Winter Entdeckung - Winter Finding

Winter endeckung -The "Vergōdendēl‟
ritual centres around the harvest and the felling of the final sheaf of rye, which isdecorated. When the rest of the work is done, the workers all gather around the final, decorated sheaf,take hold of the ears of rye and shout the following three times:
"Friggöu, Friggöu, Friggöu! Dütt Jahr up'r Kare‚t andre up'n Wagen!"
(Friggöu, Friggöu, Friggöu! This year on the wheelbarrow, the other up on the wagon!"

References:

 Grimm, J () Teutonic Mythology

 Heath, C., (2013) From Fairytale to Goddess

Shifting Focus

 I've talked before about the fact that I follow a spiritual path that incorporates both Irish and Norse practices, but I tend to blog mostly about the Irish. Part of the reason for that is a struggle with talking about the personal aspects of my Heathenry; the other part is that my real connection is with Germanic Heathenry not Norse, but I defaulted to Norse early on because of the difficulty finding accessible modern Germanic Heathen material. I never felt quite at home in Asatru but hesitated to try to shift to the Germanic because I knew on some level that I'd end up having to do my own reconstruction of it, similar to what I do with the Irish.
   In the last year I've been drawn more and more to exploring that end of things though, and particularly to the goddess Frau Holle/Holda, but I always managed to talk myself out of it. Now, though I've finally decided to take the plunge and I committed myself to a year focused on Germanic Heathenry, officially starting on May 1st. What this means for my spirituality is that I will still honor the Irish Gods and celebrations, but that my main focus will be on the Germanic end of things. I want to really push myself to fully connect with this and experience it, even if the process means piecing things together as I go.
  I don't want to change the style or tone of my blog and I will still include Irish and Druidic material, but I want to use the blog to share my discoveries and experiences with Germanic Heathenry as I go along. This means that where before the content was something like 90% Irish and 10% Heathen that will likely reverse for at least the next year. I'm hoping those of you who follow my blog will enjoy going along with me as I learn about the Germanic Gods, spirits, holidays, cosmology, and magic. I'll share my experiences reconstructing the path as I'm doing it, and we'll see where it takes me.

Blessing the Growing Season

Preparing seeds to plant in the spring was something that was approached with great solemnity and ritual. The seeds to be planted would be sprinkled with water, in a sunwise motion, while a blessing charm was recited (Carmichael, 1900). This was done on a Friday, as it was seen as the day best for any action not needing the use of an iron tool (Carmichael, 1900). Interestingly Friday is also the day that the Good Neighbors were thought to be most active - they who are said to abhor iron - and in Irish belief the growth and success of crops is intertwined with the favorable interactions of the Good People.
  As we move into spring and get ready to plant this year's seeds, I'm offering a pagan version of a planting prayer from the Carmina Gadelica. It includes within it actions to be taken while saying it and ends with a mention of a blessing charm and divination act to be done at harvest time. I hope you may get some use from it.

Blessing the Seeds
I will go out to sow the seed,
In the names of the spirits of the land;
I will face boldly into the wind,
And throw a gracious handful on high.
Should a seed fall on a bare rock,
It will have no soil to help it grow;
The seed that falls into the earth,
The dew will make it full.
Friday, auspicious day,
The dew will come down to welcome
Every seed that lay in sleep
Since the coming of the merciless cold;
Every seed will take root in the earth,
With the blessing of the Good People,
The seedling will come forth with the dew,
It will inhale life from the soft wind.
I will come round with my step,
I will go rightways with the sun,
In name of the Goddess of the land,
In name of Gods of my people.
Blessing for abundance and health,
Be giving growth and kindly substance
To every thing that is in my ground,
Till the harvest day comes.
On the day the autumn equinox arrives,

Beneficent day,

I will put my sickle round about
The root of my plants as is needed;
I will lift the first cut quickly;
I will put it three turns round my head,

Saying my rune as I do,
My back to the airt of the north;
My face to the fair sun of power.
I shall throw the handful far from me,
I shall close my eyes twice,
Should it fall in one bunch
My harvest will be productive and lasting;
No old woman will come with bad times
To ask charity from us to take our luck,
Neither rough storms nor frowns will come
Nor stint nor hardship shall be on us.

