[drekisdottir]

Tree-Persons

I've been thinking a lot about humanity's kinship with trees in a Heathen animist context recently. For example, in one creation myth the first humans are made from two trees, and there are over 600 recorded kennings for people that include comparing humans to trees. This has made me think about trees as our cousins and what that means for our relations with them.

To help explore these ideas, I drew this picture and I’m really proud of the result. The runes around the outside say “for good relations with all our kin, human and non-human.”

As always, you can get this design on my Redbubble here:

A Viking knotwork design combining a tree and a person, with a Web of Wyrd symbol on their stomach. The runes around the outside say "for go

[thorraborinn]

is it true that skoll chases the moon and not the sun?

The short answer is that it appears to be "no." As far as we can tell, Skoll/Sköll chases the sun.

Grímnismál says:

Sköll heitir ulfr, er fylgir inu skírleita goði til varna viðar, en annarr Hati, hann er Hróðvitnis sonr, sá skal fyr heiða brúði himins. 'A wolf is named Sköll who follows the bright-faced god to the wood-shelter, but the second is Hati, he is Hróðvitnir's son, that one shall (go) before the bright bride of the sky.'

('Wood-shelter' is taken to mean the trees on the horizon, that is, until setting.)

Snorri restates this in plainer prose language:

Þat eru tveir úlfar, ok heitir sá, er eftir henni ferr, Skoll. Hann hræðist hon, ok hann mun taka hana. En sá heitir Hati Hróðvitnisson, er fyrir henni hleypr, ok vill hann taka tunglit, ok svá mun verða. 'There are two wolves, and the one which goes after [the sun] is called Skoll. She fears him, and he will take her. And the other is called Hati Hróðvitnisson, who runs before her, and he wants to take the moon, and that will happen.'

So strictly speaking, neither of them chase the moon. According to both of these, Sköll follows behind the sun, and though Hati will eventually take the moon, his position is described as being in front of the sun.

It's not clear to me that the Grímnismál stanza couldn't be interpreted such that it skírleita goð could be Máni rather than Sól, though I agree the traditional interpretation is much more likely. The word goð 'god' reveals nothing about gender, as it's neuter in Old Norse. But while the word skírleitr 'bright-faced' could certainly apply to the moon in isolation, if someone says "the bright-faced one" and the sun is an option, we know they're talking about the sun. It would also indicate a situation where, while Sköll is chasing Máni, Sól is chasing Hati.

My interpretation of this is that the sun is flanked by wolves, and that the one following behind her will eventually get her, at which point the one who had been ahead of her will break off and get the moon.

For a long time this has been interpreted as referring to the phenomenon of "sun dogs," a phenomenon where the sun actually does appear to be flanked by two smaller sun-like bodies, caused by refraction of the sun's light. Conditions for sun dogs are not uncommon in Iceland. In Icelandic folklore, when they appear, it's said that "the sun is in úlfakreppa," meaning something like 'wolf-touble' or 'wolf-danger.'

In Vafþrúðnismál, it's Fenrir who gets the sun. Snorri also makes mention of a certain Mánagarmr, whom he calls the mightiest of the entire family of "jötnar in wolves' shape," presumably meaning something like 'moon-dog,' though Garmr is the name of a specific mythological dog and not a normal word for a dog (normally it means 'a tatter, rag'). This Mánagarmr is also supposed to swallow the moon. Since Snorri seems to present Hati and Mánagarmr as different, he may be contradicting himself. But it's also possible that while Hati captures the moon he doesn't eat him, leaving that to Mánagarmr; and it's also possible that they are the same and Snorri phrased it strangely; or else that he had two contradictory pieces of lore that he tried to fuse together.

My suspicion is that the precise identities of who did what here were rather fluid up until a late time.

[en-theos]

I'm just fascinated with how the gods are all by themselves sides of the same coin. Apollo is medicine and plague. Demeter is harvest and famine. Athena is the order of the polis and the uncertainty of war. Dionysus creates chaos only to reinforce order once the party is over. Poseidon is the untameable sea and the liberty that seafaring permits. Artemis is a goddess of the wild yet helps young girls transition into their settled life as adult women.

