I am agender and major! Please don’t hesitate to ask me questions by messaging me or sending an ask!
I’m a practicing norse polytheist but very interested in other pagan practices so please tell me about your beliefs, I’m willing to hear everything about them!
I try to spread as much information about norse paganism and norse myths as I can, as accurately as possible. I worship the Æsir, the Vanir and the Rökkr equally, which means I post about all of these. I also venerate Jötnar and spirits such as the landvættir (skogvættir more often than not) and the Dísir. Some specific spirits I worship are the Greenman whom I see as a forest spirit, and the Fox spirit. I will post about the sagas as well, as I am currently re-reading them.
Question box is open to new witches and new pagans, or just to anyone respectful!
I was wondering if you have any advice for learning to believe that the gods care about us as individuals?
When I see people saying that the gods really don’t care about us in the grand scheme of things, I find that easier to believe than to believe they care about us, which kinda feels .. shit. Although maybe it’s true, I’m not sure.
I honour Loki, but because I find it hard to believe that they care about me at all (especially given I can’t communicate with him – so he can’t tell me if he does or not, and I don’t want to assume), I feel like it puts distance between us on my end.
I apologise if this is a bit heavy or difficult to answer, don’t stress if you can’t, you’re fine to delete it! But if you have any advice, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Hi there! I definitely understand the way you feel, and from time to time, I experience this very same sentiment as well. I think asking oneself this sort of question comes naturally to many of us, because pragmatic thinking could have us believe the divine is somehow too great to care about us measly earthlings.
But let’s break down this idea that’s being spread around pagan social media platforms, according to which the Gods are too busy, too grand, or too powerful to care about their followers. I’ve never been a fan of this sort of over-the-top cynical rhetoric. Still, I think there’s no better way to tackle pragmatic thinking than in a pragmatic way. The way I see it, this perception of the divine stems from a will to fully detach oneself from common monotheistic concepts. The fact is that a lot of neo-pagans, including popular pagan content creators, come from a Christian background. Some of these creators, whether polytheistic, animistic, both, or else, seem very keen on rejecting any spiritual concept or practice deemed monotheistic in nature, such as the idea that the divine can love us. Neo-paganism entails new ideas, and therefore, any perception of the divine that’s akin to that of the big monotheistic religions is either naive, or shows remnants of monotheistic thinking. However, there’s nothing naive about believing that the divine can care about us. I can believe this, just like I can believe that this or that deity presides over this or that matter in life. Belief systems work in a way that allow for specific ideas of the divine to form, and to vary from person to person. And after all,—just as an aside—, if an entity is powerful enough to be considered divine, then they are powerful enough to know about each of their followers, regardless of how many there are. Now, I don’t think there’s any need to specify that polytheism is inherently spiritual. This means that its very foundations are built upon personal gnosis, and belief in concepts that cannot be proven. No such thing as logic regulates matters of spirituality. So why should we, as theists whose beliefs aren’t commanded by any sort of authority or rule set, be so rigidly pragmatic in this case?
In the end, it all comes down to what we personally believe, and what we’ve personally experienced. Who’s to prove that the Gods don’t love us? And if I saw some stranger on social media tell me “hey um, your God doesn’t care about you by the way”, I would think that 1. Me and this person probably don’t even perceive the divine in the same manner at all; 2. Nothing and nobody dictates belief but the believer themselves; and 3. My experience has proven to me that the Gods care for us, and it’s proof enough. But let me elaborate on that matter further.
