I’m having to work on my flexibility for fitness reasons and To Whom It May Concern it actually adds up really fast. If you’ve wanted to work on flexibility and assumed it takes a whole era, it DOESN’T ACTUALLY!!! it’s been a week and I can now grab my own toes. Another week or two and I’ll be bendy enough to suck myself off as hard as some of y’all do in your posts I tell you what.
that’s not a joke btw it really is turning out a lot faster than i expected and yall really do need to stop XD
what are the techniques, i need to do something in the morning other than standing in the shower for an hour
Storm raising is a traditional use for the witch’s broom. This working gives the witch three intensities at which they may place the storm of their making. It may be stopped at any of the three. A word of caution might be needed here. Storm raising, while sounding fun, can be nasty business.
For wind-
Find a broom and an open space. Hold the broom with the bristles up. Take it in both hands and begin to wave the broom clockwise. Start in small circles and begin to swing farther out and higher up.
“Bristle I stick in Heaven above, Into the clouds my broom I shove, and spin it about like the Devil’s top, and bring the winds to shake the crop.”
For rain-
Dip the bristles in a bit of water. Shake the broom at the sky, throwing the water in all directions.
“Bristle I stick in Heaven above, Into the clouds my broom I shove, and shake wet bristle above the ground, and make the pouring rain come down.”
For thunder-
Hold it aloft for a moment, then take the broom and with force begin to strike the ground with the bristles.
“Bristle I stick in Heaven above, Into the clouds my broom I shove, and strike the dirt beneath my wake, and bring the lightning and thunder quake.”
”Today most of us must strike up these deals with spirits on our own and many of us do a poor job at maintaining ourselves. In our eagerness to touch the divine and make contact with the world beyond the hedge we often allow ourselves to become a feast for spirits more powerful or more numerous than we can really support and end up dried up or cracked, like a leather cauldron exposed to fire with no water in it. It is the ‘moisture’ of the fat or vital force that stops the vessel going up in flames when the divine fire touches it.
When one no longer has the vital force to reciprocate with those powers, when one forgets that the body is the alembic of transformation, the temple in which human and daimon meet, as well as the sacrificial pit and the sacrificial flame, and does not treat it as such, it is seldom long before the body and fleshly brain are no longer able to sustain the touch of the fire.”
Yall it’s so hard to find info on Germanic paganism or witchcraftI just wanna like. Find my niche and that vibes the most for me in theory but there’s no info I can find
hi, here’s my recommended reading for Heathenry and Witchcraft
Heathenry The Road to Hel Saxo Grammaticus- History of the Danes The Eddas (I like the crawford translation for the poetic, and I managed to get by with the penguin classics edition) The Havamal (which is in the poetic edda) The Viking Spirit The Viking Way Myths and Religion of the North Norse Mythology: A guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs Gods and Myths of Northern Europe The Elder Gods - Stephen Pollington Leechcraft - Stephen Pollington (hard to find) The Meadhall - Stephen Pollington Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England - Rev. Cocayne (contains similar info to Leechcraft, easier to find online, longer and more detailed) Saga of the icelanders Saga of Hrolf Kraki any of the sagas tbh
Witchcraft pretty much anything by gemma gary I highly recommend a cornish book of ways as a beginner book you’re gonna wanna read Agrippas three books of occult philosophy Anything by Lecoteux, but I really like The Tradition of Household Spirits and The Pagan book of the Dead Chumbly and Schulke are interesting, but for me it was a bit of a let down reading them. I think you can always garner some knowledge from their work Liber Nox but, you’re gonna be looking at a lot of folklore and regional history if you want to do witchcraft, which in essence is a regional practice I can’t be a Cornish Pellar as much as a Cornish Pellar can be a Californian Witch there’s differences in our spirits, the land, the things that live here we can borrow from each other, but we tend to have practice that reflect the dirt in which our fingers dig into
“There’s not an extensive documentation / history of Paganism among the Germanic people because they didn’t have druids like the Celts and spent most their time in military pursuits”
There is, in fact, plenty of documentation about “Germanic” paganism- some of it’s even good shit not written by nationalist fuckbags! Including a whole ass book about Germanic religion and cultural impact on Christianity after its introduction to them in the Medieval era!
Side note: We literally have a metric fuckload more about the religious and cultural practices of the various “Germanic” groups than we will probably ever have about the Druids, ok. We literally don’t know shit about the Druids despite Neopaganism’s massive fucking circlejerking about them.
