Odin devotional (yup, she’s finally going to write this thing)

Last night, Wednesday evening, I lit a candle, filled Odin’s little handmade-looking beehive goblet (which I found at a thrift store, and which I keep on His altar for just such occasions) with red wine, and settled down to spend some time with Him. This Wednesday night ritual has recurred often enough during the past year but not as often as it once did, just as my other once-common outward acts of devotion have been less frequent this past year than was once the case. I noted this trend to myself at several points during 2011, but didn’t pause to wonder why other than to cite whatever had been the latest crisis du jour (finding out we would need to move and find homes for some of our cats, Jolene being summoned to court back east for an old credit card debt, the dog’s near-fatal injury, etc.). These kinds of happenings, taken separately, can have the tendency to derail me (and most people, very likely) from my practice temporarily, but not on such a prolonged basis, not for a whole year.

Looking back now (especially after having read Jolene’s more detailed account of the year-that-was), I realize a more plausible explanation: that, due to the one-thing-after-another nature of the year, I was very likely dealing with mild depression for most of it. Mild depression can be more insidious and more difficult to climb one’s way out of than severe depression, if only because it isn’t always as recognizable. I’ve been severely depressed before in my life, and knew I needed help. Mild depression always seduces me into believing that I really just don’t feel like doing anything, while the truth is that I don’t have the energy or wherewithal to do anything, whether I feel like it or not.

Although in my case, this time, I still did things, they were just different types of things from my usual fare. Lacking the energy or will for my normally active schedule of devotional and spiritual activities, I sought the soothing monotony of spinning. And I am now far more advanced in this craft–for which I have discovered a deep and abiding love–than I would have been at this point had I not put so many hours into it. My long-suffering Husband remarked lightly that He knows better than to come between a woman and her spinning, yet as He also pointed out to me one day, I am not a farm wife; I do have other obligations. Spinning and the textile arts are my chosen artistic field, but my pre-existing spiritual duties remain, as a God-spouse and priestess. I never turned away from Odin or our relationship during any part of 2011, but my will to develop my spiritual skills further (aside from the new ones taught to my by Frigga during the act of spinning itself) and to make outward gestures of devotion or worship was just not there.

After the old year died and my depression began to melt away, my ability and will to begin facing and dealing with these obligations also returned. One of the readers of my Godspousery post remarked on her perception of Godspouses as priests/priestesses. This is a concept that has always resonated for me (in my own case, at any rate), even while I’ve continually struggled with what it means since I’ve never had an in-person community for which to perform priestly duties. In the comments to my post, I wrote:

However, think I am, slowly, broadening my own definition of that word (not that I’m saying mine is the only definition possible, or that anyone else needs to adopt it). I think one can serve people in a number of different ways that are not just limited to performing in-person rites and counseling; there is, for example, my oracular seidhr, and I also think a priest-like role is served by those who make their religious writings available–either online or in print–to help educate and give others the benefit of their experience in specific areas or with specific gods. I don’t think this always needs to be an in-person function, or that it needs to involve large groups of people in some official capacity, such as a kindred.

This has given me much food for thought, and brings me back to a project I had undertaken a few years back and never completed: a non-fiction devotional book for and about Odin, including a survey of His myths, symbols and historical worship but with most of the emphasis on an exploration of modern practice and devotion. Of course, since I am a Godspouse, a large portion of the book would deal with what that entails, particularly in the case of this God, and obviously from a very personal perspective. It’s the idea of discussing something so personal and intimate that has always deterred me from really persevering with this project in the past, but I think the time has finally come for it, and that I’m finally ready to do it.

I am aware that others may be working on similar projects, yet their perspectives would necessarily be different, since they are not me, and every relationship–even every relationship with the same God–is different. Although the Godspouse perspective will definitely be there, I’m looking to write a book that would be useful to any serious devotee, not just romantic ones, as well as for the more average middle-of-the-road pagan who would like to approach this very enigmatic god, and is perhaps even being tapped by Him (since Odin taps many people, for a variety of reasons)…and is perhaps confused or scared.

In addition to–and more importantly than–all of the above, I’m thinking that this book would make a very nice 10th anniversary gift for my Beloved.

So, I’d like to put this out to the readers of this blog: what would you like to see covered in such a book? I welcome any and all suggestions, and they will definitely assist me in structuring the book and doing any needed research, even though I reserve the right not to adopt them all (since no book can be all things to all people). Would you like personal anecdotes? Pathworkings and rituals? Recipes (for food. oils, incense, etc)? Devotional activities? Details on specific paths, such as shamanic work or runes? All of the above? Something I haven’t thought of or considered yet.? Don’t be shy! I’d love to hear from you, either in comments to this post or via email.

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