Ethereal Edition: A Prayer for Those Who Care for People on the Fringe

Tomorrow will be my last day of training at my new job, as well as doubling as an orientation for the actual site I’ll be working at.  I’ll be working with adults who grew up with IDDs of various sorts (Intellectual Developmental Disorders), and helping them care for themselves while encouraging them to take an active role in their own well being.  This appeals to me on a number of levels, both personal and spiritual, and I’ve been looking forward to it for a while.

The spiritual parallels should be easy for most to see; worshipers of Loki and Sigyn have often drawn parallels between their deities and people with mental health issues, as well as those who have been marginalized by society.  Those with such disabilities count strongly in both categories.  There are connections
to the medicinal care-taking personified by Eir as well.

What follows is a prayer I wrote for this new job.  This isn’t just a way to make money for my family; this a way to make money for my family while making the world a better place in the same breath.  I want to embrace this new career to it’s fullest, and the guidance of the Gods and the Goddesses would be invaluable.

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Fire’s Trickster and Champion of Ingenuity
Victory’s Lady and Suffering’s Mother
Divinity’s Doctor and Council to the Muddled
I ask for your wisdom, your eyes, and your ears.

Today I will go where the sick are plentiful,
Where the pain is palpable,
And their place forgettable.
I will care for those who,
have been tossed to the mire.
Not for crimes,
But for the pain born by them,
Simply from the act of birth.

Maligned for their existing.
Shunned for their nature.

May it be that I can bring laughter to the joyless,
Serenity to the wild-hearted,
And recovery to the incurable.
May your hands and voices be there to guide me,
When a map cannot be found,
And there is no star to direct my way.

Loki, creator of strength within strife.
Sigyn, serenity and compassion within tragedy.
Eir, greatest physician of the Aesir

Please guide me as I go about my day,
And help me see my charges,
Through your eyes,
And know them through your ways.

Hail the Gods and their Allies!
Hail the Ancestors and their Descendants!
Hail the Folk and their Friends!

Regarding Loki, Part 8: April Fool’s Day

Hail Loki,
Lord of Hearthfire
Joy of the Føroyar
Mirth Seeker, Truth Tracker, Hammer Dowser

For what we do not know,
There will be answers.
For what we have not heard,
There will be echos.
For what we have not have seen,
There will be explorers.

When holy days are lost,
New ones are found.
When myths are forgotten,
New ones take their place.
When wisdom is misplaced
New wisdom shall recover it.

The fire does not go out,
So long as there are those who tend it.

Hail Asa-Loki!

Ethereal Edition: To the Forgotten Unforgotten

I’ve actually been doing a light amount of academic research the last few weeks, which is unusual for me.  While I respect the academic and scholarly approaches to out faith, I also think too many depend upon them too much.  Too many approach the lore as a record, rather than a finger point to the moon..and I think we damage our faith with an over reliance on the lore.

Yet, I’ve been looking over Stephan Grundy’s words on Loki and it’s been making me curious to expand out and tackle some more diverse topics.  In particular, it has stuck me by how much we have lost.  The nature of veneration for much of our faith is gone, and we are lucky to have the scraps we do in some cases.  It in this frame of mind that I offer the following.

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To those who halls were not remembered,
To those who tales were not retold,
To those whose place in time was not recorded.
I offer these words.

Though your names may be lost,
My ancestors were not.
Though recount of your deeds did not endure,
Their results have.
Though your lessons have gone untaught,
Your wisdom can still be found.

To those Gods and Goddesses,
That history did not mark,
To those Heroes and Heroines,
Whose Sagas found no scribe,
To the forgotten unforgotten,
I say this.

There are those who see the empty spaces,
where once your altars were.
There are those who search dark tomes,
in the pursuit of bright names.
There are those that seek you still,
Call out to prayer on the lips on ancestors.

Today, I remember the forgotten unforgotten,
May the day of their remembrance be soon.

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Ethereal Edition: Focusing on the Important

At this moment, I don’t feel particularly pious.  I feel bitter, angry, and hurt.

This is how I knew it is the time to be pious.

There are people with the community* who suggest that all insults need to be met with, swift, hard, and blunt retaliation.  These people suggest that anyone who would do otherwise is some failure of a Heathen, and is letting their ancestors down.  I call bullshit for any number of reasons**, but the foremost is that our lore, legends, and myths are filled with characters whose actions are far more complex.  It is for this reason that I compose the following.

May those who read it find it of use in their own veneration***.

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When there is no time for anger.
When there is no time for hate.
When there is only time to move forward,
And take the fate that we have been woven,

I hail Sigyn.
Strongest of women.
Wisest of Sufferers.
Martyr without wounds.

Yours is a calm unmarred by death,
Yours is a serenity unblemished by pain,
Yours is a will unsundered by burdens

I hail Sigyn,
Teacher of patience.
Scholar of will.
Matron of focus.

Lady of Temperance,
Allow me to learn your ways
As I pass through the strife in my life.
May it be that no person can move me,
Lest I move myself.

Hail Sigyn!

