Odin Project: Day 15

Mark well before | Èljuðnir’s road:

Journeys must seek their end;

Hail to the Dead! | the clan has come;

Shall they welcome their kin?

 

Mark well before | Èljuðnir’s road:

Journeys must seek their end;

Only the Norns | and quiet Frigga

know the doom of all things

Odin Project: Day 5

I am not sure where all these Havamal-style posts are coming from, but I have been trying to write something else and it just won’t stick.

 

Patient is the Long-Watcher | who seats Hliðskjálf

Seeing the whole tapestry;

Sighting the Threads | woven by Frigga,

Wyrd is known well

To Mother in my Fear

Mother, I am shaking

Fear has taken hold

Of failing, of losing

 

I am stretched to my limit

My mind cycles

Thought to worry to fear

 

I stand tall but

I feel so low

The pressing, pressing down

 

Holy Weaver of Wyrd

Mother of Gods!

Please, hear me!

 

It is said You hold the threads

As the Nornir gather them

Weaving, weaving, ever-weaving

 

It is said You are silent in Wyrd

So all I ask

Are words of comfort, a touch

 

From Your Holy Hands or Lips

To soothe my quaking soul

The greatest of blessings

 

Hail Frigga, Holy Mother!

Know that in the midst of my fear

I ever-hold love for You in my heart

 

A Prayer for the Aurora, Colorado Dead

May we know healing in this time of grief

Frigga, please, let us know comfort

 

May we judge in wisdom and see truth

Odin, please, give us insight

 

May we remember the names, for in remembrance these people live on

Hyndla, please, help us to remember

 

May we well mark their passage from this world

Hel, please, receive them well

 

May the victims know rest

Jörð, please, give them rest

 

May we know justice for the families and victims

Tyr, please, bring us justice

 

May we all be able to laugh again

Loki, please, help us find joy

 

May all those who feel this loss be given strength

Sigyn, please, help us bear this venom

 

Wandering in a New Direction

I’ve known that Odin would want me to wander at some point.  He’s told me that since He started working with me.  I’ve asked Him, myself, other Gods, spirit allies, and friends, physical and not, what roads this could go down.  Now I finally have the first piece of that puzzle.  It was a relatively simple click to get it into place, but it took me hearing it and seeing it for it to fall into place.

I believe in living as sustainably as one can, from recycling and reusing as much as possible, to living as much on the land as possible.  Yet, I have no job, and no training on how to do a lot of the things necessary for it.  Sure, I’m learning to grow vegetables and herbs (I finally have my own space for herbs!) and I am willing to learn how to raise chickens, goats, and the like.  I’d be willing to learn every aspect of life that my folks grew up with on their farm.  Yet I didn’t even know how to start; I kept thinking “what about the price of having a home?  The utility costs?  The costs of getting everything around?”  Then, some friends of mine from my local shaman gathering told me about training they are taking this fall with the Earthship project.  I asked about it, and as they spoke, I could almost feel that puzzle click into place.  Holy shit.  It made sense.

Don’t get me wrong, at first I was skeptical as hell.  I thought How can you live so completely off-grid?  What about water, food?  Turns out the way the place is laid out you actually can grow food year-round in-house.  Water is collected from melting snow and rainwater, and electricity is made by wind and solar means.  There’s a lot more, but the website goes into more detail and gives it more justice than I can.  To put it simply, my fears were laid to rest.  These people built shelters that are designed to be earthquake resistant for the people of the Andaman Islands, and they built homes for Mexican families in the wake of Hurricane Rita.  The walls were built out of ordinary materials that we Americans have in plenty: old tires, plastic bottles and aluminum cans, and cement, with plaster for the outward finish.  It seemed unreliable when I first heard about it, yet they stand tall and strong against even monsoon weather, as experienced in the Andaman Islands.

I wasn’t just skeptical for practical reasons, but spiritual too.  After all, it was kind of convenient that the answer fell in my lap.  That said, I don’t much believe in ‘coincidence’ anymore; more often than not, when I do pay attention to them, positive outcomes ensue.  I tend to kick myself later when I don’t pay attention.  I did a few readings to confirm that I wasn’t just listening to sock-puppets in my head, while the next was for the next as-important question: why?  The two Runes that I remember best from that reading (it was about a week ago) were Naudhiz the Rune of Need, and Othila  the Rune of Ancestral Land.  Naturally, there are other interpretations for these two Runes, but again, these two may as well have hit me in the face.  Of course, I could have just read it as NO from their Futhark-to-English rough letter translation.  I didn’t read it like that because neither were merkstave, and there wasn’t anything from the previous Runes to doubt the message screaming from them to me.  Still, I had another person who I hadn’t had any of this explained to her to read my cards just to check.  This time the message did club me over the head, and several times.  I needed to do this.  I needed to go for training, and it was part of my next step in my life in all its forms.  Okay, message received, stop the clubbing.

I asked Him why this would be part of my Wandering.  He told me that I needed the skills before I hoped to set out on my own, that having all the spiritual tools were good, but I “needed to learn to live in Midgard”, and that is what has largely been missing from the past couple of years.  I’ve lived, by and large, on others’ resources, time, and good will.  If I am to live in the future as a person, father, shaman, priest, and Pagan, I needed to change my relationship to the world.  If I believe in sustainability as more than a pretty word, as a lifestyle and as part of my spirituality, then I need to live it.  By learning these techniques I hope to live sustainably.  By learning all I can, I hope to live closer, and in better relations with the landvaettir, the Vanir, the Jotun, and the Aesir, and other Gods who have called to me.  It’s my hope that by Wandering here, I am able to leave a land worth inheriting to my children, with a right relationship with the landvaettir, Gods, and people, who call it home with me.  This may not be the end of my Wander, but it certainly is the first of many steps.