worry if you missed notice last night! the moon should still be visible until wednesday (august 21). it'll still be big and bright and beautiful, and just as worth appreciating ! :-)

[horseavoider-deactivated2025020]

[cryptotheism]

Hey CT! Question, I’m a camp counselor doing a commemoration/good luck walking stick thing to celebrate my last year and I want it to look magic-y so I’m using some original symbols from a blog on here (that I’ll reblog with if u answer this lol) for safe travels & stuff, and adding hidden ‘commands’ like “my tent will stay dry” underneath the wrapping. I also plan to put a bunch of very sentimental patches on it from previous years and put at least 1 real historical symbol for change

Have I stumbled into doing real magic in my attempt to do fake aesthetic magic? It means a lot to me regardless but I think it’d be funny to have done as real a spell as is possible on accident bc of following this blog for so long

Yeah that absolutely counts as practicing magic lol.

[transmechanicus]

Divine beings associated with large scale organized religions are arguably the most divorced from the needs of their worshipers. When you have the prayers of billions being offered in your name, over an extremely diverse range of sects and sub-cults, the entity is actively disincentivized from taking action that might alienate any one group. In fact, once a divinity passes a certain threshold of worshipers, generational momentum is typically sufficient to satisfy its needs with little if any effort to assist its faithful either personally or collectively. At this point the divinity has become irreversibly parasitic, and any individual looking for a healthy or balanced relationship with a higher power would be better served instantiating one personally, and cultivating it in privacy. This directly ties the divinity's worship and sustenance to the welfare and devotion of the single individual, strongly incentivizing a symbiotic relationship with active participation from both parties. In this essay I will-

[bogleech]

How the fuck can there be anti vaccine “witches?” If you disagree with binding an invisible malignant entity into a single drop of potion that seals a subject’s blood against the full force of that very same entity’s curse then you are not and can never be a witch you’re just a karen who buys rocks

[deathandmysticism]

The Book of Forbidden Knowledge, No. 1643

[fillielitsa]

All 13 full moons of 2023

[teaboot]

Every look ICONIC! Our lady can NOT flop!

[servantofthefates]

The Only Tarot Spreads You Will Ever Need in Your Life

Learn these, and forget everything else.

1. The Celtic Cross Tarot Spread

Gives you a comprehensive answer to any question

2. The Soulmate Conversation

Tells you everything about your soulmate

3. The Three Wishes Tarot Spread

Tells you which of your wishes will come true

4. The Two Paths Tarot Spread

Guides you towards making the right decision

5. The True God Shuffle

Reveals which higher power you are connected to

6. The What If Tarot Spread

Shows you alternate realities

7. The True Colors Tarot Spread

Shows you a person's true colors

8. The General Prediction Shuffle

Tells you about your life in general

9. The Life Purpose Draw

Reveals your life purpose in this incarnation

10. The Major Arcana Grand Tableau

Shows you the full year ahead

11. Your True Passion Tarot Spread

Reveals your true passion and how to live it

12. The Life Advice Shuffle

Gives you advice about life's many departments

13. The Sex Life Draw

Reveals your sex life with a current or future partner

14. The Past Life Tarot Spread

Reveals the truth about your past life

15. Allies & Enemies Tarot Spread

Reveals who your allies and enemies are

16. Your Future Children Shuffle

Tells you about any future children of yours

17. Sports Match Prediction Method

Lets you win meaningful bets

18. Age at Death Prediction Method

Tells you how long you will live

19. The High Priestess Tarot Spread

Answers any question about the future

20. The Time Prediction Method

Reveals the timing of any event

[cryptotheism]

Not everything the Christians do is stolen from some anonymous pagan culture. I'm sorry y'all but the Christians did actually come up with a bunch of shit on their own.

[cryptotheism]

Like, if you're looking to criticize the Catholic Church, you really don't need to make up fake pagan traditions for them to steal Easter eggs from. You can bring up the genocides.

[ultimatebottom69]

Oh you mean them killing so many religions and subsenquently stealing ideas from many of them and most of the times they did both so much we kinda just lost track of being able to differenciate ?

[cryptotheism]

Is it really that hard to believe that Christians just came up with the idea of painting eggs for easter?

[chatdomestique]

Ostara is a pagan fertility holiday.

Eggs and rabbits have nothing to do with Jesus, but you know what they are associated with? Fertility

And the word Easter comes from the spring goddess named Eostre

If you’re really gonna fight this battle, at least pick a holiday that isn’t extremely obviously pagan

[cryptotheism]

There are quite literally no pagan sources the record the existence of Eostre. The story about Eostre and the rabbits was probably written in 1887. The vast majority of the supposed Ancient mythology around Eostre was probably written in the 1880s by latent German nationalist writers.

[lunelikethemoon]

happy solstice (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

[cryptotheism]

Wizard! what does the Gävlebocken remaining unburnt but being devoured by birds portend?

I'm thinking good omen, but a wrathful one. It is nature stepping in to complete the works of man. Let this be the omen for the year to come.

[cryptotheism]

Official Wizard Take: "Good omen, but watch out."

[alwinfy]

an occult reading of the right-click action

[alwinfy]

a left click is a click of engagement with an element, but it's engagement on the element's terms. buttons press, checkboxes toggle, inputs select. it's cooperative.

a right click, though, is a refusal of engagement. it's a violence - it states not that i will look at you, but *inside* you. a right click is penetrative.

oh, but it offers so many more options. it's a view of a world beneath, isn't it? it's a world you can only see by looking inside. don't you want to see?

[ndiecity-deactivated20241101]

makes you imagine the sound of a bowling ball striking pins

[normal-horoscopes]

This counts as a spell.