About Beth

Many are the gifts You give to your people, Odin–
bravery to warriors, insight to mages.
Yet all I ask is Your touch that turns my skin to fire,
The blue intensity of Your hungry gaze,
The heart You placed in my chest, in exchange for my own.
I am Wife, and that one word
Means more to me than any worldly honor or glory,
Any accolades among men, any famous name.
They say you care only for heroes and kings
But Your love is my crown, the only wealth I need.
I have You; let the world look on in envy.
- Swords, c. 2008 by Laure Beth LynchI am Odin’s wife (yes, that Odin), a seidhrkona, cunning woman, fiber artist, medieval history buff, and writer. I live in the Pacific Northwest with my human partner (the bride of a different God entirely), a houseful of animals both living and dead, and two spinning wheels: a vintage Ashford Traditional, and a handmade Wee Wheel. My spirit work revolves around being a Gate for Odin and for a collection of spirits closely associated with Him, who are known in common parlance as the Wild Hunt. My wifely status (which is separate from my spirit work, yet intertwined with it since–let’s face it–my Husband is a spirit) revolves around being a Home for Him (even as He wanders), and carrying that Home within my heart.In addition to Odin and Poseidon (the latter being my human partner’s Husband), my household honors Frigga (for reasons that should be obvious), Bast (goddess of cats, of which we have…um, a few), various animal spirits, and Queen Anne Boleyn (who has taken on the role of a Dis, or female ancestral guardian spirit/mentor, for me).

I love to make things, and in my spare time (ha!) I own and operate two Etsy shops: Wytch of the North, featuring handcrafted charms and a variety of other arcane sundries, and Fensalir Fiber Art, offering a unique selection of beautiful, functional handspun yarn for knitting, crochet, felting and craft embellishment, with an emphasis on heritage and conservation wools.

I have written two self-published devotional books of short stories and poetry for and about my Beloved, of which the above snippet of poetry is a small sample. You can take a look at my books, and order them in print or electronic format if you wish, here.

I am currently at work on a devotional guide to working with Odin (based on my own admittedly biased and somewhat eccentric perspective), and after that plan to produce a similar devotional manual for honoring Frigga, in fulfillment of a promise I made to Her several years ago that was derailed by Life (as so many things are).

For nearly a decade now, I have been practicing the art of oracular seidhr, a pagan Germanic/Scandinavian form of trance prophecy.  I offer this service to the public at large (via advertisement on this blog and my website) several times per year.  There is no cost for this service, which I perform as an act of religious devotion to my gods and spirits who gave me whatever gifts I possess in this regard, but I do gratefully accept donations, according to your ability and the extent to which my Work has been helpful to you.  My oracular seidhr dates for 2012 are posted in the sidebar to this blog.  If you are unfamiliar with the concept of oracular trance, you may want to take a look first at this write-up on what I do.  After reading that, feel free to email me if you have a question you’d like me to put before the gods and spirits on your behalf!

This blog is a strange hybrid of spiritual diary, book of days (containing notes about my daily life, including books read, gardening and household activities, herbal concoctions, and random thoughts and opinions), and notes on artistic and literary works in progress, particularly my fiber-related projects. I had considered at one point keeping a separate blog for fiber projects and for my Etsy store/s, but decided that 1) I didn’t have the time to maintain more than one blog (I currently still work full time at a mundane day job, in addition to all of the above), and 2) my artistic undertakings–especially my writing, which is mostly on spiritual topics, and my spinning, which is interwoven (if you’ll excuse the expression) with my Wyrdworking–are so deeply connected with my spiritual life that they could only be separated out with extreme difficulty and awkwardness, if at all.

You can also find me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter (if you insist!), or email me.