Beth Lynch featured at the Wild Hunt!

Reblogged from Loki's Bruid:

Considering all of the anger and strident discourse lately in the blogosphere, I'm thrilled to see a positive example of offerings and devotion in hard polytheism featured in the Wild Hunt. Hard polytheists just really love their Gods, and we all express that love in different ways.

“I think physical offerings are important, since we live in a material realm and we are incarnated at least partially to learn from both the freedoms and restrictions of the material world.

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Squee, thank you, Heather!!! How can I not reblog this one?

New post at my PaganSquare blog

I just published the most recent installment to my PaganSquare blog, Threads!  It’s the first in a series of three posts on heathen practice for beginners (inspired by Lykeia’s recent “Baby Polytheist” post).  You can read Baby Polytheist: the Heathen/Odinist sequel over at the Witches & Pagans site here.

Seidhr for June is now CLOSED

I have as many queries for my June session at this point as I feel I can comfortably handle (as of Saturday June 15th at 12:29 pm Pacific time).

Thank you, everyone!

Baby Polytheist...it ain't hard

Reblogged from Beloved in Light:

In the polytheistic communities one inevitably encounters a large vocab list of different items that have been historically used in worship, which can be intimidating to new polytheists. Someone coming into the Hellenic religion may feel intimidated by such things as phiales (shallow bowls, which are particularly seen being held by Apollon), oinokhoes (libation vessels), kylix (drinking cups) and so on.

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An awesome post by Lykeia on why you should not wait until you have all the "proper trappings" before beginning to worship the gods. Heathenry does not have a lot of ritual equipment compared to Hellenismos, yet I went about a year after being claimed by Odin before getting a drinking horn, and it was a couple of years after that before I got the hand carved, specially commissioned one I had been craving. At this point, I have been collecting Odin images and related paraphernalia for about ten years and there are still things I want to get for my shrine, other images and tools I would like to have. I think there is a lot to be said for waiting for the right ritual objects to enter your life (if you keep your eyes open and pray for them to show up, they will!) and in the meantime just beginning your devotional practice. All you really need for that is yourself and the gods. Make time and space for Them in your life, open your mind and heart, and above all listen; the rest will follow when the time is right!

Reminder: oracular seidhr for June

My next upcoming oracular session will be held on the evening of Monday, June 17th.

This year I have made several changes in the process for submitting a question, so please read this page and make sure you understand the changes and the new information before sending me a request for an oracle, as if you do not follow the new guidelines your question/s will be rejected. This is not for the purpose of being a hardass, but to make it possible for me to offer you the extra sessions I have added (11 this year as opposed to the 5 I held in 2012). And if you can do so at all, please do consider donating this year, to help support my devotional practice, if you submit a question. It is still not required, but I am working fewer hours now due to chronic health problems (I am “invisibly ill”) so it is always appreciated!

Thank you!

My Loki yarn arrived!

Reblogged from lokastrommablog:

I purchased 50g of glorious handspun wool from Beth.
And although I did not experience miraculous healing from the yarn as Heather did (se here : http://lokisbruid.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/not-just-a-maker/ )

i DID enjoy running my hands over it and experiencing the thrill of new yarn, which is a little miracle in and off itself when the yarn is a thing of beauty.

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More praise for my handspun yarn--thank you!!! :) (To be fair, my ritual cords are a bit different from my art yarn--which this is--but I can spin anything with a particular intent, as I am doing now for a new yarn custom order I'm working on.)

Not just a maker

Reblogged from Loki's Bruid:

One of the joys of being me is that I can catch an illness randomly, and I recently came down with bronchitis, not preceded by anything, like a cold or a flu. The day that I went to the doctor, I was miserably ill with shortness of breath.

I haven't mentioned this here yet, but I've been dabbling in fiber art.

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Reblogging this not only because it's a fabulous affidavit for my handspun yarn (thank you, Heather!) but because she brings up important points about the essence of Making, which is the art of bringing things into manifestation that did not exist previously in the physical realm, and traditional crafts as a link to the ancestors. This has been one of the most compelling things about hand spinning for me: the fact that I can feel the unbroken thread (pun intended) stretching back through time connecting me to all of the women who have ever spun. This is a very, very long thread indeed, and some of the women have never been mortal. I also knit, and I plan to take up embroidery at some point in honor of Anne, who was a talented needle worker, but spinning is the craft that calls to me most powerfully, perhaps because spinning is the act of collecting the filaments of potential, smoothing and drafting them, and twisting them into something strong and durable. It is Wyrdworking.

Forgiveness

Reblogged from Queen Without A Court:

Forgiveness is a point of contention in many Pagan circles.  There are those of a hard line, who say that we are within our rights to cast judgement, which may result in vengeful action against those who would wrong us.  Some even say that when a person loses themselves to revenge, that it is the Universe casting ultimate judgement in their (the vengeful party) favor.  

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This is so very well said. I think there is a tendency in polytheist circles to regard forgiveness as somehow "wimpy," but in my experience, it is a way of taking back one's power (to borrow slightly new-agey terminology). If I feel someone has wronged me, certainly I could go on a vendetta of revenge, and Odin would not fault me for it. (Since He is not exactly a "turn the other cheek" type of deity.) However, that vendetta would also consume a lot of time and energy I would almost always rather spend elsewhere. So instead, I usually choose to forgive the person; this does not mean that I grant them absolution or decide that what they did was okay, and certainly not that I would allow them to do it again, but that I cut myself off from them energetically and move on with my life, while giving the situation over to Odin (or sometimes some of my spirits). If He (or They) feels the situation needs to be rectified or punished, I can always rest assured that His solution will be more efficient and appropriate than anything I could ever do to them, anyway...

