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.
Continued devotions
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
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.
Devotional continued
In the last few days, I have penned two more devotional poems for Frigg.
I am setting my goal for 13 poems total.
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!
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.
Disablot
This year is my first time really performing a Disablot.
Disablot, in the States, happens at the same calendar point as Imbolc. Rather than hailing Brigid specifically, we hail all of our female ancestors and goddesses.
In addition to whatever you typically use for ritual, you will need four candles, a bowl of snow/shaved ice, and hot milk (or hot cocoa).
Here is the ritual we will be using tomorrow:
Ritual Space Glamor
Ice, Cold from the North
Fire, Heat from the South
Ice, Cold from the North
Fire, Heat from the South
Ice, Cold from the North
Fire, Heat from the South
Fire melts the ice. The water mixes with the heat to make steam. The ice cools the steam to make mist. The mist fills the gap between fire and ice, where there was nothing. Mist of the world from where all life springs.
I am shrouded now in the mist, no longer in this world yet not wholly in the otherworld. I walk the space between, in the mist, blessed by fire and ice.
Opening ritual space
Spirits of North, Bless me with your nurturing presence. Ground me in this time and place, give me the stability to focus on the here and now. I am present. Hail and Welcome Earth.
Spirits of East, Bless me with your message sent on the wind. Allow me to hear the knowledge you share, whether by rustle of leaf or flap of wing, whether by sweet breeze or roaring gale. I am listening. Hail and welcome Air.
Spirits of South, Bless me with your purifying flame. Creator and destroyer, inspire me to illuminate that which serves me and unregretfully burn away that which does not. I am renewed. Hail and Welcome Fire.
Spirits of West, Bless me with your emotional wisdom. As rivers run through the earth, so too does blood flow through my veins. Whether gentle mist or rushing waves, I am awash in my emotions wholly and fully. I am cleansed. Hail and Welcome Water.
Spark of life essence on all entities, all made of star stuff, all made divine, all interconnected, all returning to stardust in the end. Unite these four Elements and make my Circle complete
As above, so below, Around me now my Circle’s glow,
As within, so without, Protection from dread and doubt
Around me now my Circle cast, This time and place does it last
Ritual
Frigg, goddess of the hearth and home,
https://www.urban-druid.com/2019/01/13/prayer-to-frigg/#:~:text=Whether%20through%20wisdom%2C%20hospitality%2C%20or,Hail%2C%20Frigg!%E2%80%9D
Goddess who foresees the fate of all things,
You who are queen of Asgard
Who looks over all her people as ruler,
I ask of you to help protect and guide my family
And those within my household
So that all within the shelter of this house
May live to the best of their abilities
Whether through wisdom, hospitality, or caring,
Bless this house and all those who dwell within,
Hail, Frigg!
Hail to thee Land-churner,
Happiness-bright.
May your blessings lay
tilled in the fields.May our industry
in the days ahead
reap the harvest of them.So do I ask;
https://wyrddesigns.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/a-prayer-to-gefjon/
so do I hail thee:
GEFJON!
Holding the hot milk/cocoa in your hands, breathe in the steam and feel the warmth through your fingers. Think about Frigg and her connections with milk. Think about Genjon and her connections to the land and farming. Feel the warmth spread from your fingers across your body.
From soil to grass, from grass to cud, from cud to milk- deep from the soil I drink, so that the Earth fills me
Diana Rajchel, Taken from Llewellyn Witch’s Daily Planner Imbolc ritual (It is written for Brigid, but I have repurposed it for Frigg and Gefjon)
Lower the hot mug into the snow/ice. Watch as the heat melts the snow into water. Remember we are at the middle of winter. The sun is returning and the spring is coming. Push any of your negative emotions into the melting water.
We invite our Disa ancestors to join our circle.
Light the first candle:
Grandmothers, aunts, Disa we knew in this life, we invite you to our circle. We thank you for giving us life, for caring for us when we were young and helpless, and for teaching us to stand on our own. We remember you at your best.
Pour some hot milk as an offering for those Disa in the bowl. Ring bell.
Light the second candle
Great-great-great-grandmothers, Disa so old your names are lost to us, we invite you to our circle. We live in times very different from yours, but we are not so very different, and a part of you lives on in us. Though we may not know your names, you first came to America, you brought your culture from your country and imbued these values passed down to use. You survived war, plague and famine, first learned the skills that would create civilization.
Pour offering for those Disa in the bowl. Ring bell
Light the third candle
Disa of spirit, mighty dead, we invite you to our circle. We do not carry your blood, but we carry your spirit, your thoughts, your ideas, your dreams. We thank you for inspiring us and enlightening us and for founding and creating traditions and institutions that mean so much to us. (Name specific spiritual ancestor(s) now.)