[tanoraqui]

#this is why gods and monsters are cousins #both straddle an impossible boundary that would tear any mortal being apart #for the monster that existence is agony #but a god can encompass impossible dualities harmoniously (@aethersea)

[khaire-traveler]

I know this probably doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it anyway:

You don't need a classicists or history degree to be part of the Hellenic religion. You don't need to know everything about all the gods ever and all the history behind every single one of their stories and the symbolism within every single myth, etc, etc. I feel that many people I come across do have degrees of some sort (on Tumblr specifically), but I just wanted to reiterate that it's not a requirement for worship.

It is ok to not know everything, and it's ok to not be a professional studying the ancient Greeks. Hell, it's even ok if you don't have a major love for history and whatnot. You are still more than welcome within this community.

When people say to do your research, they just mean to make sure you aren't misinformed. You mostly just need the basics, and you'll likely be fine with just that. Try not to worry so much about learning every little detail about the Hellenic religion, the gods, and the ancient Greeks. Remember that this is supposed to be enjoyable; don't research extensively if it stresses you out or doesn't make you happy. It's ok to just learn things along the way sometimes.

[maceofpentacles]

feel free to call me a bitch or whatever over this take but there is definitely such a thing as having too much blind faith and trust in divination. of any kind for that matter.

your tarot cards cannot guide your entire life for you. your pendulum should not have the power the dictate every single choice you make. these are TOOLS to help us. not control us.

[royal-wren]

A continuation/part two to my favorite/lesser known Hermes epithets because I am a fool and forgot some or found more.

Hermes Psykhostasia - Weigher of souls (lives) or One who weighs souls (lives). In a mix of fulfilling his duty as a guide to all souls and being present before and after death while also being the messenger of Zeus, this aspect shines through. He carries out the will of both the Moirai and Zeus at times and in others he alone holds sway over the decision. Whichever ker (keres) was heavier (to the point of tipping the scales) was the one to die between the two individuals.

Hermes Panepóptēs - All-Observing. It's an epithet I can run with mainly found in the PGM

Hermes Kêryx - Herald of the Gods or Crier for a more rudimentary translation. It's a fairly interesting epithet in regards to naming Hermes as the son of Demeter (identified with Maia). In this specific incarnation, he has special control over the winged Keres in-flight into and out of Demeter Pandora, personified wine-storage jars blamed for all of the ills of humans, where only Hope lingered at the rim.

Hermes Araoia / Hermes Araios - The Ram. One of the oldest attestations of the god is found in the Linear B inscriptions at Pylos and Mycenaean Knossos. With this epithet in mind, depictions of Hermes with sheep/ram horns would be fairly appropriate and a part of his appearance I see from time to time.

Hermes Kranaios - Of the Fountain? Of Springs. I know this one was on the last one but I really spaced on getting into why I love and appreciate it. It's a spring/nature sanctuary, one that ties him to water/rivers and what is heavily associated with deities that heal/can heal??? springs and pools of water!!!

Sources:

Weighing iconography of love in classical and early hellenistic art: considering allusions and metaphor in images of Aphrodite balancing Eros by Hannah Lisbeth Jones

L. D. Caskey, J. D. Beazley, Attic Vase Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

πανεπόψιος

Aischylos and the Trojan cycle: The lost tragedies by Ioanna Hadjicosti

Porphyry: On Abstinence from Killing Animals translated by Gillian Clark

Kerykes wikipedia entry

A Replica of the Hermes Propylaios by Alkamenes Found at Qasr Al-Hallabat by Ignacio Arce

Mycenaean Divinities

Where I pulled Hermes of the Fountain from as well as Hermes of the Springs

Kretan cult and customs, especially in the Classical and Hellenistic periods: a religious, social, and political study by Carolyn Schofield

Burning bulls, broken bones: sacrificial ritual in the context of palace period Minoan religion by Robert James Cromarty

[royal-wren]

Favorite/Lesser known or lesser focused on Hermes epithets, both historical and upg. There are a lot of epithets that are easily applicable to Hermes and his roles/associations/domains for his endless reach. If it's one that I've given him as there is nothing there for that part of him it will have an asterisk (*) by it. Also, if you're expecting anything alphabetical you will be sorely disappointed.