The original is as follows:

THE CONSECRATION OF THE SEED 88
I WILL go out to sow the seed,
In name of Him who gave it growth;
I will place my front in the wind,
And throw a gracious handful on high.
Should a grain fall on a bare rock,
It shall have no soil in which to grow;
As much as falls into the earth,
The dew will make it to be full.
Friday, day auspicious,
The dew will come down to welcome
Every seed that lay in sleep
Since the coming of cold without mercy;
Every seed will take root in the earth,
As the King of the elements desired,
The braird will come forth with the dew,
It will inhale life from the soft wind.
I will come round with my step,
I will go rightways with the sun,
In name of Ariel and the angels nine,
In name of Gabriel and the Apostles kind.
Father, Son, and Spirit Holy,
Be giving growth and kindly substance
To every thing that is in my ground,
Till the day of gladness shall come.
The Feast day of Michael, day beneficent,
I will put my sickle round about
The root of my corn as was wont;
I will lift the first cut quickly;
I will put it three turns round
My head, saying my rune the while,
My back to the airt of the north;
My face to the fair sun of power.
I shall throw the handful far from me,
I shall close my two eyes twice,
Should it fall in one bunch
My stacks will be productive and lasting;
No Carlin will come with bad times
To ask a palm bannock from us,
What time rough storms come with frowns
Nor stint nor hardship shall be on us.

Reference:

Carmichael. A., (1900). Carmina Gadelica

Find Your Passion

  When I was in high school I first ran across the maxim "carpe deim" - seize the day. I remember reading it and feeling how much the idea resonated with me, but I was unable to actually take the advice. My life for a long time revolved around doing what I needed to do and trying to conform to what others expected me to do - none of which involved seizing the day or embracing the moment. I was a people pleaser, even in my non conformity. How that changed is a long story, but I think we all at some point come to a place where we realize that making ourselves happy matters as much as making other people happy and that we need balance between the two. Whether we choose to act on this realization or not, and whether we over-react and go to far towards only pleasing ourselves, will depend on the individual. 
   Its an interesting thing in life that we so often choose not to do what we feel drawn to do, but rather try to do what we feel other people want or expect us to do. We make ourselves unhappy in a constant quest to please others, instead of spending our time and energy on what makes us feel fulfilled. This life we are living is a unique thing, the only time we will be here in this exact form and these exact circumstances. It is a shame to waste our chances at joy and fulfillment, to miss opportunities to experience life and the numinous, because we are trying to make ourselves into some thing we aren't. 

Waterhouse, "The Flower Picker" 1895

   I believe all of us have something we are truly passionate about, something that drives us and that gives us a feeling of completion. It is part of our true self, part of the person we are inside who we don't always let other people see or know, but who is at the core of our being. What this something is will be different for different people, and it may not be limited to one thing - we may find several things that invigorate and inspire us. I feel this way about my family, about my writing, and about my spirituality, for example, and I couldn't say that one is a greater drive than the others. I think what matters though is finding what drives you and embracing it. Make your passion part of your life and let yourself be a priority for you - instead of an afterthought. Amazing things happen when people put their time and energy into what they love to do instead of just into what they have to do. 
   Stop and smell the spring flowers. Dance in the rain. Write a novel just for yourself. Accept the pain along with the joy, the disappointment and the success. Reach for your dreams, no matter how impossible they seem. Be who you truly are and love your life.