In most pagan paths, deities embody different natural phenomena and elements of human life. That’s the way the very first forms of polytheism developed. And to me at least, that’s also the way we as pagans experience their presence firsthand. The Gods are all around us: we can see them because we can see forests, seas, storms, fire, rain… And when you see it that way, they are infinitely closer to us than some cynical social media accounts would have us believe. They don’t sit on golden thrones above the clouds, far away from the human condition. Their presence is tightly intertwined with the earth. So why should “the forest, seas, storms” etc etc care for us? Well my friend, have you ever spent time by a river, and felt that it had a soul of its own? Have you ever felt a bond with a specific tree, or got the sense that the storm was alive somehow? That is something I worship as a pagan. And in my personal experience, the God’s burning, all encompassing love can be felt in these sorts of moments. I don’t need for them to tell me directly. It’s like looking into a loved one’s eyes and feeling that they love you, even though not a single word was spoken. I know how difficult it can be to put one’s faith in such a thing, when it’s already hard for us to even communicate with the Gods. That’s why we keep an eye out for signs from them. And even so, we might never truly grasp their thoughts. If anything, that’s something we know for sure about the divine. If you want my opinion, believing that the Gods love us is a perfectly sound choice to make. They send us their blessings in too many ways to count, sometimes in the form of well-needed change, reassurance, comfort… And if you believe that a certain blessing was sent by the Gods, doesn’t that already showcase a certain care? Even for those who see deity worship as purely transactional (an offering for a blessing and vice-versa), the very idea that a deity would send a blessing implies care for the followers who make the offering. And since me, along with innumerable other pagans, have received blessings without necessarily having to ask or perform some sort of huge offering ritual, I’ve naturally decided that the Gods love their followers. Everybody else can feel free to believe what they will, but my faith, intuition and experience have told me so.
Don’t let your mood be undermined by what people say on the internet, but more importantly, don’t let other people dictate what’s true and what’s false about your experience of spirituality. Let yourself believe what you want to believe, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. You don’t owe anybody proof of what you have faith in.
The Valleberga Runestone DR 337
(The runestone style is misleading here. The text is carved in the fashion of style RAK (980-1015CE), the cross and use of dotted rune variations however imply a slightly later date ca. 1015-1050CE)
Runic Inscription:
ᛋᚢᚽᚾ : ᛅᚢᚴ : ᚦᚢᚱᚵᚢᛏᚱ : ᚴᛁᛅᚢᚱᚦᚢ : ᚴᚢ[ᛘᛒ]ᛚ : ᚦᛁᛋᛁ
ᚽᚠᛏᛁᛦ : ᛘᛅᚾᛅ ᛅᚢᚴ : ᛋᚢᛁᚾᛅ
ᚴᚢᚦ : ᚼᛁᛅᛚᛒᛁ : ᛋᛁᛅᚢᛚ : ᚦᚽᛦᛅ : ᚤᚽᛚ : ᛁᛅᚾ : ᚦᚽᛦ : ᛚᛁᚵᛁᛅ : ᛁ : ᛚᚢᚾᛏᚢᚾᚢᛘ
(note that for some reason the above drawing of the stone has several small mistakes in the transcription of the runes, which I highlighted in bold)
Transliteration:
suen : auk : þurgutr : kiaurþu : kumbl : þisi
eftiR : mana auk : suina
kuþ : hialbi : siaul : þeRa : vel : ian : þeR : ligia : i : luntunum
Standardized:
Sveinn ok Þórgautr gerðu kumbl þessi
eftir Manna auk Sveina
Guð hjalpi sjál þeira vel; enn þeir liggja í Londonum
Translation:
Svein and Þórgaut made this monument
in memory of Manni and Sveini.
God may help their souls well; also they lie in London.
Hey! How do you communicate with your deities? I'm curious. Also do you believe in fire candle things?
Hi there! Thank you for the ask!
I might have mentioned this in the past, but I'm not somebody who tends to "communicate" with deities very much. At least not in the sense that implies back and forth conversation. I've often noticed that when I'd reach out to a deity in order to establish some kind of "conversation" in this spiritual sense, I'd only ever perceive the answers I wanted to perceive. I don't pretend to have any sort of clairsense, or gift for "God-phoning", and much like a lot of my pagan peers, I can have quite a hard time interpreting signs from the Gods. And I'm afraid to say that despite my having been being pagan for eight years now, I've not gotten much better at it with time. I believe that the divine will always be shrouded in a certain amount of mystery. To try and pick it apart in order to understand it fully will forever be pointless, because what makes a deity truly divine is the unexplainable nature of everything spiritual. To be frank with you, the instances of communication I've experienced with deities were always pretty much one-sided, but I find this pretty exciting! Reaching out to a deity has always soothed me, and sometimes, you might get this feeling of being genuinely listened to. I believe it's one of the most fundamental ways to experience divine presence. And sometimes, often out of the blue, you might receive a message that's as clear as day: a sign or a piece of advice that fits into your situation in a wonderfully accurate manner. For me, these are often words spoken by strangers that seem to resonate, symbols or patterns that keep re-appearing around me, or omens of any kind. I will sometimes ask for the message to be specified if I'm having trouble deciphering it, using a divination method such as rune casting, oracle or tarot. They're basic methods, but generally effective in my experience. However, I always approach them with a lot of skepticism: I find it harder to read messages for oneself rather than for another person. For this reason, I'll very often ask for a friend to make a reading for me: the outside, unbiased perspective makes it that much easier to avoid "hearing what you want to hear". Nevertheless, while I admire people who easily communicate with the divine, I don't seem to fall into that category, and that's fine by me. To be able to venerate the Gods is already a true joy, and I believe that I'll keep getting better at understanding their messages bit by bit.
