It's been one whole year since I was in flight to what would end up being the most amazing experience of my life
Iceland you have my entire heart and soul. I hope we meet again soon.

Kiana Khansmith
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@starmaxnzx
It's been one whole year since I was in flight to what would end up being the most amazing experience of my life
Iceland you have my entire heart and soul. I hope we meet again soon.
Guess where I’m going next winter
Iceland
The Galdrabók
This is a resource in Icelandic magick, including their system of magick as well as insight on their deities. I would like to read more into it, but for now I share it with all of you.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/15755566/Galdrabok
And can I just say how this is a great way to organize magick? (Shown below)
In fact, I would consider myself relatively uneducated/illiterate in traditional forms of magick (I’m slowly catching up!!) and more experienced with the actual workings and practice of magick firsthand. I am in some desperate need to look more into Icelandic understandings of magick (and other traditions) because even just looking through this book, it clears some things up for me.
Just looking into those classifications of galdur and seidh helps me better classify and put into perspective the mechanics of my own practice and the functionality of magick as I’ve observed.
Sooooo… I have to educate myself some more! And I’m loving it. Just a little disoriented by how much I need to learn and how to manage it all 😅
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Me on amino-> http://aminoapps.com/p/ifmhphx
Icelandic Magical Staves - Workings and Usage
galdrastafir
I’m reading this book on icelandic magic staves and runes and it’s incredibly interesting. While there is some serious stuff like “how to prevent an accident at sea” or “how to find out who stole from you” there is also something that is literally called farting runes and I do not know what to do with that information.
Protective parchment talisman to render the holder immune to all baneful and dark magick. Using traditional Icelandic galdrastafir, maybe it’ll protect you and your blog through the power of tumblr… ~like to charge reblog to cast~
Stafur til að vekja upp draug pendant hand carved by Moon and Serpent
Icelandic magical sigil (galdrastafur) to invoke ghosts and spirits.
For more, please follow my Tumblr or Instagram
I really liked drawing myself with the rat demon. So I did another one!
SELF INSERTS ARE FUN! 👏CRINGE CULTURE IS DEAD!👏
So here is how my s/i would meet Beej. Messing with magic staves again and whoops, accidentally summoned an American demon. Dad's gonna kill me.
🌿 Simona Buratti
Toast to Freyr and Njörðr
(2 days to Jól!)
A toast to the fair gods of Vanaheim, the peacemakers, Yngvi-Freyr and His father Njörðr, to honor Their many gifts. For Freyr, who protects the harvest and brings upon merciful rains, we raise this glass. For Njörðr, who reigns over the seas and grants favorable winds, we raise this glass. We salute you and honor your presence so that you may keep a watchful eye on the land which gives us life. A toast for Freyr and Njörðr, to insure prosperity through the new year. Hail!
Personal ideas for simple devotional acts to Njörðr
Let us all praise the Lord of Ships, the Vanir King. He is the bestower of wealth and the guardian of seas, and his gifts are many! If you’re looking to start working with Njörðr, or worshipping him, these ideas make for quick and simple gestures that showcase your interest. They’re also perfect for a pagan who already maintains a close relationship with the sea, water spirits, or a sea deity. After all, spiritual practice gets hard to sustain when you’re working on a tight schedule! Which is why I hope these little personal ideas can inspire even those of you who already actively worship/work with Njörðr.
First things first: pondering on what Njörðr stands for, what you think he can bring your life and what you think he would appreciate in return.
Going for walks on windy days. Njörðr is said to raise winds that are favorable to sailboats!
Cooking and eating sea products, especially if you can find them fresh! I usually keep an eye out for fishermen’s markets. It’s a good idea to buy locally if the opportunity presents itself. The most important thing is to make sure you’re buying from sustainable fish farming companies, especially if you’re at a restaurant or buying from a grocery store.
Putting the sound of waves as background music before sleep. You can visualize the sea, or the ocean, and use this image to connect with Njörðr either by simply meditating on him and his gifts, or even by praying to him.
If possible, spending time near bodies of water: water is a network which connects the land to the ocean. In the end, all rivers, no matter how small, are bound to the ocean.
Watching documentaries on the sea, or on marine life! The simple gesture of learning about his domain, developing your understanding of it, can make you feel that much closer to the Father of Light-Bringers.
Whenever you’re at a local beach, collecting seashells or rocks which catch your eye! They’re a way to bring a piece of the sea home with you!
Since I cook a lot, there’s this little habit I’ve come to develop, of adding a pinch of sea salt (or fleur de sel) to every recipe. Of course, I won’t do this if I’m cooking a simple sandwich for myself: I’m talking about large pots of soup, meat pies, stews, etc. It’s a way of reminding myself that the Vanir bring about the fertility which allows us sustain ourselves.
Learning sea shanties!!! Did you smile? That’s because sea shanties are fun, and what better way to honor a God than by having fun in their name! One of my favorite songs ever is a folk ballad about an old woman who begs her husband to leave the city and go back to the island where they used to live, where she could watch the seagulls and where he would fish their dinner. Songs such as these can make for beautiful and deeply personal offerings. Once you’ve learned a fisherman’s song, you’ll find yourself humming it in your day-to-day, and thinking of Njörðr as you’re doing so.
Making offerings of coin to him. I’ve heard that he was particularly fond of the coin-shaped chocolates that are wrapped in gold foil! Generally, anything that is made of gold or silver makes for a beautiful offering to him. You can, of course, keep such objects after offering them! The act of sharing them with Njörðr is symbolic, as are many offerings, and you are as entitled to keeping these valuables as you are to drinking offering alcohol after the ritual is done. Placing your silver/gold object on a windowsill or an altar for a day, a week or a month is enough to act as an offering.
