Veizla
Æfinrúnar Part 5: Veizla The Veizla or “Festival” is a sacred gathering that brings the folk together in a way that allows them to celebrate their culture and participate in communion with the divine. The idea is that each festival contains various rites and traditions meant to increase the luck or fortune of the gathered
Smyrja
This rite is designed to bless and bring life and power to your images of the Gods, called Skurðgoðar. This is a very important element in your practice, for your focus within the rite should be upon these images and the deities they represent. The idea is not that the inanimate objects are divine themselves,
Blótbað
The Blótbað (Blót-Bath) is a sacred cleansing before any rite is performed, or it can be a weekly rite in and of itself, since our ancestors called Saturday Laugardagr or “Bath-Day.” The ablution could also be called Njardarlǫg, which means “Njǫrðr’s Bath,” and was originally the name of the small Norwegian island of Tysnǫ. The
Types of Sacred Steads: The Vé
Types of Sacred Steads The Vé or shrine is the simplest set up we can create for our worship, and one can be crafted in the home, or set up within a natural landscape. The word itself denotes a holy sanctuary that was even applied to the þingtaðr. In the Eddas and skaldic poetry we
Stalli/Hǫrgr
The altar is the center of the rite, and as such is considered to be the holiest of places for us. There are many considerations for how an altar can and should be set up: from the natural stones of the Hǫrgr to the more elaborate and crafted Stalli (also called Blótstallr or “Sacrificial Altar”).
Old Norse Cosmology in the Poetic Edda: nine “homes” spread across three levels, and three wells for three roots
In Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, what we should be viewing as the first scholarly interpretation of the poetic passages from the manuscripts known as the Codex Regius and the Hauksbók, we often see modern heathens and scholars use this account of the “9 worlds” in Norse mythology. The word used here is “heima” which more
Hlautbolli
We understand that Hlautbolli or Blótbolli is a term that must relate to the Underworld fountains, which also corresponds to the ritual usage of the bowls and relates to the sacred kettles. The fact that Hvergelmir means “Roaring Kettle” certainly confirms this. Three vessels with three sacred liquids referring to the three fountains that each
Elements: WATER
Elements The elements of nature are the starting point of all, the constant within our ancestral religion. The eternal elements are the building blocks of all of life, and our creation story describes this explicitly. This makes these elements particularly holy for us, and their usage only requires consecration to designate them specifically for ritual,
Reið
The sacred procession, or Reið, is attested in several sources, and should be used as a means of transition from the festivity of the Leikr to the solemnity of the Blót. It is the time of meditation, of focusing on the cosmic forces at play and looking forward to the time of communication. It is
Nauðeldur
In the Saxon Indiculus Superstitionum et Paganiarum, which is a list of Christian edicts banishing pagan practices, there is a proclamation against “fire rubbed from wood that is nodfyr (Need-fire).” There is a theory that this term derives from Old High German hniotan which means “to rub,” but it could also refer to a sense
