Calling to Our Ancestors 2nd Edition

Hey folks. I am putting together the 2nd Edition of Calling to Our Ancestors. I have the outline written. I am looking for contributors. Do you have Ancestor workers’ voices you think should be included? Poems, prayers, songs, essays, artwork, rituals, etc that you are allowed to share?

Prayers, poems, and rituals can be as long or short as you feel called to write them. Artwork should be at least 300 dpi preferably in lossless formats so it prints well on publication. Essays should be at minimum 700 words. All contributors retain rights to their work. If you are interested in contributing please contact me at sarenth@gmail.com. I will need a legal name and address to send a release form to you, as well as what name you would like the work published under.

I am looking to pull together as many resources for folks as I can. Do you have videos, eg on YouTube or documentaries you would recommend covering Ancestors, Ancestor work, rituals, etc? Podcasts? Books? Audiobooks and written? Blogs? Folks that are trusted Ancestor workers?

My aim with this 2nd Edition is to address what folks were most often telling me they wanted from the 1st Edition: more information on actually venerating and working with the Ancestors.

I have finally begun to put my fingers to the keys again to get the initial outline copied over from my Tūl notebook to my Google Docs.

This is what the outline currently looks like. I am having an issue getting it to look exactly like my outline in Google Docs, since I organize I, A, i, then a, and WordPress is being frustrating with formatting.

1. Introduction
   1. Dedication
   2. Foreword
   3. Notes on the Second Edition
2. The Ancestors
   1. Who They Are
   2. Worship and Veneration
   3. A Basic Polytheist Ancestor Altar and/or Shrine
   4. Offerings
   5. Acts of Service
   6. Sacrifice
   7. Expanding Ancestors
      1. Marriage
      2. Employment
      3. Profession/Craft
      4. Adoption
      5. Initiation/Acceptance into a Lineage
      6. Death
   8. Reducing Ancestors
      1. Divorce
      2. Retirement/Firing
      3. Putting a craft/job down
      4. Cutting out/leaving family/relatives
      5. Removal/Leaving/Exile, eg excommunication in Christianity, ADF stripping Bonewitz’ ancestry
      6. Not worshiping/venerating abusive dead people
   9. Ancestor Veneration vs Worship vs Work
      1. Definitions
      2. Differences between them
      3. Similarities
   10. Talking With The Ancestors
       1. Divination
       2. Dreams
       3. Clairaudience, clairsentience, etc.
       4. Speaking out loud at the altar/shrine
       5. Rituals
   11. Rituals for Connection
       1. Regular devotionals
       2. Sample devotional rites
       3. Simple
          1. Drinking a cup of coffee/tea/water with the Ancestors after a simple cleansing
       4. Complex
          1. At least once a week making prayers and leaving an offering on the shrine and cleaning it within a prescribed time.
       5. Prayer beads
          Special events, eg marriage, coming of age, etc
       6. Funerary Rites
       7. Rituals for Healing
       8. Rituals for Reconciliation
          1. With living descendents present, eg the victims of a dead abuser coming together and holding him to account with the Ancestors
          2. Bringing healing to Ancestors through a healing ritual bringing the powerful Ancestors together with one’s Gods of healing and family lines.
       9. Rituals for Reckoning
          1. Abusive dead in the line
          2. Wrongs done by one’s Ancestors to another’s
          3. Independent cutting of cords so a harmful Ancestor is outside of your cultus until and unless they do right.
   12. Open Doors -Ancestor Workers
       1. What They Are
       2. What They Do
       3. Basic Skills
       4. Being Called
       5. Doing the Work
3. Essays
4. Rituals
5. Prayers
6. Resources
   1. Ancestor Books (print, digital, and audiobook)
   2. YouTube, podcasts, and other media on Ancestors and Ancestor work
   3. People willing to be contacted for Ancestor Work

A Lammas Thanksgiving Prayer

Hail to Freyr, Gerðr, and Freyja!

Hail to Gulinbursti and Hildisvíni!

Hail to the Álfar!

Hail Ancestors all!

Hail to the landvættir!

Hail to the sow that shared her life with the community!

Hail to the plants, rice, squash, green beans, and beets that shared their lives with us!