Anyways, it’s amazing what you can actually find when you’re not allergic to research and reconstructionism; just becauseyou’re apparently fucking allergic to research, it doesn’t mean the rest of us are or have to be 👍
literally who in the fucking world thinks that the reason “there’s not an extensive documentation” of norse paganism is because they “spent their time in military pursuits” holy shit new flash fucko, we know nearly nothing about the druids aside from a couple of whack ass sources meanwhile, we have the eddas, sagas, rune poems, and archeological evidence of religion, as well as the aforementioned contemporary academic resources
don’t help the english be colonizers. and especially don’t erase the history and language of someone who refused to bow before queen elizabeth.
her name is NOT grace. it’s Gráinne Ní Mháille.
Gráinne refused to speak to Elizabeth the 1st in English and even refused bow to her because she was also considered a queen among her own people. So they conversed in Latin. But people really went and gave her English variations to her name anyway. K.
“The purpose of the Circle of Arte has been described as creating a boundary to enclose the practitioner and protect them from outside, mundane, negative or harmful influences, and hostile presences that might disturb or disrupt their activities. In that respect it can symbolically be seen as a fortress or castle and is sometimes metaphorically referred to in traditional witchcraft by those terms. Its other use is to concentrate, focus and contain any psychic energy or magical power raised within it. Medieval woodcuts depict magicians and witches standing within a small circle drawn on the ground while evoking spirits or demons that appear inside a triangle outside it.
Andrew D. Chumbley has said of the Circle of Arte that when you stand within it, ‘cast true about you like the horizon itself ’, your presence preserves the lineage and tradition of the witch-blood, i.e. those who have gone before in the Craft and those incarnated today who are their magical and spiritual successors. In this way, those who belong to the Craft in modern times are tracing or retracing in the circle the footsteps of their ancestors and ancestral spirits. Chumbley added that this links the circle and the ritual practices in it to a tradition that is native to the land upon which you stand. This, he says, is because the power is drawn directly from the earth where the witch performs her rites. The circle is the gateway that opens between this world and the spirit realm and allows contact with the Otherworld and the power within the landmark (2010:5 l) As Florence Farr, one of the prominent members of the late 19th century Order of the Golden Dawn said about the magical circle: “A circle is nothing to the profane, but to the initiate it is All. When we step into the circle we step into a void and we create everything and our true self within it.”
Therefore, in traditional witchcraft the primary purpose for casting a circle is to create a liminal 'space between the worlds’ where contact can be more easily made between the witch and the Other. It is an artificial gateway or portal between the spiritual realm and the physical plane and a specially designated place of spirit access and ingress. This is represented by the 'point within the circle’, for above its centre is the Pole Star in the night sky. The cauldron and fire are placed symbolically in the exact centre of the circle and the presence of the stang fixed in the ground links the microcosm and the macrocosm; the earth and the sky, the heavens and the underworld, time and space. As the famous Hermetic axiom says: 'As Above, So Below’.
When the circle is cast it has to be realised that it is not one dimensional. In fact it can be visualised as a sphere that extends equally below the flat circle drawn on the ground and above it. Therefore, symbolically and psychically and physically, the Circle of Arte exists in and links three places in a liminal way: the land, the sky and the underground. Like the stang, it connects Middle Earth or the Middle World with the Upper World (Heaven) and the Lower World or realm of the dead. Three worlds are temporarily connected as one by the casting of the magical circle, and the link is broken when it is closed down at the end of a ritual.”
caretaker i am genuinely so mad, why are all the occult texts all about racism and cum. Why do they all wanna be cum wizards and dong sorcerers. Tittymancers and jizz witches. Why is it all horny racism. Is there any escape. Help
Answer:
I think a lot of people get into the occult for the same reason people get into conspiracy theories. They want to feel important, like they’re privy to Secret Knowledge that nobody else has. They think there’s power here in the sense of being able to mind control people, when in reality the power here is like when people say “math is power”.
Having an engineering degree doesn’t let you summon bridges into existence or understand how a washing machine works just by touching it. Its just a method for understanding specific kinds of things.
I think a lot of the racism can be attributed to most of this shit just being written by older white europeans, many of whom were just annoyingly horny and deeply lonely. In terms of ways to solve those problems, there are worse solutions than having an orgy where people draw runes and wear goat skulls. The 1800s were boring.
Is there an escape? Maybe.
I think the occult now is where medical science was in 1935, steeped in phrenology and Psychometry, just barely beginning to come to terms with the broader social implications of it’s field of study. The Occultists of today are standing on the shoulders of giants, but the giants are dead because someone hit them with a brick for saying slurs a lot.
The general attitude towards the occult nowadays has me optimistic. I feel like every day I see more people looking at the occult with a critical eye, unafraid to address the problems within.
“Then I began to bear fruit, and to know many things, to grow and well thrive: word by word I sought out words, fact by fact I sought out facts.”
