Category Archives: Religion

Paganism, Religion

Polytheology: The One Eternal Reality

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NOTE: This series is an exploration of my personal theology, which I tend to hold lightly. it is subject to change as I gain new insights. Also, no one should interpret anything I say as the “one true doctrine.”

We were gathered around the altar in the center of the room. The ritual space was illuminated only by candles. I and the other coven member assisting me were standing. I held my hands over the plate of Ritz crackers we were using for cakes and ale, blessing them. i closed my blessing saying, “…always remembering that we are one and we are of The One.”

That was the scene the evening I unexpectedly added a new bit of liturgy1 to my non-initiatory coven’s ritual. It was a reference to an earlier part in our rite when we establish our circle and invite the powers to join us. After invoking the God and Goddess, we would say, “Hail to the One Eternal Reality, in whom we live and move and have our being.”2

I was always a fan of the concept of the One Eternal Reality (or simply the One). It may be the closest I come to the common belief among some Wiccans that “all gods are one God and all goddesses are one Goddess.”3 Of course, I’ll note that the One Eternal Reality goes beyond deities and encompasses humans as well. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that everything in existence is part of the One, so we might see the One as the universe itself.

This is also why I tend not to see the One as an conscious being. i see it as a force or energy. As I worked on this post, I realize that in my theology, the ideas of the One and wyrd are at least closely related. I’m still sorting through whether I think they are synonyms for the same thing or whether wyrd is a sort of result or byproduct of the One. But either way, it is clear to me that they both express this idea that we are all interconnected and our existence and actions impact one another. And this goes for deities, humans, and everything else that exists.

Also by linking this concept to wyrd, I bring in another important aspect of my understanding of the One Eternal Reality: I believe that it is ever changing rather than something static. Furthermore, this means that we as part of the One Eternal Reality and shapers of wyrd are actively changing it. And as I’ve said in other blog posts, this idea is central to both my religious views and my magical practice.4

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on September 21, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized this post later the same day.

Footnotes

  1. I tended to ad lib certain parts of our ritual, and the blessing of cakes and ale was no exception when that role fell to me. It always made things interesting when another coven member would occasionally like my word choice and want me to repeat it so they could start using it themselves. Of course, I often had trouble remembering whatever I had said in a moment of inspiration. Note to people who circle with me in the future: just record me if you think you might want to capture my words from such moments. ↩︎
  2. This echoes the apostle Paul’s statement about the Christian god, stating “in him we live and breathe and have our being.” I suspect this was an intentional choice, as the coven member who wrote our coven’s liturgy was a former Christian and has studied religion quite extensively during her long life. It’s also interesting to note that this statement is part of Paul’s speech to the people of Athens at the Areopagus. This suggests to me that even Paul acknowledged that this phrase would resonate with the pagans of his day. ↩︎
  3. Some people tend to think that this view is universal among Wiccans. Wiccan author Yvonne Aburrow has a wonderful video challenging this notion, however. Also, Yvonne’s video reminds me that my understanding of the One would probably be classified as monism. That may be helpful for my readers who love all the fancy terms. ↩︎
  4. I’d like to draw attention to the fact that I made it to the end of this post without making a single reference to the movie starring Jet Li. Please clap. ↩︎
Books, Paganism, Religion

The Fylgja: Reflections on chapter three of “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith

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Happy Friday, dear readers! in today’s blog post, I hope to continue my reflections of chapter three of Spinning Wyrd by Ryan Smith. Specifically, I want to explore the third part of the Heathen self that Smith talks about, the fylgja. This is the aspect of the Heathen self that I’ve always struggled with and have my doubts about.

To clarify, I have no problems believing that we have guiding spirits that offer us advice, companionship, and/or protection. and Smith himself notes the similarities between familiars or guardian spirits1 and the fylgja. However, he notes that the fylgja is so linked to the individual that he sees them as “a direct manifestation of of an individual even though they have a significant degree of autonomy.”

For some reason, I struggle with the idea that something so independent from my own mind — to the point of even have its own goals and views — is still a part of me. My mind insists that surely this being must be something outside of myself.