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* I use both the terms “community” and “people” extremely loosely.?
**Foremost among those reasons is that a family line who answers all slights with physical violence isn’t going to have enough ancestors survive in order to make predecessors.  Swords are sharp.
***Normally, I’d attempt to find a picture to go with this.  Today, I can’t find a picture I like that isn’t associate with Marvel comics.  Normally I don’t have a problem with Marvel, but this sort of annoyed me today…

Ethereal Edition: To Forseti, and to the Year to Come

Hello!  Don’t mind the cobwebs and dust!  The last few weeks have been ground zero for both my immune system, as well as my three month old daughter.  Add the holidays to that, and things suddenly getting stupidly complex.  At this point I’m alive, swallowing food without pain, and no longer needing to ride shotgun while my wife drives an average of about 200 miles a day* so let’s get back to business.

Part of my quiet, however, has been related to my disquiet with how things stand in Heatenry and Asatru.  Some fact checking on some of the references popularly used to address complaints at Folkism in general and the AFA in particular hint at things I’m not very happy with, the Lokean debate has gotten quiet but that’s meaningless because all that means is that both sides have gotten exhausted with things for the moment, and in general general everything feels very broken and fragmented.

Trying to address this situation with grace and tact is difficult.  It’s time like these that I strongly regret our lack of lore on Foreseti, the son of Baldr and Nanna.  What little we know of him suggests that he was a Holy Power of mediation and reconciliation.  If there are any legends, myths, and saga that we desperately need, if would be his; the one who was said to be able to settle any disagreement that was placed in his hands is a God whose guidance many of our leaders and authors sorely need.

As the old year is coming to a close, and a new one is on the horizon, I’d like to offer this small devotional to a God I would very much like a better understanding of.  May his influence be felt in the coming year, and those years that come after

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Son of Breidablik’s Honored Throne
Son of She That Dares to Strengthen
The Heir of the Heir of Asgard

Forseti, Lord of Shining Glitnir
Forseti, He Who Raises Fallen Frith
Forseti, Wielder Of Both Grith and Glittering Axe

When I speak, may it bring kith and kin together.
When I write, may it help bridge minds and souls.
When I read, may I hear the wisdom that is born in Your brow.

I hail you, Lord that crafts kingdoms out of lesser lords,
May the walls of Glitnir be shunned by those who disrespect it laws,
And may they ever be found by those who seek your face but have yet to hear your name.

Hail the Son of Asa Baldr!  Hail the Son of Asa Nanna!
Hail Asa Forseti, and all of his line!

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*Between our two cars, hers can handle long trips and mine can’t.  Her car is stick shift while mine isn’t.  She can drive stick, and I have no yet learned how.  Considering how much my wife hates driving, she handle this situation (and my passenger seat driving) with amazing aplomb

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Ethereal Edition: A Heathen’s Prayer

The writing process is pretty odd for me, in that my train of thought is always two weeks behind me.  I need time to absorb and comprehend things, in order to really properly organize my thoughts.  This all sounds pretty simple and basic, but believe me that it gets kind of tricky at times.  A lot of times this means I’m responding to current events well after the curve.

It also means that I end up writing stuff at odd times, given the subject matter.  The prayer below was written almost entirely while I was in the hospital with my wife, as she took a much need nap during the process of having her labor induced*.  I’m sure that a prayer/devotional is coming for kids, for new father, and new mothers…but at the moment, my internal writer was stuck on pondering something else.

We are our deeds.  It’s one of the most sacred phrases within Heathenry.  I found myself considering it a lot as I put down my thoughts on conversion.  Some of these thoughts ended up shaping into a poem of sorts.  Unlike most of my devotional poetry, this one is not intended for the Gods.  Rather, it’s a piece of inspirational writing for for Heathens.

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My deeds are within me,
And I within them,
From the very beginning,
To the very end,

What I have done and wrought with will,
Shall be my soul’s own true herald
What I have crafted with my own strength,
Can never be stolen or imperiled.

My wyrd and luck are mine alone.
The swindler finds it outside their reach
The frith I craft cannot be usurped,
It cannot be drained by a foolish leech

Lies that are told quickly sunder,
And time is the friend of honor,
The truth of my deeds will ever be found,
By every noble son and daughter.

As am I,
So are you.
As we are,
So are all,
Within every Hof
Within every Hal

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* Mother and baby are both healthy, though my daughter was born two weeks early so she’s in the NICU at the moment.  She is perfectly stable however, thank Eir!

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Ethereal Edition: To Sigyn

In the writing of my last article, I found myself reflecting on some of the wrongs done to my own person that I have not yet been able to move past.  As I reflected upon this, I feel as though I may have touched upon something deeper and more meaningful.  It is with this thought in mind that I erect the following prayer.

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In loss and in anguish,
In terror and horror,
In loss and betrayal,
You survive.

Your voice has no anger;
Your stance is not martial,
Your eyes are not hardened,
You endure.

There are wounds that Eir cannot see.
There are things that Frey cannot grow.
There are enemies that Thor cannot sunder.
Your frith is constant.

Sigyn, The Bride of Loki,
She that holds venom, yet poisons none.
She that heals what does not bleed.
She that might feel for all pain that she sees.