"Ut melius, quidquid erit, pati. Seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam, quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum. Sapias, vina liques et spatio brevi spem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero."  - Horace, Odes 1:1

Finding Balance

   The spring equinox is upon us once more, a holiday that I celebrate several ways. Today, the equinox itself, I will honor Artio and leave offerings out for the Good Neighbors. This sunday I'll honor Idunna and my children will enjoy coloring eggs and hunting for treats.
   Since there is no strong evidence that the Irish celebrated the equinox I use this holiday to honor the Germano-Celtic goddess Artio, who I have worshiped for many years. I call it, rather informally, Waking the Bear and celebrate it in honor of spring and the return of warmer weather and new growth. I offer Artio honey, bread, and apples to represent the sweetness of spring after winter, the transformation of old into new, and renewal and regeneration. I also use this time to reflect on what my goals for the coming seasons will be and to decide what I want to accomplish by the fall.
   As part of a long standing personal practice I will also leave out an offering for the daoine sidhe. I once believed that this was a traditional custom but even after realizing it wasn't I decided it had personal value to me. Making bigger formal offerings to the Other Crowd every six weeks is a good pattern to be in, I think, and one that serves me well.
   I also honor Idunna at this time. It seems appropriate to me to choose now to honor the goddess who keeps the gods healthy and young with her apples, because springtime to me is so much about youth and vigor. I honor Idunna with a blot where I offer apples and apple cider. It may seem strange to be offering a fall fruit in spring but my thought is that apples can last about 5 months in storage so offered in spring would represent gifts of the precious fruit of the last harvest. And of course apples are especially Idunna's, being the fruit she uses to give immortality to the gods.
   My children color eggs and eagerly await a visit from the Osterhase (Ostara hare, more or less) who leaves a basket of treats and hides eggs for them to find. This year my 6 year old has been counting down the days to the equinox, confident that the first day of spring will bring warmer weather, while my 10 year old has focused on the visit from the hare. They are both excited about the prospect of celebrating the different aspects of the holiday and look forward to our family ritual tonight and Idunnablot this weekend.
   It is funny that this holiday which represents balance in so many ways ends up being one where I balance each of the things that influences me, honoring my Celtic, Norse, and Fairy Faith sides fairly equally in ways that I cannot always do at other holidays. Indeed the two equinoxes are perhaps the easiest holidays for me to celebrate and the spring equinox with its colored eggs and treats is one of the most fun. Spring is in the air and everything feels alive with potential and possibility; we should all try to enjoy it.

Interfaith and Workshop plans

  Today's blog will be a brief one, as my daughter has a same day surgery procedure tomorrow and I have a lot to do today, but I read an interesting blog by Jason Mankey discussing his views on interfaith work which he ended by saying that he prefers to focus on building within the pagan community rather than working on interfaith outside it.
  By definition interfaith work is rooted in looking for common ground between diverse religions. Ideally it goes beyond tolerance and nurtures acceptance and the acknowledgement of commonalities. For my own part I think understanding and tolerance are the first step we need to achieve before we start working on anything more grand. With so much work left to do in even getting people to understand what reconstructionism really is, I worry about putting the cart before the horse by emphasizing the common ground we share with other groups.
  Interfaith of all sorts is a something I find to be very important, not only so I can learn about other traditions but so I can give a voice to mine. I see interfaith work as a chance to educate others about my beliefs and traditions, whether those others are monotheists or other pagans. The goal of education is simply to spread sound information to dispel the fear and mistrust that comes from ignorance. Whether people like what I do, or agree with it, is inconsequential to me if they can come to a place of understanding and tolerance similar to what I have for them. And I think that interfaith work, sharing what I really do and why, is essential to the long term success of the both my own community and a wider, diverse pagan community.
   For reconstructionists, especially, I think its vital for us to get out there and have a voice. We are a minority within the minority, often misunderstood, maligned, and mocked, and that will only change if we actively work to change it.  Ignorance doesn't go away on it's own; ignorance must be changed through action, both the effort of the speaker to teach and the listener to learn. If we don't make that effort, if we don't try, and just remain within our own insular communities then nothing changes. As part of that we also have to work on being more tolerant of those we disagree with.
  As a follower of the traditional views about fairies, that viewpoint deserves equal time and respect too. Without a voice the old understandings are lost under the crush of new opinions and trends. And while it may be much easier to be silent, it is ultimately far more expensive.
  In the spirit of this, and more widely of my intent to serve my Gods and spirits, I am going to be fairly busy this year at events and conferences. I'm speaking at Connecticut Pagan Pride's Beltane event in April, at ADF's Wellspring event in May, a Morrigan retreat in Massachusetts in June, Connecticut's Pagan Pride Day in September and  the Changing Times Changing Worlds conference in November. I'm excited to have so many opportunities to meet people and talk about things I'm passionate about.

