Odins Day Reflection : The Maypole

 

 Blessing to all on this Odin's Day, 

    As we began the week, my wife and I cut the maypole and will be procuring items for decorations and such as we look towards Saturday. We are celebrating early as it's when we will be surrounded by the most family and loved ones. 

    I've been reading the great Marcus Aurelius and I think every young person should get a hold of his work "meditations." It contains so much wisdom and is thoroughly a pagan work while also appealing to a more Christian worldview at times. There's much to comment on, but a theme I touched on last week also shows itself in his writings. The idea of accepting what is, what comes and doing our best to live with this acceptance. 

    Beltane and this time of year represents a great change, a great shifting of seasons and we experience this every year and we accept it as part of the rhythm of life. Change is the great constant of our lives. Our relationships change, our personal interests, our opinions etc. So much is dependent on this change. And so this time of year, as with all the seasonal changes, asks us to accept different things. As we change from Spring into Summer we are encouraged to allow the seeds that have been planted to take root and grow. Summer is the season of rootedness and becoming our true selves and living up to that potential. But Summer can also be hot, uncomfortable and full of drought, which sounds a lot like another word, doubt. When we find ourselves in times of change we can tend towards doubt, but the hope of the season is that we will grow into what we are intended to be and that a great harvest awaits at the end where the fruits will be enjoyed. 

 So as we plant the roots of our Maypole in the ground and adorn it with ribbons and flowers, a great symbol of fertility and growth, may it cause us to examine those things that we are cultivating in ourselves and may we root ourselves and prepare for the coming season of harvest. 

 May we be open to this time of year, accepting change, and may we place doubt aside. 

-Jacob 

Odin's Day Reflection : The Red Bud

 

Blessing to all on this Odin's Day, 

    It's been a challenging week. Suffice to say, some sad news for my wife and I that has lead us to experience pain and sadness that we weren't anticipating. Please keep us in your prayers. 

    Yesterday we decided to do some yard work, just to keep moving and try to stave off the sadness a bit with some movement. Eileen cut out a big patch of multiflora rose and other weeds and dead foliage and pruned our fruit trees. I mowed the field and paths around it and helped throw things on the burn pile in anticipation of our Beltane bonfire we will be lighting at the end of this month. 

    In the field we have a red bud tree that sprouts out from a fallen log that was the original red bud. It fell over and was uprooted but yet, life persisted and out of the fallen tree, two new trees sprouted. What was once tragedy, turned out to actually create more beauty as the red bud is now even more picturesque and more interesting than it would have been before. 

    

    This is how it goes with life. Each turn, each tragedy or joy that befalls us is an opportunity for new growth, a chance for even better things, even if we can't see it in the moment. We shouldn't put too much stock in any new thing that is in front of us at any given moment, because change may be right over the horizon. Give things time to take root and evolve. 

    This Havalmal verse comes to mind, 

Do not put too much trust
in your newly planted crops,    
nor your child to early ---
weather will shape the field
and whim will shape the child
and neither will stay the same. 

Havalmal 88

(Wanderers Havalmal Translated by Jackson Crawford)

    Weather shaped the red bud and changed its course. May we always be accepting of the weather and the whim and look for the chance to grow in new and unexpected ways. 

-Jacob 

Using the Landscape : Intuition in Pagan Practice

  Recently my wife and I made a trip to the sacred Serpent Mound one of the great effigy mounds in the midwest. Neither of us had been before and were really excited to tread on such important ground.

 I brought with me a muskrat tobacco pouch in the style of 18th and 19th century Native American tobacco pouches. My Pawnee friend had told me that one great thing to do to honor sacred sites here in America is to leave tobacco offerings. So in that spirit, I brought it along. 

    We arrived and went into the gift shop/museum and paid for the parking and then began the walk along the edges of the serpent. Beginning with the swirling tail and ending with the head that overlooks a beautiful valley, with an eagle nest not far away from the point. Down below the Ohio Brush Creek runs alongside. We really enjoyed the walk and felt the importance of this place. Unfortunately not much is known about what the site was used for. Burial mounds not far away from the serpent make suggestions but nothing concrete. The alignment also points to some significance with the solstice's, but again, who's to say? We have oral stories about snakes in the traditions of the local Ohio tribes that once called this place home. The serpent is associated with the underworld and many tribes in the United States have horned serpents in their stories. 

    The horned serpent makes appearances in Europe as well, with this depiction of Cernunnos holding two ram horned serpents in this relief. 

 

In Norse stories, the world tree has a great dragon or serpent at its base who gnaws at the base.

