Prayers are whispered
Charred cloth over Mugwort
The flint strikes the steel
Again
Again
Again
Finally, a spark
The cloth catches
Careful, careful
Breathe the offering of ond;
soft, quick little puffs
A prayer of thanks
Smoke unfurls
Großmutter Una’s body is pressed into red orange
The reykr is made
Holiness rises
Uruz (Wikimedia Commons)
Today I did galdr with Uruz.
As yesterday, my work was done entirely outside from start to finish from about 8pm-9pm. It was a little chilly, but I was comfortable. Maybe if the weather turns cold and harsh I will bring it inside. Until then, we will see.
As before, I smoked Großmutter Una to cleanse and prepare myself. I eased into the galdr work after all the prayers were made.
Breathing deep, my body was warming up, and my body was filling with power. I felt myself a great beast, filling with air, with potential, with power. I felt mySelf, my animal within me stir. Another animal rose as I finished my prayers of connection with Uruz. The first time I galdred Uruz, I could feel the auroch as I lowed. Uruz came three times from my lips and that animal came bellowing out of me.
When I continued to galdr Uruz, it was connecting to power, within and without. It was power, but not only for destruction. It was the primal power that when you look into someone’s eyes, they understand and do. It was not charisma, it was the primal pull that tells someone something needs to be done, and then to go do it.
It is rising heat and muscle put to work. It is the potential energy of those muscles at rest, the potential of a round piece of wood to be made into a torch. It is the ability to do great violence, and the ability to do great things. It is ferocity and will, patience until the time to act which is done decisively. It was animal, it was primal. Damn did it feel good.
After finishing my prayers of thanks and cleansing with the meditation done, I spent time cleaning out my pipe and coming back to normal headspace.
Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.
#DoMagick
Fehu (Wikimedia Commons)
Today, I did galdr with the Rune Fehu.
When I galdred Fehu I was outside. It was cold, but not too uncomfortable. My first galdr I did three times and sat in the quiet, frigid evening. It was almost midnight. When I was not galdring, I had my pipe between my teeth or in my hand with whisps of Großmutter Una’s burning body rising up before me. I felt the tingle of the Rune’s response.
I galdred three times, and breathed deep with each galdr. The last round had been shallower, lighter. This one was deeper, huskier. A light breeze was blowing, but what I felt more than the cold was the latent warmth of the Earth beneath me. The pulse of Midgard. Not as vibrant as, say Summer, but still quite there.
I breathed in the sacred smoke three times, blew out, and then galdred rough, growling. A lot louder than I had been. When I finished I could hear the echo out over the abandoned farm country behind the house. Then, to my surprise, a cacophony of coyotes kicked up in response to the first galdr. I galdred again, and they returned with howls. The third galdr, and the continued to howl and yip. I had a flash of seeing animals tucked away in little buildings, coops and the like, and another sight of winter wheat though we have none planted right now. Warm things, baked things, and also hunting, of tracking things over cold land for a good meal.
I breathed for a bit and took in the presence of the Rune as the coyotes continued for a bit. It was an interesting dichotomy, between the warmth of bread and soup in a warm house and hunting down warm prey in the cold. To chase and tear on the one hand, and to dig into stores and settle down for the cold of Winter on the other.
Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.
#DoMagick
Sarenth Odinsson 