notthesomefather

[notthesomefather]

#hnefatafl

[notthesomefather]

If you’re a new pagan/polytheist,

there’s something I absolutely need you to know as someone who’s been practicing for about 7 years and who has only recently become involved in the online community. As you start your journey, you might come across a particular type of speech that’s going around a lot. You may read stuff like “please get your deities’ approval before doing [that]”, “talk it out with your deities before doing [this]”, or “make sure to know your deities’ boundaries!”

If you are, like myself, someone who’s got neither the time nor the right tools to invest themselves in divination or the development of a clairsense, you may at that point ask yourself “how the heck am I supposed to understand my deities THAT clearly?!”, and that’s a very legitimate question, in my humble opinion. I’ve noticed loads of influencial pagans write posts like they assumed their entire following had a clairsense. This type of post makes it look like it’s natural for a pagan to hold two-sided, actual conversations with their Gods like they would a flesh and blood human being, and that it’s part of the “normal” pagan experience. However that’s not the case: not everyone can perceive their deities or receive their messages easily, and not everyone has the financial means to dedicate themselves to their spirituality full time. And that’s okay. Your Gods won’t get mad if you’re unsure what they want from you. They know your individual circumstances and they see your devotion either way. When it comes to polytheism, there’s no wrong way to believe. Belief happens in your mind and faith happens in your heart. As long as you love and respect your deities, they won’t turn their backs to you. Even if you don’t get their explicit approval for something, even if you don’t hear their voices or see their faces, even if you don’t buy fancy statues of them or hangout with them like they’re your human bff. Paganism is faith at its very core, that’s all there is to it. Your simple belief is what makes you pagan.

#deity work

[notthesomefather]

First 10 cards in the Norse Major Arcna Series

#art

[notthesomefather]

Gebo

One of the greatest, most meaningful gifts you can give is sacrifice.

#odin #art #runes #elder futhark

[notthesomefather]

A few of my favorite sculptures by Nadiia Maslivets.

Top, left to right: Freyja and Ran Bottom, left to right: Loki and Hel

#crafts #art #loki #ran #freyja #hel #asatru #heathen #rokkatru #norse pagan #germanic pagan #heathenry

[notthesomefather]

I feel it is needed to circulate this again.

[[Image description: a banner with the Palestinian flag with overlaid text that reads "Heathens for Palestine."]]

Some Things We in the United States Can Do:

Contact your elected officials and demand the immediate halt of financial/military support to Israel, and a permanent ceasefire. Identify and contact your governor, congress members, senators, and the White House.

Donate to organizations like the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund, World Central Kitchen, and others.

Amplify Palestinian voices. Reblog/retweet/share their content.

Attend rallies and protests if you are able to do so.

DO NOT LET THE MOMENTUM FADE.

Some Things We as Heathens Can Do:

Continuously challenge, and refuse to tolerate, Islamophobia anywhere but especially within heathen spaces.

Offer prayers to Freyja, Odin, Tyr, and Thor for the safety and victory of the Palestinian people.

Create bindrunes, rituals, or prayers that help you balance your anger with self-care. Fight the fight as much as you can, but know when it's time to recharge/regroup.

Hávamál 155: For the eleventh I know, if I have to lead my friends to battle, under their shields I sing, and with power they go safe to the fight, safe from the fight; safe on every side they go.

#political

[notthesomefather]

Wunjo

Joy

meaning: harmony, kindred, friendship

#runes #art #elder futhark

[notthesomefather]

Wunjo

#runes #elder futhark #art

[notthesomefather]

#misc

[notthesomefather]

hello there! today i came across a claim that sort of baffled me. someone said that they believed the historical norse heathens viewed their own myths literally. i was under the impression that the vast majority of sources we have are christian sources, so it seems pretty hard to back that up. is there any actual basis for this claim? thanks in advance for your time!

Sorry for the delay, I've been real busy lately and haven't been home much. Even after making you wait I'm still going to give a copout answer.