But Ryan Smith also mentions “your spiritual shadow” as an alternate term for the fylgja, which brings the shadow in Jungian psychology to mind. I certainly do consider Jung’s views (or what I’ve heard about them through secondary sources) helpful and useful. So perhaps a part of the self that is so radically different in views isn’t as far-fetched as I might think2

Either way, I do appreciate the idea of having close spiritual allies — whether they are part of the self or completely separate from us — is important and beneficial. Such a guide can offer insights we may not think of on our own or with our conscious minds. They also might even challenge our thought processes and force us to change and grow when needed. So no matter whether the fylgja is truly a part of our Heathen selves or some separate being, I think pursuing a greater relationship with one’s fylgja is well worth the effort.

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on September 19, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on September 20, 204.

Footnotes

  1. Given Smith’s dedication to being inclusive and aware in his Heathenry, I suspect he is choosing his terms carefully to avoid the culturally appropriative term “spirit animal.” I appreciate and share his goal here and encourage anyone who finds my own choice of terms in this or any other post to be a matter of cultural appropriation to point it out to me. ↩︎
  2. Of course, I’ll note that Jung asserted that a major step in self-actualization was to embrace one’s shadow and integrate it into the true self. I wonder if Smith and other Heathens might see a similar integration with one’s fylgja as equally desirable. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion

Introducing a blog series: Polytheology

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Happy Monday, dear readers! Today, I would like to announce and introduce a new blog series I’ve decided to work on that I’m calling “polytheology.” This series is going to be an exploration of my theological views as a polytheist.

Theology is fairly important to me. After all, I am a theistic witch and a Norse Pagan/Heathen, so my deities are pretty important to me. So the process of thinking about my deities is pretty important to me as well. After all, I’ve offered a few thoughts about my patron goddess Freyja in the past. I’ve also shared more general thoughts about the nature of deities. To be honest, I think that anyone who spends any time worshiping, building a relationship with, or otherwise working with one or more deities tends to have a theology of some sort, even if they don’t realize it.1

So I decided to start writing down some of my theological thoughts, hence the birth of this series. But why did I decide to name it “polytheology?” For starers, because my theology is polytheistic in nature and I wanted to make it clear that this is different from the theology you might get from a lot of monotheists. Also, I found that more than a couple other polytheists have similarly used the term to refer to their own polytheistic takes on theology. And I think that’s another reason for the term: To acknowledge up front that there are actually multiple theologies within polytheology.

Then there’s the fact that I think my own theology is multi-layered and may represent more than a single theology. After all, i have theology about a specific deity2 and I have theology abut the nature of Divinity in general. These are theologies that operate on different levels, and acknowledging them both makes sense to me.

I think this idea that polytheology actually consists of multiple theologies also might help avoid dogma and strict authoritarianism, something that Yvonne Aburrow has pointed out as a common reason why many Pagans tend to be resistant to the idea of discussing theology in a Pagan context.3

I don’t know how often I will write a post in this blog series. Ideally, I’d love to make polytheology the focus of Monday posts for at least a month or two.4 But that might require a more structured approach to theology than I typically have. So for now, I hope to make this an open series that I will add to as inspiration hits. I hope you will follow along and even hop into the conversation in the comments section of each post, dear readers.

Post HIstory: I wrote the first draft of this post on September 15, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on September 16, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. This is an idea that Christian author and pastor Trey Ferguson pushed in his book Theologizin’ Bigger. He coined the term “theologizin'” to describe the kind of everyday and often informal thoughts people had about God ever day. ↩︎
  2. And why should a theology of Freyja be the same as a theology of Odin? They’re different deities and the kind of relationships that devotees have with each of them tend to be different, at least in my experience. ↩︎
  3. I also think that presenting and thinking of theology as an ongoing dialogue can help guard against becoming too restrictive and dogmatic as well, as Yvonne noted in their video I linked to above. ↩︎
  4. This is especially true since I’m also trying to put these ideas into a manuscript, which I’ve tentatively titled A Wyrd-Worker’s Guide to Polytheology. I’m hoping that if I ever finish that manuscript and get it published, my readers who end up enjoying this series will check it out. ↩︎
Books, Paganism, Religion

The Hugr: Reflections on chapter three of “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith

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Happy Friday, dear readers! Today, I want to offer a quick review and a few reflections on Ryan Smith’s discussion of the hugr (“mind”) from chapter three of his book, Spinning Wyrd. Smith offers the following expansive idea bout the hugr:

These connotations strongly suggest that the mind was seen as more than just one’s internal thought processes and perspectives but also the kind of frenzied, excited inspiration that drives creativity and understanding. This is also seen in Fire and Ice practice as support for including intuition and emotion as part of the hugr.