HÁVAMÁL, 143 (THORPE)
I sit with a blank page, knowing I will be unable to articulate the entirety of Odin. He is a deity so unlike any other that it feels inconceivable to even begin delving into all that he amounts to. He is a figure of ecstasy, of war, of wisdom, and of poetry. He represents the nobles, and bears the heading of a trickster. He is a figure of death, but the bringer of life. He is a living dichotomy, and the complexities that surround him make honoring him that much more enriching.
When taking a look at his heitir, or names, the wide reach of his role as a deity is not lost. His names go from Alföðr (Allfather) to Yggr (Terrible One) to Váfuðr (Wanderer) to Biflindi (Spear Shaker). Odin, or Óðinn, itself comes from the root word óðr meaning “ecstasy, fury, or inspiration”. The sheer amount of kenningar and heitir Odin possesses alone displays how multifaceted he is as a figure.
Allfather
“In Asgard is a place called Hlidskjalf, and when Odin seated himself there in the high-seat, he saw over the whole world, and what every man was doing, and he knew all things that he saw. His wife Frigg, and she was the daughter of Fjörgynn, and from their offspring are descended the race that we call asas, who inhabited Asgard the old and the realms that lie about it, and all that race are known to be gods. And for this reason Odin is called Allfather, that he is the father of all gods and men, and of all things that were made by him and by his might.”
Prose Edda, Gylfaginning
The name Allfather represents a role that is both literal and metaphorical. His hand in the creation of the world as well as his lineage linked to both gods and humans makes it clear as to why he bears this title.
“Soul they had not, sense they had not, Heat nor motion, nor goodly hue; Soul gave Othin, sense gave Hönir, Heat gave Lothur and goodly hue.”
Aside from the literal, it also tells of the animating force that was gifted by Odin to mankind. While it is true that he was not alone in the creation of man, the soul is the part of us that drives us. Through the breath he shared, we were given the drive and inspiration that came with it. While the motion of the limbs and the body may physically animate us, the soul is what mentally and spiritually animates us.
Wisdom
“I know where Othin’s eye is hidden, Deep in the wide-famed well of Mimir; Mead from the pledge of Othin each morn Does Mimir drink: would you know yet more?”
Völuspá
I’ve talked about Odin’s quest for wisdom before, namely in my post about runes. It becomes a common theme surrounding Odin that no sacrifice is too great in exchange for wisdom, including the sacrifice of himself. Odin also sacrificed his eye in exchange for a drink from Mímisbrunnr, a well located beneath Yggdrasil, and received substantial wisdom from a single drink.
Odin sought out the Mead of Poetry, or the Mead of Suttungr (Suttungmjaðar). When one drinks this mead they become a skald or scholar, able to relay any information or answer any question. Through trickery, Odin stole the mead and was chased by Suttungr back to Asgard, both of them in the form of eagles. As Odin went to regurgitate the mead into containers set up by the Æsir, a few drops fell from his beak into Midgard. This was a very trimmed retelling and I do encourage you to read the full text in the Prose Edda!
These are only a handful of many instances where Odin seeks wisdom. His tutelage of seiðr given by Freyja, his reanimation of Mimir’s head in order to gain knowledge, his contest of wisdom in Vafþrúðnismál, and so on only further touch on his eternal quest for knowledge.
War and Death
“Odin hurled his spear among the host; Thus came the world’s first war.”
Völuspá
When one thinks of a war god, they may think of a deity who acts just in the affairs of men. This alignment may be more proper with Tyr, but when Odin is concerned he gives favor to those who he only deems as being worthy. The Berserkers and Úlfhéðnar were seen as Odin’s special warriors. Wearing the skin of a bear or wolf respectively, these fierce warriors would go into a killing frenzy, not letting fire nor weapon affect them.
When it comes to an honorable death in battle, Odin receives half of the chosen slain (the other half firstly going to Freyja). In Odin’s keep, these warriors would go either to Valhalla or Vingólf.
The Einherjar, residing in Valhalla, train daily in preparation for the battle at Vígríðr at Ragnarök. Each night the Einherjar will eat from the beast Sæhrímnir (who is resurrected each night to be killed and eaten) as well as having their fill of mead.
“He is also called Val-father, since all those who fall in battle are the sons of his adoption. He assigns them places in Val-hall and Vingólf, and they are then know as Einherjar.”
PROSE EDDA
Woden
While some Anglo-Saxon deities share similarities to the Norse, I still view them as aspects that are separate of each other. It would feel wrong not to include information regarding Woden within this article given the subject.
One interesting piece of literature regarding Woden written in the 10th century is that of the Nine Herbs Charm. Although it has been passed through the lens of Christianity, it is a charm that aids in healing infections and acts as an antidote to poisons.