The Importance of Being Visible

My arms are covered in Runes and I wear three necklaces, a valknut, a Mjolnir, and a stylized wolf when I am out of the house. What this has done has allowed me to connect with folks wherever I go. They ask questions, they want to know “What do these mean?” Even in the case of folks mistaking my Runes, which are the Elder Futhark, for ancient Hebrew, it is still someone saying “I see this and I want to know more.”

My necklaces and my tattoos are public invitations to have a conversation. I display them for my own reasons, namely as a form of devotion and mindfulness of my relationships with the Ginnreginn. However, I would not have a reason to display them publicly if that were the only reason. I could just as easily carry my valknut, Mjölnir, and wolf necklaces in my spiritwork bag and cover up my tattoos. I wear necklaces, rings, and tattoos to display to others. So that, in some way, what I am is seen. I could just as easily have had the Runes tattooed on my back, my upper arms, or somewhere else easily hidden by clothing. Instead, They asked, and I accepted, that They be tattooed on my lower arms.

My tattoo artist was amazing and let me have a full-blown ritual starting before the session, and lasting throughout it.

Recently, fellow Heathens including Maleck, Snow and Gunny, both of whom are wonderful folks, have talked about aesthetic and how it relates to Heathenry, Heathens, and our place in communities. I can tell you from personal experience that aesthetic can also key into being accessible to others in our communities, both in terms of fellow Heathens and those outside our religious communities. Especially being so outward facing in our aesthetics like this, it allows us to be able to be good and approachable sources of information for those who, otherwise, may not learn about Heathenry or Heathens.

It is also why I tend to stay away from the Vikings TV show aesthetic when it comes to my regular online content. No issue with those who do it as part of their own regular content. However, the aesthetics of the show, and cosplay in general, clash with the Heathenry I want to portray, which is historically-informed and modern. What this does not mean is that I lack for ritual aesthetics, historical Nordic outfits, and only wear t-shirt and shorts to ritual. It just means that everyday wear tends to be my most common worn items because most of my rituals do not require specific ritual wear. My most frequent rituals are hearth cultus, so my ‘ritual wear’ tends to be whatever I have on at home. If I have been working out, doing yard work, or am dirty, I clean up, switch the clothes out, and then do hearth cultus.

Our aesthetics, both what we wear for everyday wear and for ritual, can say a lot about us to ourselves, to the communities we live in, and to our relationship with the Ginnreginn. Perhaps over time as we develop from just religious communities into full-blown cultures we may develop varying ways of dress. However, for the moment, most polytheists blend in to the overculture they are living in.

When we step outside of that blending that is a statement. It can be one for ourselves, our communities, and/or our Ginnreginn, but if we wear something, whether it is our hair, tattoos, or clothes that takes us out of the everyday, it is a statement. It is a powerful act, and a powerful responsibility not only for myself, it is equally so for my family, community, and the Ginnreginn. Even more so than wearing my Valknut or Mjölnir openly, my tattoos have opened a lot of conversational doors that likely would have stayed shut. They are vaettir, power, and magic, embodied in me, a living relationship. They are an invitation to others to conversation, understanding, and wisdom carved into my flesh.

What others will get from conversation prompted by the Runevaettir differs. For a lot of folks I am the first and only open polytheist they have ever met. For some folks this prompts a flood of questions, ranging from “What does that word mean?” to “How can you worship so many?” to “What are the Gods? The Ancestors? The spirits?” For others there is a few moments of contemplation, and then appreciation that lights up their face. For some, fear and apprehension strike their body like lightning, and something about the notion of living ancient Gods, Ancestors who listen and speak with them, and spirits all around absolutely terrifies them. For some, just sharing what these living Beings are opens whole Worlds to them. Others will shrink back.

My body becomes a gateway of conversation. My words become a conduit. My demeanor shares connection. Making the choice to take on the tattoos I have, the Valknut and the Runes, I am not my own, alone; I am also my Gods’, my Ancestors’, my vaettir’s. I am, in a very real sense, a vé walking in the world. That is the importance of being visible.