I like how Smith explicitly brings up things like creativity and intuition in his explanation of the hugr. After all, I think creativity is one of the greatest gifts of our mind. It enables us to express ideas and communicate things through music, poetry, and other art, which are the foundational elements of group life and culture.

Linking intuition — and the ability to “send out” the hugr in a way way reminiscent of astral travel — to the hugr also appeals to me. In the Christianity I was raised in, certain theologians seemed to go through a great deal of mental gymnastics to separate the “spirit” and the “soul.” And I could see where under such models, someone might try to make astral travel a function of spirit rather than soul. This seems overly complicated to me.1

One of the other things I like about Smith’s discussion on the hugr is that he cites another author2 who suggests that Odin’s ravens Hugin and Munin are actually projections of that god’s own hugr. To me, this suggests that not only is the hugr one of the gifts given by the deities to humans, but it’s one of the things that most make us like them. This places a great deal of importance on the mind, which I think is appropriate.3

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on September 12, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on September 13, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. Lest anyone think I’m picking on the Christians alone, I similarly think New Age and occult systems that try to parse out concept like an “astral body” as separate from the soul to also be over-complicated and silly. ↩︎
  2. Neil Price, whose book Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings will likely make its way onto my wishlist. ↩︎
  3. Of course, it’s important to note that all four parts of the Heathen self are an essential part of the human existence. I for one reject any notions that we are really just “souls trapped in a body” or any such thing. I embrace the value and importance of my hamr right along with that of my hugr. This is a point I will most likely circle back to when I talk about concepts of the afterlife. ↩︎
Religion

A polytheist’s thoughts on “universal salvation” and Christian hegemony

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Note: This post is heavily based on a Twitter thread I posted. I’ve edited and added to what I said there to flesh out a few more thoughts in this post.

The other day a Christian’s post about universal salvation came across my Threads feed and I decided to post something to my social media accounts1 about it:

I got a wide range of comments in reply to this, including strong agreement with my point of view, like a friend who shared a tweet from a couple years ago where they expressed very similar sentiments.

Then there were those who offered a different understanding of universal salvation, like this one:

Some were curious and expressed genuine curiosity about the point I was getting at, even asking clarifying questions. Overall I ended up having a number of thoughtful conversations with people. Oh sure, there were the naysayers. One person condemned the whole idea of universal salvation. A couple people simply said I didn’t understand universal salvation or what heaven would be like.2

There was also the fact that people didn’t get the deeper message that I was going for: the Christian hegemony that’s often inherent in many models of universal salvation. Now, I grant you, that’s at least partly my fault. For the sake of brevity, I said something and a lot of people focused on the details of my words. In retrospect, I should have done a better job of explaining my broader point.

But the reality is that many Christians’ idea of “universal salvation” seems to amount to “our understanding of god is still the right one, but our god will still let you into the party despite not believing in him.” In many ways, that still invalidates those of us who honor other deities or practice other religions.3 Josh Scott, lead pastor at Gracepointe Church in Nashville Tennessee actually addressed this when I asked him a question about Christian supremacy during one church service:4

I appreciate Josh’s willingness to point out that Christian supremacy and Christian Nationalism go hand-in-hand and that the former is just the most extreme and most toxic manifestation of the latter. I tried to make this point in a question in one of my follow-up tweets to the universal salvation conversation(s):

I also think it’s important to notice an important phrase uttered by the Jewish journalist in Josh’s story: “[You believe that] I’m okay with God because of Jesus.” The fact is, the very premise that we need to “be made okay with God” upholds Christian hegemony. A lot of us already see ourselves as right with the Divine or numinous. Or if we need to get right or reconnect with the Divine or the numinous, we believe that is a matter for us to take care of for ourselves, not some external savior. So in this sense, many Christians who espouse universal salvation5 push a model that still says we (1) need to be reconciled with the Divine and (2) need a figure from their religion to handle that reconciliation.

This is why I’d encourage those Christians who espouse universal salvation and/or universal reconciliation to dig a little deeper and consider how their understanding of those concepts might still be problematic, especially to those of us who are not Christians.

