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Devotional (11/13)

Gifts of the Wyrd podcast recent guest was author Marie Durkan as she discussed her recent Frigg book, explaining her connection to Frigg, Frigg’s role with her handmaidens, and how all of them would have evolved over time. That discussion led to this poem:

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Devotional (8 of 13)

Warrior queen

Weaving a loom of end trails

Sky queen

Weaving a tapestry of clouds

Magick queen

Spinning the thread of wyrd

Warband mistress

Fiercely battling

High mistress

Fiercely loyal for

Highest mother

Fiercely protective

Linear existence

In a circular pattern

All faces exist at once

All aspects truth

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Midsummer 21

Last night I joined S and S for some amazing Magick. We honored a deity who is personally new to me, but whom I know to be jovial and free of malice. Thor popped in as well. There was some lightning around as the tropical storm finished passing its path over Raleigh, but a cloud formed into Mjolnir passed over the Moon and Thor’s presence was tangible, so we felt safe having a Midsummer fire outdoors.

Before leaving, Witchlette was a bit bummed that I was going to celebrate the evening with friends when I hadn’t done a ritual with her. I began writing one over dinner and we will be performing it this morning before the sun gets too high.

Opening glamor

Ice to the North, Fire to the South (x3)

The fire melts the ice, the ice condenses the steam. The sacred mist is formed where there was nothing. We are cloaked in the mist, no longer in this world but not wholly in the other world. Shrouded by mist we work in the space between worlds.

Quarter calls

North

Lush green leaves, full bloom flowers, sweet ripe watermelon, all the summer gifts of earth. Thank you for blessing us today. Hail and welcome.

East

Warm breezes, strong storms, baby birds growing strong, all the summer gifts of air. Thank you for blessing us today. Hail and welcome.

South

Buzzing dragonflies, long sunny days, scorching sand, all the summer gifts of fire. Thank you for blessing us today. Hail and welcome.

West

Lapping ocean waves, refreshing mid-day rains, splashing at the pool. all the summer gifts of water. Thank you for blessing us today. Hail and welcome.

Spirit

All the gifts of summer join us here today. Each piece made of star stuff, each piece divine. We are united in our shared history forged in the oldest of Magicks. Thank you for blessing us today. Hail and welcome.

Circle

All around our circle cast. This time and place does it last. A moment in present, future, and past.

In honor of the longest day of the year, we call and honor Frigg.

Ancient Mother, beautiful sundisk

Mother of the light, bride of the wind

Giver of life, mother of all

Matron of the day, mistress of the night

Star keeper, Wyrd weaver

Thank you for bringing us light to balance the darkness of winter and fall.

Offer libations

In honor of the longest day of the year, we call and honor Baldr

Shining son, beautiful light

Favorite sun, favorite friend

Unharmed by all, setting each day to rise again

Baldr the good, noble and true

Blazing from the sundisk, fearlessly shining on a new day

Thank you for bringing us light to balance the darkness of winter and fall.

Give libation

In honor of the longest day, we honor the work of Sunna, riding in her golden chariot across the sky day after day.

Sunna guiding her steed away from Sköll who seeks to devour the sun and set the 9 realms into eternal darkness

We honor you by all your known names through the worlds: Sun, sunshine, Dvalinn’s deluder, everglow, the lovely wheel, all-shining

Thank you for bringing us light and keeping the darkness at bay

Give libation

After the passing of the longest day, each day will slowly grow shorter and the earth will begin to tilt back towards the dark. For now, we enjoy the sun and the summer, and all the joy that comes with it.

Spirit

Thank you for your unity, return to the stars

West

Thank you for your refreshing presence, return to the spring

South

Thank you for your inspiring presence, return to the hearth

East

Thank you for your communicating presence, return to the clouds

North

Thank you for your grounding presence, return to the land

The time and place is at an end, well met until we meet again, the circle is open but never broken

As the mist recedes, we find ourselves present in back in our own time and place.

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Continued devotions

This evening, after leaving Frigg a Full Moon offering, I penned another devotional. I also wrote her a small haiku a few days ago, which brings my count to 7 of 13 promised works.