When it comes to the Vanir, you usually can’t go wrong with buying local products! What does your area specialize in, in terms of food? Now that summer’s at our door, we’ve reached the perfect time to look into local farmer’s markets. If, like me, you’re in the habit of offering alcohol to some or most of your deities, local draft beer is a great idea for Njörðr. In my area, grocery shops sometimes sell this one beer that’s made using salt water! It’s my go-to for Njörðr, understandably.
Acting generously, taking opportunities to share with others! It’s a way of honoring and embodying the Vanir King’s own benevolence.
As a follow-up, working on your ability to be compassionate: putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes, forgiving a wrong that has been done to you, finding compromise during a conflict with loved ones… If you are put in a position of leadership, lead others with care and attentiveness. Njörðr’s mythological son Freyr is heavily associated with peace. By protecting peace, you are honoring them both.
Keeping a symbol of his on you as an amulet: representations of fish, anchors, lighthouses, ships, or anything else that symbolizes the sea all make for beautiful reminders of Njörðr’s presence. Especially if they are silver or gold-colored! In fact, a simple silver or gold coin, or even just a coin with special meaning in your heart, is the perfect amulet to keep in your wallet/purse in his honor.
Learning to tie knots, or any other simple skill that is useful on a boat is fun and a great way to feel connected with the sea. This goes without saying but if you’ve got the chance to go for a boat ride, take it in his honor!
Asking him to grant you a safe journey before traveling long distances.
Art, Njörðr statue
working with norse deities
óðinn: "don't worry, i'll get it done. just don't ask me how."
frigg: "secrets are worth gold. yours are diamond. share with discretion."
loki: "i'll break your bone so it'll heal right this time."
sigyn: "would you rather be right or be loved?"
angrboða: "you are the only god you have to live with."
freyja: "go loud. we'll deal with the consequences."
freyr: "...we gotta? okay. baby, hold my beer."
njǫrðr: "can i interest you in some chill the fuck out in this trying time?"
hel: "i'll hold you through it—and you still have to do this."
fenrir: "...can we bite them? we could, in fact, bite them."
jǫrmungandr: "this too shall pass."
gullveig: "fuck around. find out. remember."
þórr: "not everything is a nail, but a screw still bows to a hammer."
sif: "everything is a little more possible with a belly full of warm food."
skaði: "there is always an opportune moment. find it."
Random Fact #3,547
Atheism is not a new phenomenon.
Historical examples of atheists include:
5th century BCE, Greece - Diagoras of Melos, a staunch opposer of religion at that time, is accused of blasphemy and has to flee Athens to escape a death sentence.
480–406 BCE Greece - Euripides writes the play Bellerophon, wherein the main character explicitly states that gods don't exist.
400s BCE Greece - Either Euripides or Critias write the satyr play Sisyphus, which features the claim that a clever man invented "the fear of the gods" in order to frighten people into behaving morally.
Unknown date, Ancient Roman Empire -- An atheist gravestone is written, telling travellers that they should cease believing in afterlives and gods*.
823-911 Iran - Ibn al-Rawandi deconverts from Islam and writes against religion. None of his works survive but we know about his opinions because of the surviving works that sought to counter them.
1100s Iran -- Mathematician Omar Khayyam writes a poem deriding the Koran**.
Circa 1200s Iceland - The Old Norse poem Sôlar lioð is written, which mentions men who turned away from Norse Paganism and "in themselves they trusted".
Late 1200s Iceland - The Hrafnkell Saga is written, which features an atheist protagonist who is described as being goðlauss ("godless") and who explicitly says that "...it is folly to have faith in gods."
1500s Italy - Menocchio, a well-liked miller is his small village, publicly declares that it was impossible for Jesus to have been born of a virgin mother, that Jesus was not divine, that much of the Gospel stories were fabrications, that immortality was impossible, and that God may be no more than a figment of human imagination. He is tried for heresy, convicted as an atheist, and burned at the stake.
1546, France - Étienne Dolet is found guilty of atheism and is subsequently strangled and burned for the crime of unbelief.
1500s Italy & France - Giulio Casare Vanini denies the immortality of the soul, says he believes that humans evolved from apes, and insists that religious teachings are false. He flees Italy but is caught in France, where he has his tongue cut out, is strangled, and then burned to death.
1600s Poland - Kazimierz Łyszczyński harshly criticizes priests, argues that the Bible is false, and writes a treatise called The Nonexistence of God. Christians have his tongue and mouth burned with hot irons, his hands burned over a slow fire, and finally his whole body is torched.
1600s Edinburgh, Scotland - 20-year old Thomas Aikenhead (who had no criminal record), is hanged because he “maintained…that theology was a rhapsody of ill-invented nonsense…that the Holy Scriptures were stuffed with such madness, nonsense, and contradictions” and that Christ was an “imposter,” etc.
1817 England - Percy Shelley, husband of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, is denied custody of his children from his first marriage on the basis that he is an atheist (he was also expelled from university for that same reason, btw).
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* "Do not pass my epitaph, traveller
But having stopped, listen and learn, then go your own way
There is no boat in Hades, no ferryman Charon
No caretaker Aiakos, no dog Cerberus
All we who are dead below
Have become bone and ashes but nothing else
I have spoken to you honestly, go on traveller
Least even while dead I seem talkative to you"
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** The Koran! well, come put me to the test
Lovely old book in hideous error drest
Believe me, I can quote the Koran too,
The unbeliever knows his Koran best.
And do you think that unto such as you,
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew,
God gave the Secret, and denied it me?
Well, well, what matters it! believe that too.
Really yearning to be back where my soul feels at home. Where the landvættir make their presence known and the wild and raw energy is almost palpable.
Beautiful hörgr, shared by user OhChiik on flickr