In case anyone is interested

I am not going to be reading or responding to any more commentaries on the superhero/comic book/fictional character controversy, even indirectly, mostly because I just don’t care enough to contribute any more of my time and attention to it.  It doesn’t have a direct impact on my own practice, and I don’t interact with the “community”, either online or in person, enough for it to matter to me.

However,  I will, as my last word, say this: no matter where one stands along the spectrum of orthodoxy/orthopraxy, there is always going to be someone further along on that spectrum who will likely find fault with some aspect of one’s own religious activities.  Many of the people who have been so vocally on the attack in this issue have extremely unorthodox religious lives: spirit workers, godspouses, and so forth.   I am a godwife and a seidhrkona myself, and because of Odin’s demands that I be open about my relationship with Him right from the start, I have over the years endured my share of criticism, mockery, and “you are doing it wrong” commentary from those further along the aforementioned orthodoxy/ orthopraxy spectrum than me.  Perhaps this is why I’m reluctant to level similar accusations at others, regardless of what I may privately think of their practices.

They say the oppressed become the oppressors; I’d just rather not be one of those people.

Call for Submissions: Prayers to the Allfather

Allfather by Lindowyn on Etsy

As some of you are no doubt aware, over the past few years I have made several false starts at turning out a non-fiction Odin devotional and/or guidebook for working with Him. To be honest, this project has begun to seem increasingly untenable to me.  I have never found the idea of simply editing a devotional anthology to Him appealing; I wanted all, or at least the bulk of the text, to be written by me.  The problem with that, though, is that my own relationship with Him and understanding of Him has evolved into something so personal and idiosyncratic that it may not be useful to produce a book-length treatment of it; my blog writings may well be enough.  And maybe I will collect some of my online essays into book form at some point in the future, as others have done.

But in the meantime, a couple of weeks ago while poking around online I noticed a call for submissions for a Hekatean prayer book, and I thought to myself, why not do a prayer and ritual book for Odin instead of a traditional “devotional anthology”?  To my knowledge, this would be the first book of its kind for Him, and I think it could prove a useful resource to many, many people, from seekers to newbies to us old-timers.  I will not be including articles, personal essays, stories, or “normal” literary/devotional poetry, only prayers, rituals, chants, invocations, and artwork.  The goal is to create a resource book for devotional use, while leaving out the more controversial assortment of opinions and anecdotes that would normally appear in a devotional anthology collection.  This does not mean that the the prayers in it cannot come from an idiosyncratic and possibly controversial viewpoint or framework, but they must be actual prayers, not thinly veiled ideology, and I am going to be very selective about what I include.  I fully expect to be writing a good deal of the content myself, but would very much also like to include contributions from others.

And so, I am opening up submissions for Prayers to the Allfather (tentative working title), with a current deadline of June 30th, 2014 (though this may change, depending on how many submissions I get by then and how many of them I accept.  Ideally, I would like to have the book out by Martinmas (November 11^th) 2014.  I will be publishing it via CreateSpace under the Wild Hunt Press imprint, with a Kindle version available as well.  I cannot offer royalties or free printed copies of the book, however each person whose work appears in it will receive a free pdf (electronic) copy.

Please help me to spread the word about this by circulating the below Call for Submissions widely!

Call for Submissions: Prayers to the Allfather

I am currently accepting submissions for Prayers to the Allfather, a collection of prayers, rituals, chants, invocations and artwork for Odin.  This book is not going to be a traditional devotional anthology and I do not want to receive any articles, personal essays, or literary devotional poetry.  This will be strictly a book of liturgy for Him which I hope can serve as a resource for His devotees (meaning, everyone who loves and reveres Him) regardless of their specific belief system or approach to Him.  Please see below for more details of the type of content desired.

Prayers, blessings, chants, songs, mantras, and invocations: These may be of any length and style but must be your own original work and must be addressed to/directed towards Odin/Woden/Wodan (or any of His heiti, i.e. alternate Names). Although these types of pieces can certainly be poetic and even be framed in poetic form, I don’t want poetry that has a mostly ideological purpose (ie, putting forth your own personal view of Odin in some way without the piece being an actual prayer), or poetry that serves a primarily literary purpose.  This is a very fine and debatable line, and I suppose the deciding factors will have to be a) what He says about it, and b) how I feel about the piece and whether it seems to fit my overall vision for the book.

Rituals: I don’t want spells, but rituals that serve a devotional purpose: dedications, blessings, meditations, festivals created for or focused on Him, energy work, etc.  There is no length restriction here.  Personal rituals you have done for Him would be perfect for this; please email me or just send the piece for me to look at if you’re not sure whether it would fit!

Artwork:  I would like to include Odin artwork throughout the book, including on the cover, for meditation purposes and general drooling over His awesomeness, including: paintings, photo manipulations, shrines, statues and other artwork created for Him, etc.  Depictions of concepts and symbols associated with Him (ravens, wolves, valknuts, snakes, bears, etc.) are also acceptable.

Please email your submissions to: wodandis@gmail.com and make sure to put “Prayers to the Allfather” in the subject line.

Once again, the deadline is June 30^th, 2014, and I will be the final judge of all submissions.  You must also be willing to sign an agreement to have your work included, which I will email to you upon acceptance.

Please help spread the word about this by reblogging, retweeting, etc.!