Short haiku style for Frigg
A reflection on the Moon and how she is typically seen as Mother aspect, she is all three
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Kenning devotional

This morning I awoke with this list of kennings in my head:

Frija

Most ancient,

Original goddess

Frigg

Wife and mother,

Odin’s Queen

Freya

Woman and lover

By another name

Holda

Flax giver

Spinner and weaver magicks

Perchtha

Keeper of children

Gone before growing

Bercha

Magical crone

Demonized beauty

Holle

Bread maker

Spindle giver

Frea

Stealthy one

Costuming women

Frau Gode

Wind rider

Ghost leader

Allmother

Known by many names

Hail to you,

Beloved One

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Devotional addition

Hail Allmother,

Queen of the sky,

Ruler of dawn, midday, and dusk,

Keeper of time, hours, and lives.

Spinner of the flax,

Weaver of clouds,

Spinner of fate.

Weaver of life threads,

Holder of secrets,

Quietly sharing none.

Master of the stars,

Faces of the moon,

Friend of women,

Wives and lovers,

Mothers and children.

Beloved to the Wise One,

Beloved to all your children,

Hail Allmother.

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Devotional

Last week, I was inspired to start writing more often and I wanted to dedicate myself to a Frigg devotional.

Well, Falcon and Winter Soldier (Hello, Bucky 😍) distracted me and I wrote about him instead. Nerd alert 🤓 Worst case scenario, I thought to myself, is I get my creative writing juices flowing on a silly side project. No big deal.

When I turned my attention back to Frigg after a week of speculative fanfiction, I sat with Frigg in meditation. I have shaken out the cobwebs and I am ready to write. It’s time for your devotional.

Crickets

What would you like? What should I focus on? I want to write for you, about you.

Oh, do you now?

You should write about me (second goddess)

I will. But I promised myself to Frigg first, as general matron and for a writing project.

Are you sure?

It is very enticing, and I would like to explore our relationship further with a similar project in due time

Write for me. Uphold your word

Yes. I want to go deeper, all my initial thoughts are superficial. They only scratch the surface but that seems to be all I have…

Write

After that the meditation was more or less silent. Granted, while I have distinctly heard Frigg speak, out loud, using my own audition once, it was less of a literal conversation and more of a feeling I got while meditating.

I thought one came to me overnight, but I believe I ended up recalling a chant by Halfway Up Brifrost. I went through the day looking and thinking. I want for a walk with S and thought. I tune came into my head:

Doodoo doodoo doodoo do

Doodoo doodoo do

Doodoo doodoo doodoo do

Doodoo doodoo doodoo do

But alas, besides the rhythm. I think I was haunty when I made the promise. I reached out to a women’s pagan group and shared my writers block. It felt very vulnerable, struggling but not feeling like I wasn’t good enough (progress for me!) just stuck.

Then, after sharing my writer’s block, I ended up taking this 7-5-7-7 syllabic pattern and I wrote the following:

Hail Frigg!

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What is normal, anyway?

When I was a kid, normal was a dirty word. Something that was flung around by the adult male in the house to cause grief within my mom.

There is no “normal”. There is typical, societal standard. But even that is bullshit.

The typical child falls into a range of 85-115 on an IQ scale, with 100 being a perfect average.

Says fucking who?

A child of middle to upper socioeconomic living without food or housing insecurities and with full access to medical science who also has parents of the same ilk who have helped develop the child’s brain from day one with consistent linguistic input will fall into the typical/average range. Those below will struggle to keep up with the average. Chasing the “dream” and always trying to keep up with the proverbial Jones family.

To what end? To sacrifice oneself to the business cycle. To have more of what we don’t need. And then to need more of what we don’t have.

September 10, 2001 was normal. September 11, 2001 was anything but. As a 16 year old from Central Jersey, I somehow understood that there was a break in reality. There was the pre-9/11 world and the post-9/11 world. There was no return to normal. There never would be. Normal, the normal I understood as normalcy, was dead.

This was on a large scale, especially in the Northeast.

But my life has been peppered with small moments too. Moments that were defining and changed normal as I knew it.

Life before the divorce, and after.

Life before my sister was born, and after.

Life before that same sister died, and after.

But these life-altering moments are not all sad and negative. In fact, I have far more happy life moments than not.

Life before marriage, and after.

Life before Witchlette, and after.

Life before Witchling, and after.

Life before Frigg as my patroness, and after.

The pandemic is another life-altering moment, but this time on a global scale.

For everyone in every corner of the globe, we have life before CoVid, and after.

Things will not go back to normal. There are no more typical days.

We will have a new normal. We, humans, always do.

The only true constant in life is change.