Hermes Psithyristes - Whispering or The Whisperer. It highlights Hermes as the god who whispers his advice to the ear of those who ask him. It doesn't take much to look at this epithet and connect it to his oracle connected to Hermes Agoraios. Those that look to learn the knowledge of the future will tell him personally and hear his answer through the people that resonates with the one asking.

*Hermes Xenios - Of the Stranger/Guest or Of Hospitality. It goes without saying considering he is a god of the home, one that protects it (and any in the home) by every entrance as well as the god of travelers and friend of man.

Hermes Agroter - Of the Field.

Hermes Epikthonios - Dwelling on Earth/Earthly.

*Hermes Nyktelios - Of the Night, Nocturnal. I personally heavily connect him to the night and he has many historical domains in connection to it. Zeus and Maia met in the night and Hermes has lovers meet in the night, delights in it, and travels through it.

Hermes Pyledokos - The Door Watcher. Important to the divine pairing of Hestia and Hermes especially prominent as two gods of the home. Hestia dwelled inside, found at the very heart and in every room while Hermes was the one protecting every entrance to keep out what isn't wanted.

Atlantiades - In relation to his mother as a daughter of Atlas, signifying his status as the Titan's grandson.

Hermes Epiklopios/Klepsiphronos - The Stealthy-minded.

*Hermes Troglodýtis - One who crawls in holes or caves, such as a snake or fox, Cave Dweller/Dwelling, plus it also relates to wrens under the genus name. Contextually this is highly specific to his domain over mountains and caves and animals like snakes and those in the Canidae family, as well as my upg connection to Hermes and wrens (and birds in general).

Hermes Pantokrátōr - Ruler of the World/Ruler of All or All-powerful. It might have only been used once or twice as far as documentation goes but it's definitely earned a spot here. It's more on a personal basis for the worshipper and holds importance to me.

Hermes Koryphaîos - Leader of the Chorus. In relation to his position with the many Nymphai (Nymphs), he was the deity most associated with them and stood between man and the Nymphai for their worship.

*Hermes Aîtos - Something given: allotment, share. Easily applicable to his position in regard to life and death as well as luck. I also connect it to his relation to the Moirai as someone that works with them in a similar manner to Tykhe. Could be ambiguous as to whether it is positive or negative (or somewhere in between).

*Hermes Oîtos - Fate, Doom. In a similar vein to Hermes Aîtos but no longer ambiguous as it has a more negative meaning to it. More specifically in relation to Hermes Psykhopompos and Hermes Khthonios who works with the Moirai, Thanatos, and Kharon. The epithet in relation to death and the afterlife, one part of the cog that keeps the world in order that waits for us all at the end of our thread of life weaved by the Fates.

Hermes Areiās - Warlike, Curser, or Defender/Protector, possibly He who succors Ares. Outside of Mycenaean times could easily apply in relation to Hermes Kriophoros and Hermes Keryx (a mix of the two), as well as his domain over diplomacy and heralds that all play a part in war.

Hermes Dendrites - Of the Trees.

Hermes Kedrites - Of the Cedar Trees. The source of this epithet comes from Syme (Crete) where he is a god of vegetation and initiation into adulthood with Aphrodite.

Hermes Dromios - Of the Stadium.

*Hermes Klazo - To make a sharp piercing sound.

Hermes Syskopos - Sharp Sighted.

*Hermes Kosmâs (Hermes Kósmos also works) - Derived from kosméô (κοσμέω) kósmos (κόσμος), meaning order, lawful, government, ornament, decoration, honor, credit, world, universe, earth. It's an epithet that I hold close to me and hold with great importance for my special interest and adoration of space and everything in it. As Hermes is a god of astronomy, astrology, and constellations (making them in conjunction with Hera as well as teaching others about them), as well as his relation with his blue supergiant star immediate family and another epithet of mine Star-Born. The god that is both really ancient (as far as historical records and appearance(middle-aged)) and super young with so much life and energy with many eras to live through. A god of galaxies, their death, and birth in a cycle that is wide-reaching and covers the infinite and sometimes just a figurative coverage of how much he does. From the universe(s) back is his reach and everything he has hands in, as well as everything yet to connect to him for the past and future.