A hall I saw,

far from the sun,

On Nastrond it stands,

and the doors face north,

Venom drops

through the smoke-vent down,

For around the walls

do serpents wind.

I there saw wading

through rivers wild

treacherous men

and murderers too,

And workers of ill

with the wives of men;

There Nithhogg sucked

the blood of the slain,

And the wolf tore men;

would you know yet more?

   All of these symbols are great cross cultural contact points for us in the modern world trying to reclaim a sense of our past and our relationship to the land and to nature. While the meaning of the serpent mound remains ambiguous for us in terms of its original use or purpose, we can apply new meanings based on our cultural folklore from all around the globe. So to an American Indo-European descended person, I can recall the stories and folklore around the serpents and dragons that my ancestors would have known while also venerating and honoring the local stories as well that have been told by the tribes that dwelled near and around these ancient sites. Basically, use your intuition. 

    The landscape is begging to be used again, but not used in the modern sense of taking resources and destroying eco systems. But used for the purpose of communing. As we walked along the paths that go down below the serpent mound we looked up and saw a shallow cave. I immediately saw a vulva, not because I have a dirty mind because there is nothing "dirty" about it. The vulva is a symbol of life, fertility and great pleasure and so I immediately thought, "I should leave an offering inside of it for a fertility blessing." And this is what I mean by intuition. Look around and see what the land may offer you and then offer something in return. When we begin to venerate the land again, I think then we will see such a change in our societal values. 

 May the gods keep you and bless you! 

-Jacob 

Preparing for Beltane

  

Well met kith and kin, 

 It's the beginning of April, nearly tax time in the modern world, but for us pagans who live between worlds as it were, we are seeing that spring has sprung and it is a wonderful time to begin looking forward to our next great festival, the festival of Beltane. There are plenty of great resources out there on the history of this spring rite, and I will leave you to search for those, but here I will offer some reflections and some traditional ways in which you might celebrate with others or own your own! 

 Back in February we celebrated Imbolc or St Brigid's day and this marked the transition out of winter and looking forward to spring, the preparation time for when the ground will once again become fertile and ready for seeds to be planted. Now as we approach Beltane which marks the beginning Summer, we are seeing the first rites related to fertility and abundance. 

 I'd like to offer several Beltane essentials for your celebrations either by your lonesome or in a group setting. Feel fret take or leave and adapt as you will. 

 A bonfire on the eve of the festival is a great way to invoke our ancient ancestors and set the mood for your celebrations. Animals such as cattle were typically driven between fires to ensure fertility but people would often jump over the fire as well, and couple hand in hand. This is also a time like any other to appease the faeries or elves and so mink and honey given at the threshold or at a local fairy haunt is a good way to celebrate. Decorating a bush with ribbons is a custom we have adopted and is great for young children. During the bonfire, light a torch and go around the bounds of your property or house to ensure protection. After the fire has died down, take the ash and daub yourself and sprinkle some on the fields or gardens. 

 This time of year is all about renewal and preparing for abundance. May we all experience growth and renewal of ourselves in the coming summer months. 

-Jacob  

Reconstructing and Reviving

        It's a difficult task when one is cut off from the cultural and societal norms of a certain age to suddenly pick up where someone left off a thousand years ago. All we seem to have are threads that we can follow back and try to weave some kind of a blanket although in some cases the blanket wouldn't amount to more than a pot holder. There are HUGE gaps in our knowledge and it can be somewhat daunting as I write this from the perspective of a historical reenactor who really values being able to document and prove every part of what I do, what I wear and what kind of gear I carry. 

    In this brief post I will share what I think demands adherence to historical precedent and what demands liberty. These are my opinions and simply that to be taken or left at the readers convenience. 

    In the course of the year there are several major feasts or festivals that would have taken place in the Anglo, Celtic and Germanic worlds of the past and often these moments marked a changing of the season and of agricultural significance. This would be time of sacrifice, to invoke the blessings of the gods and/or thanks them for the bounty. The key point in all these times is the idea of the blood sacrifice. This is an area that is virtually non existent in modern paganism, yet for our ancestors this was by far and away the most effective form of honoring the gods. I realize the impracticality of such practices, especially for those living in town or the city. It remains though that every single ancient religion including the abrahamic faith demand blood from an animal. Even Christ is the lamb sacrificed on the wooden altar of the cross to satisfy God. It is the universal practice of humans since the dawn of religion. So that demands our attention if nothing else. 

   

 We don't have much to go on in terms of religious words or specific ritual actions but here is what we do know with some certainty that I think should be the foundation of any rituals done at the pivotal times of the year. 