I think the most basic actual answer is that it's doubtful that someone has a strong basis to make that claim, and the same would probably go for someone claiming they didn't take things literally. I think we just don't know, and most likely, it was mixed-up bits of both literal and non-literal belief, and which parts were literal and which parts weren't varied from person to person. We have no reason so suppose that there was any compulsion to believe things in any particular way.

About Christians being the interlocutors of a lot of mythology, this is really a whole separate question. On one hand there's the question of whether they took their myths literally, and on the other is entirely different question about whether or not we can know what those myths were. Source criticism in Norse mythology is a pretty complicated topic but the academic consensus is definitely that there are things we can know for sure about Norse myth, and a lot more that we can make arguments for. For instance the myth of Thor fishing for Miðgarðsormr is attested many times, not only by Snorri but by pagan skálds and in art. Myths of the Pagan North by Christopher Abram is a good work about source criticism in Norse mythology.

Though this raises another point, because the myth of Thor fishing is not always the same. Just like how we have a myth of Thor's hammer being made by dwarves, and a reference to a different myth where it came out of the sea. Most likely, medieval Norse people were encountering contradictory information in different performances of myth all the time. So while that leaves room for at least some literal belief, it couldn't be a rigid, all-encompassing systematic treatment of all myth as literal. We have good reason to believe they changed myths on purpose and that it wasn't just memory errors.

I know you're really asking whether this one person has any grounds for their statement, and I've already answered that I don't think they do. But this is an interesting thought so I'm going to keep poking at it. I'm not sure that I'm really prepared to discuss this properly, but my feeling is that this is somehow the wrong question. I don't know how to explain this with reference to myth, so I'm going to make a digression, and hope that you get the vibe of what I'm getting at by analogy. Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) described animism in terms of beliefs, "belief in spiritual beings," i.e. a belief that everything (or at least many things) has a soul or spirit. But this is entirely contradicted by later anthropology. Here's an except from Pantheologies by Mary Jane Rubenstein, p. 93:

their animacy is not a matter of belief but rather of relation; to affirm that this tree, that river, or the-bear-looking-at-me is a person is to affirm its capacity to interact with me—and mine with it. As Tim Ingold phrases the matter, “we are dealing here not with a way of believing about the world, but with a condition of living in it.”

In other words, "belief" doesn't even really play into it, whether or not you "believe" in the bear staring you down is nonsensical, and if you can be in relation with a tree then the same goes for that relationality; "believing" in it is totally irrelevant or at least secondary. Myths are of course very different and we can't do a direct comparison here, but I have a feeling that the discussion of literal versus nonliteral would be just as secondary to whatever kind of value the myths had.

One last thing I want to point out is that they obviously had the capacity to interpret things through allegory and metaphor because they did that frequently. This is most obvious in dream interpretations in the sagas. Those dreams usually convey true, prophetic information, but it has to be interpreted by wise people who are skilled at symbolic interpretation. I they ever did this with myths, I'm not aware of any trace they left of that, but we can at least be sure that there was nothing about the medieval Norse mind that confined it to literalism.

For multiple reasons this is not an actual answer but it's basically obligatory to mention that some sagas, especially legendary or chivalric sagas, were referred to in Old Norse as lygisögur, literally 'lie-sagas' (though not pejoratively and probably best translated just as 'fictional sagas'). We know this mostly because Sverrir Sigurðsson was a big fan of lygisögur. But this comes from way too late a date to be useful for your question.

#myths #historical

[notthesomefather]

I love this!

since my last sketch the weather turned and we've had a lot of hail and thunder storms and i was compelled to draw... him :^)

#thor #art

[notthesomefather]

Alternative Máni and Sól(sunna) cards with sköll and hati included

#art #mani #sol #sunna

[notthesomefather]

Do offerings have to consist of food/drink?? I live in a really old, shitty building, and despite being a neat-freak with an intense phobia for bugs, I've had like 4 infestations as a consequence of living here for 10 years. I do have a balcony but I can't really use it for offerings like this unless I want bees and wasps to upset my neighbors (and the landlord). So leaving out food and drinks isn't really a viable option :/

yikes! Sorry you're having so many issues with bugs!