Hermes Deilakrion - Poor fellow. God of the greedy, lions, the devourer, the starving, the hungry, one that can't be contained or restrained. The one god I personally associate with driving those looking to learn no matter what to feel insatiable in the hunt for it. Also akin to a bringer of knowledge for the forbidden, what might drive one mad but make one enlightened.

Hermes Oneiropompos - Bringer of Dreams. For all the people that struggle to sleep and to remember dreams (like me), he ensures it. I have never slept so soundly and dreamed so vividly as I have with him.

*Hermes Episteme - Knowledge, Understanding (Science basically). He is the drive that spurns others on for the sake of creation, to find out the intricacies of life and what's good and bad. The god that fucks around and finds out regardless of the outcome with good intentions to know what to continue and stay away from.

Pontios Theron - Master of Animals.

*Hermes Tríbō - To Rub, Friction. A double meaning both as the creator of fire without reliance on nature that can be done by anyone with the right tools/knowledge. It also relates to Hermes' domain and part to play with marriage, the consummation, and unity during the first night. In the company of Aphrodite, Hermes makes this pass and for the modern day can easily represent a passionate night between two people that love each other.

*Hermes Astronómos - Pertaining to his domain over astrology and astronomy (especially as the one that teaches it), but especially with space and the stars as a whole. If it exists out there beyond the blue sky we are familiar with it's deeply connected to him.

*Mercurius Arieto/Arietare - To strike violently like a ram, batter, or to disturb, harass, or disquiet. A hundred percent a UPG/SPG epithet but one that stands out, especially with the person he becomes under the name of Mercurius/Mercury. A god more tightly wound with an intensity barely restrained behind an air of calm and indifference. It appropriately covers the change to fit the new culture and people that worshipped him under this name, a wolf-like god with sharp teeth and horns to show his wild nature.

Hermes Katokhos - To bind or restrain.

Hermes Kranaios - Of the Fountain? Of Springs.

*Hermes Keleasma - A shout implying authority and urgency. The idea is of a loud, authoritative cry, often uttered in the thick of great excitement. He is the deity whose voice is louder than anyone else's by a wide berth. Stentor(ians) will quiver before him as he has no match.

Hermes Kandaules - The Dog-Throttler or Throttler of the Beast. A Lydian god, an epithet denoting religious syncretism. Akin to an extension of Potnios Theron especially as one that tames animals especially predators and monsters like the Khimaira.

*Hermes Bromos/Bromios - For any sudden, loud noise, the crackling fire, and the roaring of the storm (the tearing or whistling wind).

*Hermes Anemos - To breathe, blow, wind, a violent agitation and stream of air.

*Hermes Philósophos - Loving wisdom, lover of knowledge/wisdom, educated, learned person, professor, philosopher, scientific, philosophic.

Hermes Kataibatês - Descending, in relation to Hermes being a conductor of souls and in his function as an underworld deity.

Sources:

Hermes a-re-ja: a new interpretation by José Marcos Macedo

Theoi.com

Hermes Epithets

"Candaules, whom the Greeks name Myrsilus … " by J. A. S. Evans

Miller, John F., and Jenny Strauss Clay (eds), Tracking Hermes, Pursuing Mercury (Oxford, 2019; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Mar. 2019), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198777342.001.0001

Bolling, George Melville. “Kandaules.” Language, vol. 3, no. 1, 1927, pp. 15–18. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/409642.

Lebessi, Angeliki. “Hermes as Master of Lions at the Syme Sanctuary, Crete.” British School at Athens Studies, vol. 18, 2010, pp. 195–202. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23276776

Chittenden, Jacqueline. “The Master of Animals.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, vol. 16, no. 2, 1947, pp. 89–114. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/146954

Keleasma Definition

[aotgproject]

Revival!

Hey everyone! I’m Jay/Anna! Just wanted to do a quick update to let you all know that we’re planning to revive this project! Things have changed over the last few years, but this is a work that’s really important that we come back to. Expect more posts about what we plan to do moving forward. 