Lady of the Ardent Hollow,
Teach me to see the world as you,
To feel empathy as you,
To understand as you.

Hail Asa Sigyn!

Ethereal Edition: Thoughts of the Moment

Though I May Forget,
Even When Candles Are Dark
I Am Remembered

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Tonight, oh Gods, may You hear my prayer,

No matter what I might say in acts of your worship,
No matter what I do in your name,
No matter what I may create in your glory.

Please make sure that,
While along this road,
I have not forgotten You in the process.

Hail the Gods!

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Darkness Falls. Eyes Fail.
Shadows Forget My Pathway
I am lost again.

Yet, The Road Is Clear
Rune Father And  Frith Mother.
Cloud’s Spear.  Trickster’s Laughter.

Fools Often Forget.
As Long as The Oil Is Faith,
The Lantern Is Bright.

Etheral Edition: To What He Is, Not What He Is Not

He who bares insults forged of lies, yet only wields sharp truth in return
He whose lips are sealed, yet whose words are plentiful.
He who hath planted seeds, yet also bore a woman’s burden.
The patron of god-treasures, and the doom-weaver of God foes.

Oath-brother of the Allfather, and kin to all of Asgard’s hosts.
Watcher of the back of Thunder, and stabber of backs of Ice
Spare eyes for the One-Eyed, and Jester for the wise.

This is the Son of Lightning and Needle
This is the Trickster, husband of Strength Unending and Father of Legends
This is Loki, and now you know why I pray to Him.

Ethereal Edition: Words from the Heart

I don’t mind championing my successes, so long as I also own up to my failures and refrain from excessive bragging.  This is, more or less, a family tradition; my mother got it from both sides of her family, and I suspect it went back a good deal of generations.  This isn’t rooted in shame or enforced humility; she just always says that if you’re truly doing good, you’re never going to need to tell anyone because they’ll already know.  As such, I try and keep an even keel.  My successes are celebrated freely, but I try to make sure the party doesn’t go on past eight.

So it’s been sort of a whirlwind ride the past few months.  I’ve now added “freelance voice talent”, to my list of accomplishments.  This goes up there with “Step-dad”, “husband”, “freelance writer”, “expectant father”, and a host of other rather amazing things.  I know I’ve brought this up before, yet I’m still not sure it has sunk in.  Part of me is still expecting to wake up, alone; to wake up from some fever dream.  That never happens, however; every time I wake up, things are as I left them.

Now granted, sometimes I’m waking up at 2:30 am to find that I rolled on top of my wife’s hair….but you take the good with the bad.  At least, that’s what she seems to do.

In either case, what I’d like to do right now is to thank the Gods for some of the things I have.  It strikes me that this is as appropriate a way of handling things as I can muster, as I’m still filled with awe at my recent accomplishments.  These things were not done alone, however, and I think it’s high time I offer some public thanks.

To the spirit/God/landvattier who appeared to me, and handed my the hammer.  I don’t know your name, and I suspect I never will.  I thank you.  I prayed, to nothing in particular, for peace of mind.  Little by little, the hammer you offered me that day has done just that.

To Frigg, who heard a very heartfelt prayer I made while inside a walk-in freezer.  You put me on a long road, Allmother, and I am eternally grateful.  I don’t know if it was You who ended up teaching me the lessons I would learn over the next two years…but I know who I asked for help, and I know who helped me.

To Freyr, who walked with me for so very little distance but whose lessons were profound.  I think back to that Freyfaxi, and I’m not sure I will ever be able to take in all that I was being shown.  I know that it taught me a lot, and it gave me the chance to see my own honor and my own frith.  The months that came after it showed me much as well, as I saw the consequences of frith betrayed.  Thank You.

To Eir, who I often forget when my need is no longer great.  I have prayed to You often, but I often forget to thank You after the matter is finished.  You’ve watched over family by blood, family by oath, and family by frith;.  for all of this, I thank You.

To Loki, much maligned and misunderstood.  I have heard many speak our against your supposed chaos, and sometimes I can’t help but wonder if that’s the joke.  You are not chaos, but a navigator of chaos; everyone who maligns you is cursing the very oar they need to navigate the twisting rivers that they blame you for creating.  I was caught in such chaos, and it was You who helped me back to solid ground.  It was You that helped me on my way, to the life I have now.  You didn’t give things to me; You just got me to the show and pulled up the curtains before I could think about it.  The “Regarding Loki” series was done as a small thanks for this.  Yet, in thanking you?  You helped me to start becoming the writer I always wanted to be.  When I have given you offerings of food and drink, you have provided far more then my pantry can hold.  Thank You.  Words cannot convey my gratitude.

To the Allfather, and all the divine figures and heroes who align themselves with him. To Thor, whose presence was ever felt in the background.  To all the Gods who have influenced my life, but have not yet made themselves known.  To those Gods I have prayed to, and cannot name.  I offer You my thanks for all that You have given me, and all that you have yet to give me.

Even when times are tough for me and my family, I have been able to count on Your blessings again and again.  Thank You all.