    1. An animal is selected to be sacrificed. There are accounts of casting lots or divination being done to choose the victim. 

    2. Women play a pivotal role in the slaying of the anima during the sacrifice

    3. The animals blood should "redden" the community in attendance and be sprinkled on the outside of the house around its border and on the statues of the gods if any be present. 

    4. The feast is prepared with the animal with a portion being offered to the gods. Other offerings may be made and drink are consecrated to the gods during the feast and toasts are made in their honor along with the ancestors. 

    These things should constitute the basic structure of any large gathering of the community during the festivals of the year. 

    Where does revival and innovation come in? 

    We don't really know if the pagans of old had a daily practice of honoring or venerating the gods. Did they pray to them every day like the Christians? Did they honor them in some way with little daily offerings? There's not a lot of information to go on. This is where I think making some things up and connecting to the gods in different ways comes into play. I've been attempting to simply light a candle and incense every morning and night to simply acknowledge the gods presence. I will offer a small gift in my offering bowl if I come into something that day to share. I intend to expand this practice as I go but this is what I have found to be working right now. I saw someone making prayer beads on a Hellenistic group. I think this is a great idea to cultivate a meditative dimension to once practice. A strand of beads with a Thors hammer on the end, compose a simple repetitive prayer to him and see where it takes you. This could done during a storm or simply out in nature. Maybe a strand you dedicate to odin with a Raven charm on the end. The possibilities for ones personal practice could be pretty endless as long as it's rooted in what we know and that is that people gave the gods offerings of food and drink. That's the baseline. 

    Once again, these are just my opinions and I hope you've enjoyed the short read. 

Sin and Guilt/Nature and Giving : Overcoming the Christian Culture

    

    
I think for many of us, Christianity is the common religious experience, especially if you grew up in America. And the hallmark of, especially evangelical Christianity, is sin and making sure that you don't sin. You probably have a sense that God is watching you, that he cares very deeply about sin and that in order to be "right" with him you need to stop sinning and turn away from it. 

    In this system of thought, there's sort of an "or else" that comes along with sin. If you offend God, it's not merely that you need to give offerings so that he will favor you, but if you remain in this state of offense, your soul in the afterlife could experience complete and total damnation. 

"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; . . . Oh sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in." -Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God 

    For pagans, this reality looks different. The gods do not make these demands of us. There is no original sin to atone for. It's not that there isn't right or wrong or consequences for wrong actions. But wrong actions don't endanger you for eternity. We all end up in the same underworld regardless of our actions here. Offending the gods isn't a ticket to hell, but offending them may have consequences in this life. One shouldn't provoke, but it's because we want a favorable outcome, whether it be crops or livestock, in business or in our relationships with others etc. The Havamal says : 

With presents friends should please each other, With a shield or a costly coat:

Mutual giving makes for friendship

Blot 

    

    We connect to the gods in this mutual way of giving of our offerings. We expect favor in return, not on our knees but as part of nature with the gods. In essence, the world is home to us both. The gods, representations literal or archetypal of the forces of nature, more powerful than us, should be respected and worked with. I think that's what makes one pagan. A realization that one is a part of the natural world. Not over it, but part of it. And it's this being part of it that fosters a relationship of working together for the good. The gods aren't perfect like in other religions. They are flawed like us, but they are ancient and possess wisdom that can be seen all around us in nature if we choose to look and cooperate with it. We don't need forgiven for some original sin. We stand on our own two feet, sing praises and give offerings to the forces that are bigger than us and ask for their assistance. They may choose to give it, or not. 

    The gods don't expect perfection from us, but they do enjoy our offerings and prayers. Give generously to them and you never know what sort of gifts they will bestow in return. 

    
 

The Purpose of this Blog

  The purpose of my blog will be to write about the religion of the Germanic, Anglo and Celtic and Scandinavian peoples of pre christian Europe, and how one might go about practicing this religion in the modern world without becoming bogged down with neo pagan ideas. This will be an attempt at reconstruction, a place to discuss the modern application of nordic ethics and religious practice that is basic and simple but deep and full of meaning. A practice that anyone can adopt and adapt to themselves without having to make it up as you go along. It will examine what we know for sure and how we can turn that into practice today. These will be my own opinions. I don't claim to be an expert, I don't claim to have the corner on what is right and wrong. You are free to take or leave whatever is written here. I am not here to start a movement within the broader pagan world. I am a solitary practitioner along with a few kin and fiends I trust and I plan to keep it that way. I hope you enjoy and that this space is helpful to you.