For now: 

We’re open for asks! If you have any questions about asteroids, astrology, and polytheism, please feel free to send someting in! We’ll do our best to give answers as we can and/or direct you to appropriate resources. 

Feel free to submit or tag us in your stories! We really want to encourage people to share their personal experiences with their deities/deities they’re interested in and their personal placements. It’s always a blast to read and hear about how things are similar and different between practitioners. 

Looking forward to connecting and hearing from everyone! 

[vesperestellae]

If you're interested in incorporating the asteroids named for your deities into your practice (or if this is something you already do), I really encourage you to check out this project!

[thorraborinn]

I know you've written about the Gullveig/Freyja theory but I keep seeing the equation of Angrboða with the witch whose heart Loki ate according to Voluspa hin Skama and both of them being equated with Gullveig. I want to know where this idea comes from. I mostly see it on FB in the Norse Gods Discussion Group and a couple Lokean groups {although, not as much anymore}. I honestly think this is just too much of a leap in logic. I know Genevieve Gornichec put Angrboða as Gullveig in her book, but I'm not sure if she equated them with the heart eating thing. I didn't read it.

I'm asking because I've been looking for good fiction about Norse mythology but keep running into the idea that Loki is an abusive husband but also that killed his mistress and ate her heart, which kinda doesn't make sense to me because why wouldn't he have just slept with her if he wanted more children or whatever.

I'm going to stick to Greek or Egyptian mythology based fiction like ENNEAD for now, whilst looking for good Norse ones.

The first author that I know of to describe Gullveig/Heiðr, Angrboða, and the heart into a single figure is the 19th century Swedish author Viktor Rydberg (he also included Aurboða and Hyrrokkin in this complex). Rydberg was convinced that there was a single original epic narrative that was shared by all the Germanic-speaking peoples, and that myths, legends, and folklore of Germanic Europe was made up of the decayed, corrupted fragments of it. He also believed that he knew how to put it back together, sometimes even borrowing from non-Germanic narratives.

In order to make that make sense, a lot of his work is very preoccupied with merging different figures together, because he can't really allow any loose ends. His work is also characterized by a fairly strict polarity between the gods (unambiguously good) and their enemies (unambiguously bad) which, to be fair, was not uncommon among scholars in his day. He had some things to say that were important for the 19th century, but his work should not be taken seriously today.

He does still have a small but very prolific following among modern heathens including the authors of the so-called "Asatru Edda" and whoever runs www.germanicmythology.com.

I'm not sure if more recent Lokean/Rökkratrú theorizing about Gullveig/Heiðr and Angrboða is related to Viktor Rydberg or not. I could imagine that the sort of Þursatrú/Nordic Satanism types might have some things in common with the Rydberg-inspired heathens, taking the same black-and-white, hardline good-vs-evil view, but siding with the opposing team, and being favorable toward the Gullveig/Angrboða/Aurboða/Hyrrokkin complex; and then this could filter into other Lokean or Rökkatrú spaces. To me, the burnt heart seems to point to Rydberg. I don't think that Völuspá in skamma gives an impression that the heart that Loki eats belongs to Angrboða. Rydberg only came to that conclusion by inserting Völuspá into the context of Völuspá in skamma, so that Angrboða is mentioned as the mother of Fenrir, then is burnt (as Gullveig), then the burnt heart is eaten before she's resurrected. I find this pretty unintuitive, and unlikely to be thought of twice independently of each other, but I could be wrong.

On the other hand, sometimes ideas just go into circulation without anyone knowing where they come from, not thinking to question it. It's possibly that Rydberg was the ultimate origin of this, but that nobody spreading the idea knows it.

There are also a lot of heathens who worship Angrboða, but since she's only mentioned by name once in all of Norse mythology (twice if you count Snorri, but it seems like he's working from Völuspá in skamma, so it's probably just the first reference again), it seems natural to look for traces of her elsewhere. Merging her with other figures like Gullveig/Heiðr might be a way of adapting other lore so that their goddess has more written about her.

As an aside, if a figure from Völuspá is to be identified with Angrboða, I would expect it to be the unnamed in aldna í Járnviði, whose children are "Fenrir's kind."

