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
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
Types of Sacred Steads: the VÉ
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 are given phrases and
The Nine Square Grid
– An excerpt from Æfinrúnar book 1 Now that we have examined the gates themselves, it is important for us to look at why a Nine Square Grid was used and what purpose it serves. We know that the number nine is the holiest of numbers in Teutonic Polytheism, and many believe that this is
The Helthing
The “Helthing” is a representation of the judgement given when one dies for our deeds. First we should examine the 9 nids found in our lore in multiple references to understand how our eschatology can be viewed. We have identified the nine nids as follows: Murder – Völuspá 40, Sölarljód 64, Vafthrúdnismál 43, Germania by
Hákon’s Blót
Snorri Sturluson presents a vivid account of Jarl Hákon’s Oðinnic sacrifice in his Heimskringla. Hákon, depicted as a devoted and unrelenting pagan, just has been coerced into accepting baptism at the insistence of his Danish overlord, the newly Christianized Harald Bluetooth. Harald’s conversion seems sincere, motivated by witnessing Bishop Poppa’s ordeal of iron. Hákon has
SEIÞ-MENN vs. SEIþ-KONA Gender-Bias in Black Magic Debunked
While the story of the “Little Volva” and “spa-kona” practicing spa (prophecy) on the seið-stool in Erik the Red’s Saga chapter 4 is usually taken as the prime example of seið-work, we have a parallel example from Laxadela Saga chapter 35, of a married man with two sons practicing seið on the seið-stool to raise
ELVES ON THE SHELVES: GNOMES and MISNOMERS
The Nature and Purpose of the Germanic Hearth Cult Recently I have had opportunity to examine the primary evidence for the Germanic Hearth Cult, loosely defined as the regular rituals heathens of old practiced in their homes. The modern pagan concept of the Hearth Cult in recent years is based on the scholarship of Claude
It’s Elementary!
It’s Elementary! Know the difference between the Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda. The former is our primary source of information about the Norse gods and their mythology, the later is a secondary work of scholarship on the old heathen poems, written from and advocating the Roman Catholic Worldview and World History. Tacitus tells