Wolf-skinned

I am the raised hackle and unyielding maw
I am the shredding bite and thrashing muzzle
I am the grey-fur frenzy and bloodied mouth

I am the gentle bumps and guiding nudge
I am the playful bark and the teasing nip
I am the joyful bounding and warm-hearted nuzzle

I am the resounding howl and the heaving flanks
I am the lolling tongue and the tireless feet
I am the sauntering paws and the gnashing fangs

I am the shield-biter and wound-proof
I am the sword-bearer and spear-wielder
I am the clenched fist and Óðr-wise

I am the wolfen-man and man-of-wolf
I am the forest-dancer and love’s-delight
I am the wary walker and boundless berserk

I am the boundary-keeper and sentry of sacred ways
I am the enemy-eater and scourer of poisons
I am the wolf-skinned and foe of unclean spirits

The Lay of the Ancestors in Ragnarök Time

This poem was begun March 30th, 2015, and finally, I had the inspiration to finish it.

Ancestors ancient! Askr and Embla!

Shoulders supporting the feet of your son

Hear my words as I wander

Sarenth seeks your counsel!

---

Gebo’s ways are woefully wended

The Lakes lay lacquered with rot;

How to heal the horrors of humans

Between the spirits and society?

---

The forests find the foe fierce,

Blood-embers eager to eat;

How to end the hunger

When the mouth may never close?

---

Thus the Disir directed:

Ally where one can find,

and stand strong upon the shore;

Galdr and growl, giving no peace

---

To the mouth give mending

Bind its baleful maw

Never will it quit its need

To eat seed, soil, and tree

---

Grow well and wise with work

Spirits will show the steps to strength

Listening, learn the lay of land

Whispers come the ways of waters

---

Hearths are hallowed in holiness

Eldr held whole in every home

The binds bite bitter the breaker

When the ways are walked well

Patreon Topic 32: On Skaði

If you want to submit a topic you would like me to write on for this blog or my Patreon, sign up for the Uruz or Thurisaz level or above here on my Patreon. From Elfwort comes this topic:”Can you discuss Skaði?”

Sure. A look around my blog yields a lot of older posts where I talk about Skaði, mostly in the role of assigning me work to do. She is a powerful Goddess, one I have worshipped throughout a lot of my time as a Heathen. I started writing that I was not very close to Her, but then, I don’t think closeness is necessarily a goal to have with all of our Gods. She has treated me well, and the relationship we have is friendly. She is among the Gods we honor every day during our family prayers and make offerings to at our Gods’ vé.

She is a Goddess associated with hunting, skis, survival, the cold, and implacability. She brooks no bullshit, and when She showed up in Her war gear demanding weregild for the death of Her Father Þjazi, She got it. She is fierce, powerful, and yet there is a coolness, both of personality and of purpose, that I feel with Her.

I took some time getting to writing this because I wanted to sit down with the sources and reread things, but to be honest, like a lot of jötnar and Asynjur, there is not much on Skaði. If you want to learn about Her from the literary sources She is found in the Gríminsmál when Óðinn is talking with Agnarr, and especially in the Lokasenna when She and Loki have words. Perhaps the most we know about Her are from this section of the Poetic Edda and that of the Gylfaginning and Skáldskaparmál in the Prose Edda. She is noted in the Ynglinga saga as having married Óðinn and having children with Him. I could not find much at all that was conclusive with regards to Her and archaeology.

My dear friend Nick has many blog posts on Her, all of which can be found here, including passages I mentioned above, and his experiences with Her. In it, he notes that there are rock carvings of skiers found in Bola at Nord-Tondelag, but again nothing conclusive or anything regarding Her or Her cult. Could it, and other rock carvings and finds he notes relate to Her? Sure, but again, nothing to where we can say “absolutely!'”

Something Nick notes and that I will pick up on is that Skaði starts off utgard, a word meaning ‘outside the walls/enclosure’. She starts off as an outsider and is brought into Asgarðr. However, as Nick has pointed out, She never loses this wildness.

My first experience with Her came when I was handed over to Her by Óðinn during a nine day ordeal. She taught me quite a bit, meeting me in Niflheimr, and afterward gave me work to do. Among these was learning survival techniques such as making fire, learning how to hunt, and first aid/first response. She also had me take up learning how to shoot a bow and a gun. Of these I have learned how to make fire with flint and steel, and hope to do more with firebow or friction firemaking, have yet to have a succesful hunt, have learned how to shoot a bow and a gun, and have first aid/first response training. So, I still have work to do.