I’ll now address your second question! I've actually used this method a few times in the past. I’m sure that some, when well practiced and in tune with their intuition, can be great at interpreting signs in a candle. However, my only issue with this divinatory method is that even in a room that’s locked and closed, the air still circulates—a flame never goes up straight when it burns. It'll flicker and go different directions, even when nobody’s there to witness it, or interpret messages from it. The way I see it, interpretation of a candle’s flicker is akin to scrying using a mirror, a black bowl filled with water, or else. Meaning it can make for a great divination method, in a manner that's similar to seeing omens in the weather or in the patterns of a bird’s flight: the movement will happen either way, and I don’t believe it happens with the only purpose of sending a message to one particular individual. I’ve never given much credit to the idea that a candle making a particular sudden movement translates to a direct message from this or that deity. I think it’s all about introspection and finding answers thanks to one’s intuition. In that manner, I think the flickering of a candle can give interesting answers to questions you might be asking yourself. That is why I treat this divination method like a means of scrying rather than communicating with the divine, although I know that this opinion might not be shared by all. I would be curious to hear other people's opinions on this topic!
"Ingimund felt at home nowhere; therefore Harald the King urged him to seek his fortune in Iceland. Ingimund said that that was what he had never set his mind upon, but he sent there two Finns on a wizard's journey in hamforum to Iceland after his talisman, which was the image of Frey and made of silver.
[...]
The Icelandic term for talisman here is hlutir, a little image or images which people used to wear about their persons [...]."
Landnámabók - The Book of Settlements, part III, "The Settlement of Iceland", chapter II (Tellwood translation).
"In this temple [at Uppsala], entirely decked out in gold, the people worship the statues of three Gods in such wise that the mightiest of them, Thor, occupies a throne in the middle of the chamber; Woden and Frikko have places on either side. The significance of these gods is as follows: Thor, they say, presides over the air, which governs the thunder and lightning, the winds and rains, fair weather and crops. The other, Woden—that is, the Furious—carries on war and imparts to man strength against his enemies. The third is Frikko, who bestows peace and pleasure on mortals. His likeness, too, they fashion with an immense phallus."
Gesta Hammaburgensis ("Deeds of the Bishops of Hamburg") chapter 26, Tschan translation.
Happy May Day! This is one of my favorite holidays of the year. To those who celebrate anything such as Beltane or another spring festival, have you got something planned for today? Please don’t hesitate to share! 🌾
As for me, I will be lighting the traditional bonfire when the sun goes down. For now, I’ve lit incense out in the yard, opened all the windows to let the wind in, and started preparing for the blót I’ll perform in honor of the Vanir. First thing today, I’ve gone on a hike to take in the sights of spring finally blessing our forests.
Cleansing shower! Since I’m a big fan of body care products, this year I’ve bought all natural flower-scented soap and cream for the occasion. Although I don’t always have the time to perform such a cleansing ritual before every festival, it’s a tradition I’ve come up with for myself and which I enjoy very much. Feeling refreshed before blót or other such rituals helps me to get into a positive mindset.
Go out! Even just go take a walk around the block if that’s all the time I’ve got. Spending time in the forest is ideal, and I think May Day is such a wonderful time to observe the snow melting and other such changes.
Open the windows and light candles and incense. It’s a cleansing of the house that I enjoy performing around the spring equinox. If I have the time, I generally choose this moment to do some cleaning: out with the old and the useless stuff that’s been lying around for way too long!