Post History: I started the first draft of this post on September 6, 2024. I completed that draft on September 7, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized the post on September 8, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. I included the tweet in this post. The same post can also be found on Threads and BlueSky however. Similarly, while there were some responses on Threads, I will mostly be showing responses received on Twitter, as that’s where I got the most feedback and engagement. ↩︎
  2. I mean, that may be a fair assessment, but just stating that with no further comment does not actually keep the dialogue going. Tell me where my understanding is wrong, maybe? Many thanks to those who chose to keep the dialogue going, even if they disagreed with me. Of course, I’ll note that I never set down a rule about what universal salvation was. I specifically said “if this is your definition, then I have an issue with it.” ↩︎
  3. There’s a similar problem with claims that “we’re really worshiping the same god anyway.” I’m a polytheist and my deities are not the Christian (or any other monotheistic) god in cosplay., ↩︎
  4. I snagged this clip from the church’s YouTube video of the full service. This clip starts at about the 51:40 mark of the full video. ↩︎
  5. Note that I’m not claiming that all Christians who espouse universal salvation or universal reconciliation hold to such views. in fact, Josh Scott’s church makes it clear that all people are already valued and accepted by God and deny that this was the purpose of Jesus’s ministry at all. However, I think it’s important to discuss that even among “progressive Christians,” a lot of models offered for universal salvation do get pretty messy when viewed through a pluralistic lens. ↩︎
Books, Paganism, Religion

The Hamr: Reflections inspired by chapter three of “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith

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Happy Friday, dear readers. I’m ready to get back to my normal blogging, which means it’s time for some reflections on chapter three of Spinning Wyrd by Ryan Smith. In this chapter, Smith discusses the four-part self, a common understanding of the human being among many Heathens. Smith explores each of the four parts of the Heathen self at a level of detail and to a degree of expansiveness that I don’t recall seeing elsewhere.

This became immediately noticeable when Smith began talking about the hamr,1 which is that part of the self that makes up our physical form. But Smith immediately suggests that the hamr includes more than our flesh, bones, and organs:

Hamr, according to their2 research, could potentially include one’s clothing, personal presentation, demeanor, effects, and even modifications to the body.

From there, Smith reinforces the idea that the physical form of the hamr is malleable, pointing out the stories and traditions of shapeshifting. He goes on to list numerous stories about the various Aesir changing themselves, including Loki’s transformation into a mare, Freyja’s coat granting the wearer the ability to transform into a falcon, and even Odin’s sacrifice of an eye in exchange for a drink from Mimir’s well.

As an inclusive Heathen, Smith goes so far as to suggest this malleability extends to the understanding — both modern and ancient — of gender. He cites the recent discovery of a female warrior’s skeleton buried in the BIrka warrior tomb who may have been non-binary or a trans man by today’s standards. This opens the door to the possibility of a Heathen who is trans seeing their own transition as a spiritual practice, which I would think many might find incredibly affirming.

Of course, even for we cis people, I think the idea of sanctifying the notion of making our physical form more comfortable for us to live in. In many ways, I see this as way of upholding the Heathen idea of independence and autonomy.3

Post HIstory: I wrote the first draft of this post on September 5, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on September 6, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. Today’s post will focus almost entirely on hamr, one of the four parts to the self. I’m not sure if I’ll do separate posts on all four parts, but I felt at least hamr and fylgja deserved special attention. ↩︎
  2. It seems to note that it’s important that Ryan is referring to various scholars and specifically cites publications by Lyonel D. Perabo and Neil Price. ↩︎
  3. Of course, it’s always important to remember the equally Heathen values of hospitality, mutuality, and interdependence. Too much of even the most noble virtues can become a harmful thing. But in today’s society, I often feel that independence and autonomy tends to suffer more than the sense that we are responsible to others as well. Of course,t his also depends on a number of factors, including power imbalances and numerous axes of oppression and privilege. ↩︎
Magic/Magick, Paganism, Religion

That time I (allegedly) met a Norn: A post inspired by chapter two of “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith.

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During the second half of chapter two of Spinning Wyrd, Ryan Smith turned his attention to discussing the Norns and offering his understanding of them and what little is written about them. Overall, I think Smith offers an excellent analysis. However, there is one statement that is making a bit of personal conflict for me:

Nothing comparable to the rampant evidence of other animistic or votive practices dedicated to other Powers is present, strongly suggesting the lesser Norns were just as unapproachable as the Three.