I'm not really very familiar with Lokean groups or even really Facebook heathenry in general anymore, so it's very possible I'm missing some things. I don't really know anything about Norse mythology-inspired fiction.

[obligate-rebel]

Your instincts are correct, the þursatrú guys rely heavily on Rydberg: every time I’ve tried to track down where some idea they are sharing in Lokean spaces comes from, it’s been him.

They also wilfully mistranslate the verse in Völuspá in skamma to say that the heart Loki eats belongs to his wife rather than to an unspecified woman as it actually says in the text.

[thorraborinn]

sonneve

How might you describe or define animism, or alternatively, do you have any recommendations for reading about it?

Graham Harvey defines it as understanding "that the world is full of persons, only some of whom are human, and that life is always lived in relationship to others." This is definitely a better definition than "the belief that everything has a soul" but you might also notice that it's vague to the point of including practically everything that doesn't include Aristotle's rational soul as a distinctive feature of humans. Harvey is aware of this (he even includes things like yelling at your computer as an animistic behavior). As soon as you start to narrow the definition more than that, it starts to exclude peoples and customs that it's trying to include.

Nordic Animism has a good short video that does like a drive-by description of animism and history of its study that comes from the same sorts of books that I'm going to mention: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_j9oPCE-Ns

Harvey edited a book called The Handbook of Contemporary Animism. If you were going to pick a single book to start with, you could do much worse than this. Very many of the authors are ones that you'd see recur frequently if you were to go deeper into studying recent anthropology related to animism. If chapters stand out, it would be a good idea to find that author's other works.

My personal favorite single book on the subject is How Forests Think by Eduardo Kohn. He has a lecture on YouTube that introduces some of the ideas in the book: https://youtu.be/mSdrdY6vmDo?t=102.

Kohn draws heavily on the works of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro. Viveiros de Castro is one of the most important recent anthropologists in terms of him being the guy that everyone writing after him has to have an opinion about, whether positive or negative. It's a good idea to read him because he's going to come up in others' works. I personally find his stuff on Amazonian "perspectivism" very good. There's a collection of his essays called The Relative Native.

The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram is a good book about animism and phenomenology, kind of using ideas from Western philosophers like Husserl and Merleau-Ponty to derive something compatible with non-western animistic ideas. He has another book called Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology that I wasn't into but might be a good intro for some people.

There's like this whole scene of books about "entanglements" and use words like "response-ability"; it's not a bad idea to read one of them but I don't think it's necessary to read all of them; my favorite was The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. Donna Haraway has some books in this category that I know some people love but didn't do as much for me, admittedly possibly because of stuff I'd already read that was influenced by them. Here is also a good critique of these authors that I think preserves the positive while pointing out limitations: https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10180270.

Though only tangentially related to animism, Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World by Zakiyyah Iman Jackson is not only good on its own but I think is important to read if you're also reading stuff that focuses on distinction or non-distinction of human from non-human.

Pantheologies by Mary-Jane Rubenstein isn't specifically about animism but intersects with and includes it. I think just reading through the first chapter is worthwhile (the rest might be better for others but it drew heavily on stuff I'd already read). She also has a bunch of stuff on Youtube.

I dunno if she uses the word, but some of Gloria Anzaldúa's work intersects with it, e.g. Light in the Dark/Luz en lo Oscuro.

I am a big fan of Katherine Swancutt, she has written a lot of articles and done a lot of book editing; her book Fortune and the Cursed: The Sliding Scale of Time in Mongolian Divination is not really about animism per se but is a very good read.

Also not about animism, but a good thing to read for anyone interested in it, is The Invention of World Religions or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism by Tomoko Masuzawa.

This is probably getting overwhelming so I'm cutting myself off even though there's other stuff that I would list otherwise. This stuff is currently very popular and well-funded in academia which means they are actually fairly widely available, including as audiobooks, for those who prefer those.

[magickfromscratch]

If response rates are any indication, what people most NEED, spiritually is:

1. To be told the gods love them

2. That they are safe

3. That they are enough

4. That they are valuable

5. That they are OK

So if you are clergy, maybe write that down. Whatever hifalutin initiatory mystical darkness bullshit can wait. You parishioners need comfort.