Flowers are my favorite spring time decoration by far, and they’re absolutely indispensable when it comes to celebrating May Day in my home. I generally take a walk to my local flower shop and buy a bouquet! It’ll serve to decorate the table for the night’s dinner.
I usually take the time to bake a little something, as a devotional act to Lord Freyr. As I’ve mentioned in this previous post, I also love to cook using boar meat in His honor. This type of meat isn’t always easy to find however, but any local game meat does the trick as well.
The movie fanatic that I am has become a little obsessed with the film The Wicker Man (1973), and I’ve turned it into my classic May Day movie. I generally rewatch it at this time of year, although it’s nothing spiritual at all. However, if you’re interested in watching it, make sure to look up all the warnings related to it beforehand. It is considered a horror movie after all!
My blót for May Day usually happens around sunset, around a bonfire. I generally perform it in honor of the Vanir and/or the landvættir, depending on the year. I make the offerings out in the garden, to ask for a plentiful summer!
Afterwards is the feast, a dinner that I (try to!) prepare from scratch. One plate is left out on the windowsill for the hidden folk.
Happy May Day! This is one of my favorite holidays of the year. To those who celebrate anything such as Beltane or another spring festival, have you got something planned for today? Please don’t hesitate to share! 🌾
As for me, I will be lighting the traditional bonfire when the sun goes down. For now, I’ve lit incense out in the yard, opened all the windows to let the wind in, and started preparing for the blót I’ll perform in honor of the Vanir. First thing today, I’ve gone on a hike to take in the sights of spring finally blessing our forests.
Performed a ritual to Frigge in honor of celebrating ten years with my partner.
I feel Frigge’s blessings as we continue to grow as individuals and as a family. I am grateful for the wisdom, bravery, communication, and love she continues to inspire.
Before we dive into the oh-so-diverse topic of holy spaces, let me first specify a few practical tips!
I’m very much aware that the definition of the term “holy” is deeply subjective and varies depending on one’s opinions. I’ll elaborate on a few of my thoughts on the topic further!
In no way are you bound by any rule regarding this aspect of paganism.
I will base my post off of my research, granted, but also on my personal experiences and practices!
Now, what makes a holy space sacred? Not necessarily "holy" per say, but simply sacred.
The very first factor to consider is, what is sacredness? Lots and lots of pagans engage mostly in solitary practice, so much is true. Which is why lots of us find ourselves gravitating towards spaces others may not necessarily find any sense of "sacredness" in. The corner of your room where you tend to pray the most? Sacred. Or the spot in your garden where you perform your harvest ritual every year! It’s the connection we feel to the space that makes it sacred in the first place. But a space being holy depends on whether or not we choose to anoint it in such a way.
When something is sacred to me, I tend to feel a sort of spiritual pull. A swelling of the heart, if you will, like the feeling I get when faced with a breathtaking landscape. The feeling of spiritual connection to a particular spot is the first intuition one needs to tune into when choosing a holy space. After all, staying in tune with one's intuition might be one of the most important aspect of any spiritual practice.
Within nordic practice, a holy space is often called vé, a sacred enclosure. Vé's are attested in numerous toponyms as well as ancient texts, such as Beowulf, or the Skáldskaparmál. Their omnipresence in Scandinavian toponyms might, when considered through a pagan lense, signify something quite interesting: the holiness of a space depends on the space itself, its location, rather than what's inside it— or rather, how grand and ornate it is. When building a holy space for oneself, one does not need lavish decoration, or an elaborate shrine with the gold foil and the statues.
However, there are a few steps one can follow in order to anoint a space as holy, if one wants to reconstruct a few practices from pre-Christian Scandinavia. Although I'll specify that as always, no rule is set in stone when it comes to neopaganism. The choice to abide by them or not is entirely up to the practitioner. And in any case, even as I was gathering these few ideas, it was clear that, as always, pre-Christian practices centered around holy spaces vastly differed depending on the place and the time. Regardless, I think it's fun to do some research on the topic in order to reconstruct on our own terms a holy space in the nordic tradition.