So you have a couple of options, you can still offer food and drink and then just consume it yourself to avoid any unfriendly intruders. While I personally dislike consuming my offerings I find most pagans split about half and half on the idea of it it is appropriate or not.

Secondly, you ABSOLUTELY can give offerings that are nonparishable. Some people offer tasks ('I'm dedicating this cleaning spree to Frigga' 'I dedicate this study session to Ogma' etc), others might offer pretty rocks or leaves or feathers they find throughout their day, I have a dedicated necklace for Macha which I keep on my altar if I'm not wearing it.

The options for things you can give to your deities is as limitless as your imagination. Its just that food/drink are traditional and tend to hold deep cultural significance to people, so we often reach for those first.

#deity work

[notthesomefather]

Devotional to Thor and Sif

[[adapted from a prayer written by a member of the Godsring]]

Hail the Son of Woden. Hail the Mother of Ull. There is no ill-will that You cannot banish. There is no challenge You cannot overcome. You are magnificent and Your grace protects us from all dangers and enemies.

Mighty Thunaer, strong, stalwart Guardian of the Realms, remember us and wield Your hammer for our protection.

Gracious Sibb, You whose gentle touch causes the grain to grow, please nourish us, restore us, and grant us fortitude.

Through Your blessings may we serve our communities. Through Your blessings may we grow strong and valorous. Through Your blessings may we overcome adversity, and be nourished like the grain of Asgard’s fields.

In times of peril, come to our aid, we pray. In times of desperation, we place ourselves under Your care.

Hail Thunaer, hail Sibb.

#thor #sif #devotionals #asatru #heathen #norse pagan #germanic pagan #pagan #heathenry #norse paganism #germanic paganism

[notthesomefather]

Resources: Continental Heathenry / German Folk Practice

A scrabbled-together quick list of resources I like for anyone interested in german folk magic & continental heathenry. This is not Norse paganism. While the Germanic tribes and regions overlapped, 'Germanic' is a language family and not one monolithic culture. Continental Germanic practices are an overlooked and undersung path in neopaganism but hopefully we can change that.

--vetted sources! no frith with facists--

Creators:

German Folkwitchery - Down Holle's Well (podcast) (spotify link)

A Hearth Witch (yt) (linktree)

HexMarie (tiktok) (linktree) (tweeter)

De Spökenkieker (yt)

Nordic Animism (yt) (Norse, but great content and many concepts apply to any Germanic practice)

Ella Harrison (yt) (Wiccan -> German folk witch)

Deities

Map: Gods of Gaul and Britain

Map: Pagan European Gods (make sure to check and uncheck the boxes)

Frau Holle, or Holda by @ivy-kissobryos (honestly one of the best Holda posts I've found)

Holda's Shrine

Who is Frau Holle?

Berchta: Ancient Alpine Goddess of Women, Children, and the Perchten (cannot vouch for blog but good intro by someone who works with Berchta)

The Matronae

Donar (jackson crawford, yt link)

Wodan (jackson crawford, yt link)

(My fav resources on Donar and Wodan from a practitioner perspective are from A Hearth Witch's patreon so I will not be sharing her content, I unfortunately can't find excellent free webpage resources)

Sirona

Nerthus (good post for historical pagan info)

Nerthus (cannot vouch for the blog but another post)

Hearth Cult Guide (The Longship)

General Resources

The Longship: A Beginner's Guide to Heathenry

Gaulish Polytheism

Sidjus Reidarje Sauilis: A Tradition of Gothic Heathenry

Nemeton Eluêtion (Helvetii Tribe of Gaul and the Ancient Swiss People)

Map: German Folklore

Map: Pagan Sites in Germany and the Netherlands

What Is Rauhnact

No Frith With Facists: DNI List

This is in no way an all-inclusive list. This is a collection of online resources I'm aware of and have been learning from. I am not an authority.

#odin #thor #animism #folklore #heathenry 101

[notthesomefather]

19th card in the Norse Major Arcana Project (we are getting so close to the end of this project and then I consider if im gonna do the minor arcana) is Máni as The Moon.

#art #mani

[notthesomefather]

Yes! That is an exceptional point x0x

feel free to reblog or comment why !

#personal #polls