[caduceussky-deactivated20240830]

i'm in need of some additional income so,,, would any of you be interested in commissioning sigils from me HAHAHA

i'm thinking of pricing them at around $10 and providing the sigil + explanation behind the symbols used to make it!

ig like/rb/reply if this is interesting to you??? HAHAUVSJKFK

samples here btw!:

[the-enchanted-little-star]

[nobrashfestivity]

Maria Clara Eimmart  Phase of the Moon, Phases of Venus, Aspect of Jupiter, Aspect of Saturn, late 17th century

[thorraborinn]

What's the difference, if any, between fylgja and hamingja?

I'm still a little messed up in the head from a cold but I'm gonna take a crack at this, just be advised that there's really no way to summarize this in a blog post no matter my cognitive state so I'll just try to get you started by focusing on the problems of differentiation in the border between the two concepts. I'm going to draw heavily from Zuzana Stankovitsova's MA thesis on fylgjur, and if you want to understand the depiction of fylgjur in the sagas I highly recommend you read the whole thing.

This is kind of a constantly ongoing discussion. The problem isn't that there isn't a discernible difference, it's that each one is internally inconsistent, and within those spans of inconsistency, there's some overlap. So you get instances of fylgjur and hamingjur that seem to have hardly anything to do with each other, but then also separately instances of things called fylgja that you'd have expected to be called hamingja, etc. This honestly is very common in Norse literature generally. We expect consistent, distinctive, taxonomic categories but you can't do a DNA test on a norn or an isotope analysis on a dís's fossilized skeleton. But with fylgja the fuzziness might be a little above average even for Norse concepts. It also probably changed over time, within the span of time documented in the sagas.

The crux of the confusion is the fact that while the fylgja most often appears as an animal, sometimes there are scenes in the sagas where a figure in the form of a woman (usually in a dream or vision or some other exceptional, non-normal context) is called fylgja, which resembles what we would expect to be called hamingja. Most scholars have treated animal-fylgjur and woman-fylgjur completely separately.

I'm at least partially inclined to agree with that approach. I think the word fylgja (which just means 'follow') gets thrown around a little much, and that not everything referred to with that word was ever meant to be seen as the same thing. In modern Icelandic the word fylgja can even refer to just a regular ghost that haunts a person (rather than a place, so it follows them from place to place; and an ættarfylgja haunts successive generations of a single family). When fylgjur appear in sagas in the form of human women, they sort of bleed into other categories like hamingjur or dísir and on the extreme end maybe even things the word valkyrja might apply to. If the word fylgja can be applied to any figure that follows a person, then a hamingja is a type of fylgja, just one that is different from the animal-fylgja.

To demonstrate, here are two very similar scenes from two different sagas:

In Hallfreðar saga, Hallfreðr suddenly gets deathly ill. His fylgjukona 'fylgja-woman' appears to him, big and wearing armor, able to walk on the sea as if on land (characteristic of valkyries in Völsunga-related mythology), and Hallfreðr declares that he is formally severing ties with her. Then the woman asks Hallfreðr's son Þorvaldr whether he would like to accept her. He says no, so she asks Hallfreðr's other son, who consents, and she becomes his fylgjukona.

In Víga-Glúms saga, Glúmr dreams of a huge woman, so big that her shoulders take up the entire breadth of valleys, touching mountains on either side. In the dream, he went outside to greet her and bid her welcome into his home. When he woke up, he interpreted this as meaning that his maternal grandfather had died and that his hamingja had come to Glúmr.

I don't personally find it clear whether these are supposed to be the same "type" of being or not. I think the easiest way for someone to try to simplify this would be to say that the author of Hallfreðar saga simply chose confusing wording, and could have said hamingja, or that fylgjukona is not the same as an animal-fylgja. I'm not gonna make that call, as I have no problem with the idea that the evidence really just is confusing and contradictory and I prefer not to give into the impulse to systematize.