Hey, Nonny! I'm a bit confused by what you mean. Are you asking for me to make a post that explains who the Norse gods are? If so, I actually recommend you take a look at@broomsick'saccount because they are MUCH more knowledgeable than I am. They have lots of posts that are already made. c:
have you any adaptations of norse myth as complete as the eddas but in a more accessible format? or a modernized english translation? ive tried reading the eddas a few times but struggle with the archaic language so i prefer other texts, including those on your site, but they all focus (understandably) on the more well-known stories while only briefly mentioning others. they solve the antiquity of the eddas but in the process omit lots of gems! am i chasing unicorns here?
It's out-of-print, but I generally recommend d'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths for a first-time read.
It's a children's book, so the authors gloss over a few of the cruder things (such as Loki tying his balls to the beard of a goat to make Skadi laugh), but the way they've chosen to adapt these oral stories into a linear book-format is nothing short of brilliant. They've woven a shocking amount of extant and historically-attested tales within the book, and being that it's a children's book, everything is very easy to read and understand.
They objectively did a spectacular job with how they organized everything. I think it helped that Ingri d'Aulaire was Norwegian and grew up with the oral tradition. It's clear to me that she didn't need to rely on how these tales are formatted in the old Icelandic sagas; she knew how to restructure them while still conveying the same information.
One thing to note about this book, though, is that it's not designed to give you the same experience you'd have with the oral tradition, nor is it intended to fulfill the same anthropological function. Its purpose is just to share the cultural stories. But the fact it's extraordinarily successful at fulfilling this purpose is why it's my go-to recommended retelling at this point in time.
Fall asleep/meditate to the sound of rain/thunderstorms
Taking care of yourself physically
Exercising; making sure to stretch/move your body in general
Spending time with loved ones, especially any younger relatives you feel close with
Supporting human rights, abuse survivors, or homeless care organizations
Cook a warm meal for someone in need; give bottled/warm drinks to someone in need
Have a candle that reminds you of him (no altar needed)
Keep a picture of him in your wallet
Wear jewelry that reminds you of him
Donate food, clothes, umbrellas, raincoats, winter clothes, and general supplies to a homeless shelter
Have imagery of Mjölnir, lightning/storms, or the Helm of Awe symbol around
Have a stuffed animal goat
Participate in a protest for something you believe in
Engage in activities that you're passionate about
Eat a hardy meal, especially with meats or filling foods
Drink mead, coffee with honey, tea with honey, etc.; raise a glass to Thorr
Make a list of your personal strengths; acknowledge all that you've overcome
Ground yourself often, decompress after a tough day
Play in the rain (safely please)
Work hard on something, especially with your hands; crafting, wood-carving, building, etc.
Be kind to your fellow humans; practice compassion and generosity
Honor your ancestors; learn about your family history
Keep your space clean; make it your own
Help with household chores or errands
Support local farmers
Volunteer at a homeless shelter
Take responsibility for yourself and your actions
Be kind to retail/customer service workers; leave good tips when you can
Learn to trust yourself more; trust that you can protect yourself, listen to yourself, and have faith in yourself
Be patient with yourself, especially if you struggle physically
Hold the door for someone; offer help to anyone who seems to need it
Collect rain water (feel free to use it to water plants)
Start a garden; tend to plants, especially produce and herbs
Listen to music that empowers you; dance to it
Practice venting your anger through healthy avenues; be comfortable with any of your negative feelings/emotions
Take a walk outside with a cloudy sky or during a rainstorm (be safe with this please)
Pour a drink for someone else; pour a drink in honor of your ancestors
Stand up for yourself and others
Celebrate your accomplishments often; celebrate your loved ones, too
-
I'll add more to this later! For now, this is my list of discreet ways to worship Thorr. I hope this helped, and please take care, everyone! May your cups never be empty. ❤️
Hail the bringer of storms.
Forged in the flames of hardships, your hands know strength:
The strength to grasp gently and protect; the strength to nurture and tend.
Hail the wielder of Mjolnir.
Powerful as your mighty hammer, your hands know might:
The might to defend tirelessly; the might to persevere ‘til the end.
Hail the delight of Sif.
Most powerfully of all, your hands know love:
The love in cherishing your loved ones and self, the love that will ascend.
Hail the ally of the downtrodden.
Fearsome Thor, champion of Midgard and slayer of the cruel.
Beloved Thor: cousin, uncle, brother, son, husband, Lord, and friend.
You are using an unsupported browser and things might not work as intended. Please make sure you're using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.