Spiritual Devotion and Small Children

   I remember the days, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, when spiritual devotion was an easy, flowing thing. If I wanted to stop and pray, or make an offering, or meditate on something I had the flexibility to do so. If I wanted to spontaneously drive out to a state park or to the ocean, I got in my car and went. If I was invited to attend an event or a group celebration I went. the only limitation I had was my work schedule. My focus when I prayed or conducted a ritual was to make it as perfect as possible. I had scripts to follow and high expectations.
   And then, ten years ago, I had my first child, and all that changed. My schedule wasn't my own anymore because there was no telling an infant to wait until I was done or finding that still meditative place in myself with a fussy toddler pulling at my hand. My previous approach to spirituality had been based around my own internal rhythms and patterns; what worked for me and when I felt pulled to do things. I had a very spontaneous spirituality, even in my set devotional work. When I planned things I had time to prep for rituals, to go over exactly what I was going to do until I was sure it could be executed perfectly. But all of that changed when children were involved.
  There was a time when I chaffed a bit at the feeling of restriction, especially after my second child, who has several chronic medical issues, was born. The way I did things - the way I had done things for years and years at that point - suddenly had to be completely revised. It was a challenge, to be sure, but I believed from the beginning that it was vitally important that my children be included and that what I was doing be something they could also appreciate instead of something they would see taking my attention away from them.
  We learned together how to form an organic approach to devotion and ritual. I had to accept that the idea of perfect prayers, recited with my full attention on worship, were right out the window; with small children you always have some small part of your attention on them and what they are doing. My offerings became more creative and also simpler, and I grew to understand that the Gods and spirits want our best efforts, but our best efforts in that moment not perfection. I re-read the Carmina Gadelica seeing it not as a simple prayer book but as a record of a living tradition practiced by people just like me, mothers praying their devotion within the daily round of feeding their families, bathing their babies, and worrying about the safety of those they loved.
    I learned that it was better to try than not to do at all, even if the result was comical or rushed or interrupted. My devotional work became a study in perseverance, a type of devotion in its own way. If my morning prayers are interrupted by a hungry infant I sit down and nurse him and keep right on praying. If my Lughnasa ritual falls on an especially hot day then we celebrate inside so that my younger daughter can participate too without getting sick. We adapt, we work with what we have, and we give the Gods our best effort in that moment. Because I am sure the Gods and spirits - and I know for certain my ancestors - understand about hungry babies, and sick children, about life and human limitations.

Beltane 2013

   My reward for adopting this approach is not only being able to continue my devotional practice no matter how chaotic my life may be on any given day, but more importantly inspiring my children to want to do what I do. My oldest daughter came to me of her own accord and asked if we could start saying my night prayers together, so now we do them as a family. They look forward to each holiday as something fun they will participate in, and they are proud to be part of the traditions we celebrate. I look back at myself 20 years ago and I see someone who was free to totally devote herself to her religion; I realize now that I still have that freedom if I choose to see my circumstances as a gift and not a burden.

   Fragment 216 (modified)

As it was,
As it is,
As it shall be
Evermore,
O Ancient Gods
Of Skill!
With the ebb,
With the flow,
O Ancient Gods
Of Skill!
With the ebb,
With the flow.

  - based on material from the Carmina Gadelica volume 2