Thor’s bow beside a waterfall I saw today.

The Eyrbyggja saga mentions another form of sacrifice to Thor…

“The circle where the court used to sentence people to be sacrificed can still be seen, with Thor's Stone inside it on which the victims' backs were broken, and you can still see the blood on the stone.
Though this assembly place was held to be highly sacred, people were not forbidden to ease themselves there.”

Makes one wonder how many stone circles were used in a similar manner.

Offerings made to Thunor and Hrethe today.

Prayers, olive oil, and lavender incense were given on this beautiful Easter’s day.

Hail Eostre, Thunor, and Woden Who is most high!

“Safe mayst thou go, safe come again,
And safe be the way thou wendest!
Father of men, let thy mind be keen
When speech with the giant thou seekest.”
~ Vafþrúðnismál 4, Bellows
Painting by Kara Malikova.
ᚬ
“Heill þú farir!
heill þú aftr komir!
heill þú á sinnum sér!
æði þér dugi, hvars þú skalt, Aldaföðr,
orðum mæla jötun.”

Another Odin idol is taking shape. I used a wind-felled tree, suitable for Viðrir. The face is based on an Anglo Saxon artifact.
ᚬᚦᛁᚾ × ᚢᛁᚴᛁ

Heathenry (or Paganism/Natural Religions) as a whole is one’s connection to the divine through logical observances in the natural world. I am of the belief that if you follow an ancestral tradition, yet are disconnected from your ancestral lands, that doesn’t mean you can’t worship the Gods your forefathers called upon.
Even if you don’t live somewhere a plant sacred to Thunor, Woden, or Frigg may grow, that doesn’t mean you can’t use substitutes. The Gods have domain over the whole of the cosmos. Not just places our ancestors dwelled. Their essence is within all things.

Impressive Frēa - Thunor - Woden weoh godpoles.

image source

"𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕽𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖗"

"𝔉𝔦𝔯𝔰𝔱 𝔦𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔣𝔯𝔞𝔶
𝔣𝔞𝔠𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔢,
𝔚𝔬𝔡𝔢𝔫 𝔯𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔰
𝔬𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔟𝔦𝔯𝔡𝔰 𝔯𝔬𝔞𝔡.
𝔏𝔞𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔟𝔬𝔩𝔡𝔩𝔶
𝔩𝔞𝔶𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔪𝔢𝔫 𝔩𝔬𝔴,
𝔰𝔦𝔤 𝔦𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔲𝔰 𝔰𝔬𝔴𝔫
𝔟𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔩𝔞𝔶𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔣𝔬𝔢𝔰."


A thula I wrote in honor of Woden-Atríðr ("Charging Rider").

“When I was a child, we were always told not to whistle at night.
‘Otherwise Joen's (Odin’s) hunt will come,’ my parents said.”
~Collected by Evald Tang Kristensen in Vokslev, Jylland, 1893.
𐃏
Painting by Yana Kharchenko.

A leed (poem) I wrote in Anglish playing around with skaldic speech. In it, Woden brings a man back from death to question him about what death is like for those that are tired of life, those that fear death, and those that accept and even risk death for the chance of a better life. I wrote it in a similar form to the Old Norse ljóðaháttr verseform.

"Galder galed ¹
the gallows' Lord
as the lich ² He sung from sleep.
Runes He raist ³
to read the lips
of the man there cold as clay.

The man then moved
to meet the one
that sung him from his sleep.
'Who hails me?
Who bears me
from Hel's halfhearted care?'

'Tis Waytame, me,
that welcomes thee
to the land of living men.
For runes and rede
to raise from thee
I dragged thee from the dead.

I raised thee up
to understand
what wisdom have the dead.
Now answer me
what I ask of thee:
what awaits all wayworn men?'

'Tis bitter cold
and blinding dark
on the winding way to Hel.
No sweetness waits,
nor sleep's embossom, ⁴
in the dreary hall of Hel.'

'I raised thee up
to understand
what wisdom have the dead.
Now answer me
what I ask of thee:
what awaits those death do dread?'

'Hel's cold will
awaits all things,
this the earg ⁵ shall share.
She sees not place
nor purse's weight
but kills without a care.'

'I raised thee up
to understand
what wisdom have the dead.
Now answer me
what I ask of thee:
what awaits those death would dare?'

The dead man faltered,
meeting the eye
of the wight that 'Waytame' hight.
'Thou know it well
great on'eyed one
I see Ygg within thine eye.

Deathlessness wins
the one dares death,
for he knows what thou too know.
He lives full well
with wisdom won,
Yggs eye he gladly holds.
Deeply spake the dead,
now sink I back to sleep.' "

¹ galed = "chanted, sang spells"
² lich = "corpse"
³ raist = "carved, scored"
⁴ embossom = "embrace"
⁵ earg = "coward, man without honor, complete outcast"

Folklorist Aamund Salveson recorded a folk tale from Torvastad in which St. Olaf strikes a mountain with iron gloves to draw forth spring waters for his soldiers, taking Baldr’s place.

St. Olaf was conflated with Thor post conversion; in the earlier versions, it was very likely Thor using Járngreipr to create this sacred spring.

The water from St. Olaf’s Spring in Torvastad reputedly has healing properties, and was used for baptisms. If it was historically associated with Thor, these waters could have been used for Ausa Vatni, invoking Thor’s protection.

Painting by Johannes Gehrts, 1901. ᛚ

"NOT UND MANI"

Tapestry by August Wilckens, 1901

A heathen oath formula noted by Vigfusson in his dictionary,

sé mér goð holl ef ek satt segi, gröm ef ek lýg

Gods, look graciously upon me if I speak true, and with wrath if I lie.

Right now is a time of filtration. Dying are the days when Heathenry was a trend created by media. You now see many folks who considered themselves Heathens, Pagans, etc. switching back to Christianity, atheism, or agnoticism for the sake of comfort and familiarity. We can see a divide between those who take the time to study and ground themselves in their ancestral traditions, and those who only wore it as a counter-cultural guise. These nithings used Heathenry as a tool. To strictly go against the atheistic nature of the modern age or to go against religion/spirituality as a whole.
The Heathen of tomorrow will be intellectually, philosophically, and faithfully rooted in their traditions. There are many great organizations, wisemen, ancient sources, and philosophical works from antiquity to learn from. For a Heathen or Pagan to do otherwise is dishonest with yourself, intellectually lazy, and a dishonor to your forefathers and the Gods.

“Over Midyard Hugin and Munin both
Each day set forth to fly;
For Hugin I fear lest he come not home,
But for Munin my care is more."
-Grímnismál

illustration by Milivoj Ćeran (Croatia)