Most often, when a figure is described as a fylgja, it's a sort of animal double. They're often deployed in the story to foreshadow death -- an animal representing a main character will be seen in a dream being attacked by other animals representing their enemies. A recurring motif is that people will be suddenly overcome with fatigue in the middle of the day and be unable to help falling asleep, in order to have these extraordinary dreams. People with special abilities, or people in highly unusual situations, may be able to see them without being asleep (I think this only happens once in the literature we have). In rare instances, these visions serve as warnings that enable the relevant people to actually avoid the fate they were headed toward (making it very different from other kinds of knowing the future in Norse literature, which in almost every other case is unavoidable).

The animal fylgja (or other things like it) has a place in later Scandinavian folklore but with all of the change, development, and speculation around it it's not possible to systematize or summarize it; this is a whole continuum of belief and not a single cohesive thing I can summarize. If you're interested in that a good start in English would be Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend, edited by Reimund Kvideland and Henning K. Sehmsdorf. It's also very easy to conflate the fylgja with other kinds of animal affinity, like Kveldúlfr becoming a wolf at night or seiðmenn projecting their awareness outside of their bodies in the form of animals, but most scholars have considered this separate and I agree with them.

Despite the fact that hamingja is a little less all over the place, I find it even harder to describe. Usually the word just means 'luck' or 'happiness' in a general sense and doesn't refer to a discrete being or personality, yet the etymology suggests that, at least when the word started being used, it was applied to a specific sort of non-physical being. The word is believed to come from ham-gengja, something which "goes" (ganga) and is of hamr (roughly 'shape' or 'form' but a complicated discussion on its own).

Presumably this has made you have more questions than you started with but hopefully I have at least moved the locus of confusion somewhat.

For some further reading (for convenience, including the ones I already mentioned):

Kvideland, Reimund and Henning K. Sehmsdorf, eds. Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend

Murphy, Luke John "Herjans dísir: Valkyrjur, Supernatural Feminities, and Elite Warrior Culture in the Late Pre-Christian Iron Age"

Sommer, Bettina Sejbjerg. "The Norse Concept of Luck"

Stankovitsova, Zuzana, "'Eru þetta mannafylgjur?' A Re-Examination of fylgjur in Old Norse Literature" (see also her bibliography)

[songandspear]

Had a very silly dream last night. All the gods were arguing over these random titles that apparently came from a poem, like "conqueror of murky water," etc. They were all petitioning as to why the title was obviously referring to them and should be theirs. It went on for hours. Finally, the sun was coming up, so they all decided, "well, it's Hermes's turn to win," and went their separate ways, as if they do this every night.

I don't normally dream about the gods, but that one was funny.

[songandspear]

🌸 Spring Equinox 🌸

I've gotten to a place where I'm comfortable in my worship. I have my morning ritual, my evening ritual, a couple of weekly things I do. I'm in a casual phase right now, where I'm not actively researching or seeking out new information, ideas, or practices. I'm happy with what I've got. But one thing I wanted to do was figure out a low-key way to celebrate the passing of the seasons, a way to set certain days of the year apart, to make them special. Thanks to a friend (@vesperestellae ), I now have a way to do that.

I'm not witchy, and I really don't identify with Celtic-themed stuff such as the Wheel of the Year. I decided I'd celebrate the solstices and equinoxes, as well as the midpoint days in between, but I don't have any fancy names for them.

The ritual is fairly simple. I have some altar cloths, two for each season. (They are actually placemats from Spoonflower; my altar space is quite small.) I've chosen one to represent the early part of each season (before the midway point) and the later part of each season. When the day arrives, as it did today, I remove everything from my altar, change over my altar cloth, clean and dust as needed, and put everything back on. I might light a candle or a wax melt if the feeling so moves me.

Then, I read out some thematic poems I've chosen for the day. Today, I had the following:

Come Here to Me from Crete, by Sappho

Instructions on Not Giving Up, by Ada Limón

Spring Letter from the South, by Keetje Kuipers

(Honestly, I just googled "spring equinox poems" and picked the ones I liked. I try to pick around 3 short ones.)

That's it. That's the ritual. I've chosen to share this in case anyone else is looking for something similar - a lowkey way to celebrate certain days. I really enjoy it, and if you struggle with finding time/materials/energy for these types of things, you may enjoy it too.