Pour offering for those Disa in the bowl. Ring bell
Light the fourth candle
Disa most ancient, you who share few of our genes, you who lived on a very different Earth so long ago we can barely conceive it, we invite you to our circle. We thank you for surviving under most difficult circumstances. Homo erectus, Homo habilis and Australopithecus, long extinct mammals and even older vertebrates, smaller and simpler creatures back to the first life, sometimes we struggle to see ourselves in you, but without you we would not be.
Pour offering for those Disa in the bowl.
Disa we knew in life, Disa whose names we know not, Disa of spirit and Disa most ancient, we thank you for attending our circle and blessing us with your presence. May there be peace and love between us now and forever.
Adopted from John Beckett’s Communion with the Ancestors from p110 of his book on The Path of Paganism.
Ring bell
Closing
Thank you, Spirit, for your unifying presence. Return to the stars. Hail and farewell.
Thank you, Water, for your cleansing presence. Return to the spring. Hail and farewell.
Thank you, Fire, for your purifying presence. Return to the hearth. Hail and farewell.
Thank you, Air, for your enlightening presence. Return to the clouds. Hail and farewell.
Thank you, Earth, for your grounding presence. Return to the land. Hail and farewell.
This time and place is at an end, Well met until we meet again
Stay if you will, leave if you must
The Circle is open, but unbroken
As the mist condenses, we see the land from flesh, the mountains from bone, the rivers from blood, and the stones from teeth. As the mist recedes, we are hearkened back to the garden in the middle of Yggdrasil. When the mist evaporates, we are once again fully in our world and no longer between worlds.
The fire returns to Muspelheim
The ice returns to Niflheim
1/20/21
Inauguration Day.
Relief from abuse emotional, psychological, and for many physical abuse.
Tonight we honored those before us to guide those with us.
Tonight we bound those in power to their words.
Dragon’s Blood incense for protection. An offering to spirits called.
With liberty and justice for all.
The Fire Paradox
Tis the season for fireplaces, extra candles, space heaters, and indoor trees strung with lights. Real trees, when not properly cared for, can dry out and become kindling for hot light bulbs. It doesn’t take much to cause a Christmas tree fire.
In the Northern tradition, fire is a contentious subject. It was a life necessity; one cannot cook without fire. A family home without a hearth fire would become a frozen tomb during the long, cold winters. And yet, fire was the cause of much death and destruction. One jumping ember could ravage a whole village, as there was no fire company to call and quickly extinguish.
Fire is something that was respected and feared by most people until very modern times. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1901 are two big ones that come to mind for me.
Below is some UPG mediation responses I have received, which may contradict some others’ views of these gods. This is a sharing of my own relationship and perspective of them.
One of the many places where I see Frigg is in the sun. Frigg is the sun disk. She is the yellow circle which rises and sets each day. The sun births the sunlight. Balder is that light, the sun’s fire, providing light and warmth and life.
Loki is the earth’s fire- helpful when contained, dangerous when not. Used carefully, provides heat but not light. The jealousy of being too small to provide light and the anger of needing to be contained led to Balder’s death by Loki’s guidance of Hod’s hand.
This balance of fire, and the necessity of both but praise routinely offered to the former while the latter was often taken for granted, is reflected in the lore. The hearth fire is always there, until it’s not and then it’s a scramble to get going again. But it is within the power of man to get it going again. The hearth fire is always needed, until it jumps out of control and then it takes over with chaotic destruction.
The fear of the loss of the sun, and therefore the loss of all life, is the end of days. The sun makes the crops grow which in turn feed both the villagers and livestock. The sun is life force.
This is the imbalance between Baldr and Loki. It is this struggle which we attend to every year with each of our recognitions of Baldr’s dreams and then death. The light is killed by the dark, but ultimately dies because the light shone brighter and was more loved than the fire.
Who I needed, Who she needs, Who I am
I’ve seen this written before, and it seems to come up more as I dive deeper into my shadow work and heal.
Be the one you needed when you were younger.
I carry around everyone’s expectations. Everyone’s feelings. How I should behave and what is expected of me. And when I don’t meet these expectations, real or perceived, I crash in on myself hard.
Witchlette is carrying some really big feelings. I am able to arm her with tools to not carry these same big feelings. To not hold these feelings on her own. To not carry the expectations of others. To not keep these big feelings to herself.
To, hopefully, not have to heal.
Mindful parenting is huge.
I would not have these tools if I wasn’t walking on the Pagan path. I will always be grateful to be where I am.
The mediation:
Feel your feelings. Name them and assign them a color. Visualize an orb of light in that color. Push all your feelings into that orb. And then let it go. Push it away.
Feeling anger towards someone or a situation only hurts the one feeling anger. Sadness is the same. All of these feelings weigh us down and hurt us.
It is healthy to feel them. It is not healthy to hold onto them.