The Nine Herbs:
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
Cockspur Grass (Echinochloa crus-galli)
Lamb’s cress (Cardamine hirsuta)
Plantain (Plantago)
Mayweed (Matricaria)
Nettle (Urtica)
Crab-apple (Malus)
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Woden is, just as Odin is said to be, the head of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt occurs in Midwinter and is a great part of much folklore. It is even said that those with the ability to fare forth could partake in the Wild Hunt.
While I don’t personally include any Anglo-Saxon lore in my work aside from the similarities that both sides share, I still find it worth looking into if you wish to get a full scope of the deity from every angle.
Honoring Odin
My experience with Odin has defined what it is for me to be a heathen. A primeval energy that stopped at nothing for his own personal gain called to me. Hildolfr and his frenzied energy at the helm of the Úlfhéðnar spoke to what fascinated me. He is Rúnatýr, god of runes, yet his proficiency in seiðr aligned perfectly with all I wished to immerse myself in.
It is known when one partakes in an oath, especially when concerning a deity, it is a large deal within heathenry. Our words and actions as heathens are meant to be upheld and followed through lest we wish to bear the name of “oath-breaker”. It is said that oath-breakers, as well as adulterers and murderers, end up in Náströnd.
With that always at the forefront of my mind, almost three years ago, in a week from this post being written (the original post date of this blog was 1/22/2018), I made an oath of blood to Odin. To say that this oath changed my life would be a severe understatement. Although I had intertwined my faith within my life prior to my oath, after the oath was made my faith became my life. It became everything I worked towards. It took the normalcy of every day life, relationships, goals, and actions and twisted all those facets into alignment with what I had given blood for.
I should note that this is not how every oath works if one chooses to go down that path. Some can choose to oath for a set amount of time, oath for a simple goal to be reached, or to even oath in a less binding way. My oath, however, was for something ever growing. Something that can be worked towards but never fully reached in a lifetime. It is an oath of boundless dedication. Knowing now the way my life has changed, I would still go back three years ago and do it all again.
Offerings
When it comes to deities, what you offer is limited to what you can supply. For instance, a non-artist would probably not choose art as an offering. The same goes for what you’re able to afford or even legally purchase (such as alcohol).
When it concerns Odin, I find actions speak volumes over items. Don’t get me wrong, I occasionally offer mead or wine as well as display statues and art of him around my house. However, I find writing articles such as this, researching, practicing seiðr, working towards my degree, and furthering my knowledge concerning the runes align more with what it is to be an Odinswoman than leaving items on an altar.
No matter what you wish to offer, the most important thing to remember is to approach Odin with respect. Respect does not simply mean to be stoic and serious regarding the manner in which you give an offering. It also includes the idea of making sure that you’ve researched him enough to understand the foundations of what working with him entails.
If you’re looking to find lore friendly offering ideas. the Gylfaginning may give you some inspiration:
Then said Gangleri: “Has Odin the same fare as the champions?” Hárr answered: “That food which stands on his board he gives to two wolves which he has, called Geri and Freki; but no food does he need; wine is both food and drink to him; so it says here:
Geri and Freki | the war-mighty glutteth, The glorious God of Hosts; But on wine alone | the weapon-glorious Odin aye liveth.
GYLFAGINNING
This is only a minor scratch on the surface of the depth of all there is to Allfather. All the information here is incredibly basic for the sake of an introductory article regarding Odin. The sheer amount of information that had been left out of this article should push you to dig much, much deeper into the complexities of Odin if you’re feeling curious to do so.
This blog was originally posted on 1/22/18 and I have shared it on other platforms that I no longer frequent under various names I’ve had over the years.
The Comet Book (1587), details, “16th-century treatise on comets, created anonymously (or maybe it was a woman who endured erasure) in Flanders (now northern France)”. Originally named in german Kometenbuch.
A silly question, but what kind of oddities are poets? Where do you think we come from? Not from an academic perspective i guess, but just a question to make the brain produce words and ideas
Answer:
Poets - I am not convinced they are not here to torment us, with the words, the feelings, the godsforsaken iambic pentameter that overtakes the structure of one’s thoughts at the first chance.
We come from the ability to be exploring the forms it can come in.
if i see one more person say yeah he was apparently racist :/ when asked what prince philip “did” im gonna go insane lmao it’s not a matter of one-off problematic™️ moments from some random old white man — this dude presided over the most powerful, brutal, and racist colonial power on earth for decades. thats why we’re celebrating now and thats why we’ll continue to celebrate every time one of these crusty little british royals finally kicks it. read a book im begging
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