When I go to shoot my bow or my gun I make prayers to Her. When I shoot I offer each shot to Skaði and to Óðinn. I find both of Them have a kind of calm or cold to Them when in this zone.When we were in the Porcupine Mountains in Northern Michigan a couple summers ago, I felt Her presence quite a bit. When I have wandered in the forest behind where our home will be built, I feel Her. Especially as we have come into Vetr, I have felt this connection get ‘louder’. As to where it will go, who knows?

Hail Skaði! May She ever be hailed!

Patreon Song/Poem/Prayer 32 -For the Vetrvaettir

If you want to submit a request for a prayer, poem, or song to be written to you privately or to be posted on this blog or my Patreon for a God, Ancestor, or spirit, sign up for the Ansuz and above level here on my Patreon. This prayer was requested by Elfwort for the Vetrvaettir.

Hail Vetrvaettir

Hail Íss and Snær

Hail Frost and Kaldr

Hail Kala and Hagall

Hail to the frost jötnar

Hail to Kari’s kin

Be gentle with us

May we be safe in the home, the forest, the vé

May we be safe on the roads, the fields, the waters

Spare our kith and kin your harshness

Help us to appreciate the quiet, the dark, the silence

Help us to appreciate this time of rest

Help us to live with vigor this Vetr

Hail Vetravettir!

Patreon Song/Poem/Prayer 29 -For Cernnunos -Farewell

If you want to submit a request for a prayer, poem, or song to be written to you privately or to be posted on this blog or my Patreon for a God, Ancestor, or spirit, sign up for the Ansuz and above level here on my Patreon. This prayer was requested by Maleck Odinsson for Cernunnos.

You walked with me

Through the woods, the wild, the wonderful places

You showed me

The sacred places, prepared and protected me

You taught me

The holy ways, hallowing and healing

O Horned One, Torc-Bearer

Hoof and horn, claw and crushing jaw

Gentle-stepper, Silent Stalker

Hunter and Hunted, Predator and Prey

Thank You, always, for walking with me

Thank You, always, for showing me

Thank You, always, for teaching me

Cernnunos

Patreon Song/Poem/Prayer 28 -For Skínandi Freyr

If you want to submit a request for a prayer, poem, or song to be written to you privately or to be posted on this blog or my Patreon for a God, Ancestor, or spirit, sign up for the Ansuz and above level here on my Patreon. This prayer was requested from my third Raiðo patron for Skínandi Freyr.

Skínandi, Skínandi, Skínandi!

Bright shining Holy God!

Blessing borne by Sunna’s ride

Who warms the soil in Harpa

Who blesses the ground with greatness in Heyannir

Who nourishes the people in Haustmánuðr

O Ginnvanr!

Who always blesses in beauty

In Súmar the fields and Álfar rejoice

In Vetr the world waits and rests

Ever-shining, ever-holy

You dance with Jörð, with Nerðus, with Sunna

Dappled light shining down on forest, field, and fen

The seasons move beneath You, shining One

Life from death from life from death

Ever gipt fá gipt

Hail Skínandi Freyr!

Patreon Song/Prayer/Poem 26 -For Hyndla

If you want to submit a request for a prayer, poem, or song to be written to you privately or to be posted on this blog or my Patreon for a God, Ancestor, or spirit, sign up for the Ansuz and above level here on my Patreon. This prayer was requested from Streaking Fate for Hyndla.

You can trace lines of red back

Back to where the red shifts colors

To light, syrupy sweet sap

Where the branches of lines end suddenly

Where the branches reach into the shadowy places

Where the branches curve, split, rejoin in unexpected ways

You can find them wherever they roam

No matter how hidden

No matter how lost we are

No matter how scattered we are

You, who know all the ways that Urðr has unfolded for each thread woven, each carved tile

You, who knows all the ways Verðandi is weaving now, each tile being scored

You, who cannot see all the ways Skuld will weave and carve

Hail Hyndla, Bloodwalker, Seer, She Who Knows the Lines!