Earlier in the chapter, he suggested that the “main” three Norns — Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld — are also unapproachable. Largely, I think it’s true. I certainly do not think that one can “renegotiate” the impact wyrd has on one’s life for them. And yet, I believe I have encountered and interacted with a Norn.

This happened back sometime in 2008 (give or take a year). My friend Becky had come over to hang out and she asked me to do a reading for her So i grabbed one of my rune sets and started reading for her and someone came along and “sat with me.”1 When I asked this individual who she was, her simple answer was “Norn.” I felt her presence during the entire reading.

Now bear in mind that this is a subjective unconfirmed personal experience that I had. So it and any unconfirmed personal gnosis I might derive from it should be taken with a grain of salt. However, based on my experience, I have developed a personal working hypothesis about the experience and what it means. So for the rest of this post, I will assume that some being joined me for this reading and that they correctly identified themselves as a Norn.

The Norn did not have much to say. However, it filled me with a sense that this was an important reading for my friend. First and foremost, I think the Norn’s presence was intended to make it clear that this reading was tapping into and exploring important ways in which wyrd was currently affecting and shaping Becky’s life, suggesting choices made as a result of this reading could have important impacts as well.2

I also get the sense that perhaps the Norn’s presence enabled me to better read the patterns of wyrd during this reading. After all, i will note that I consider this one of the most powerful and clear readings I have ever given. I get the impression Becky agreed with my assessment as well.

So while I mostly agree with Ryan Smiths assertion, I cannot in good conscience agree with it unequivocally. I do think it’s possible to interact with a Norn in certain cases, particularly when matters of great importance to our personal lives and the greater web of wyrd are involved. Though I’ll also note that I did not seek out this contact with a Norn and I have never tried to repeat the experience. I suppose I have a sense that when it comes to Norns, “don’t call us, we’ll call you” might be wise counsel.

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on August 21, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on August 22, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. Part of my own practice involves possession, typically by a deity. When i say that someone “sat with me” in this context, I mean that the deity or other being decided to share my body with me, but did not necessarily seek to take control. My personal experience is that some deities/spirits will do this on occasion just to observe a situation and/or provide commentary. ↩︎
  2. I think of it as a parallel to some tarot readers and teacher who suggest that the presence of three or more Major Arcana cards in a tarot reading indicates that the reading is touching on matters of great spiritual importance and impact. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion

I think it’s important to interrogate the worthiness of our deities

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I’ve been reading an advance reader copy of Pagan Roots by Yvonne Aburrow.1 One of the things Yvonne covers in the book is a list of terms and concepts that they believe (and I concur with them) that we Pagans should reclaim from how they’re used in Christianity. One of the words they talk about is “worship,” which Yvonne also covered in their “Reclaiming Pagan Words” series on YouTube:

To briefly summarize, Yvonne points out that “worship” originally meant something akin to “the state of being worthy.” It was later when it became about an act in relation to deities. Yvonne notes that this understanding of the word came after many of the pagan religions of Europe had already been supplanted. However, they suggest that we might see the act of worship as “giving honor to that which is most worthy.” It think that’s a pretty good definition,2 but I think that begs the question:

Are our deities3 worthy? What makes them worthy?

Back in 2022, I posted a video to TikTok4 in which I asked that first question point blank. To be honest, I can think of deities that — assuming they’re anything like how certain followers of those deities describe them — I do not think are worthy of my honor or worship. Instead, I think they are worthy of my contempt at best and my fierce opposition at worst. After all, I don’t even think my own deities are entirely above criticism, as I think I made fairly clear last week. I think that giving ourselves the freedom to interrogate whether our deities are actually worthy of even our time — let alone our praise and honor — is a powerful tool for making sure we don’t fall into the trap of authoritarian religion.

But even if we have a sense that yes, our deities are worthy of our honor, I think it’s beneficial to explore our reasons for coming to that conclusion. After all, I think doing so provides great insights into ourselves, our values, and what we hope to get out of our relationship(s) with our deities. After all, I should hope that we’re honoring our deities and establishing relationships with hem for more (and better) reasons than the fact that we’re expected to and/or we’re trying to avoid getting punished for not doing so.

So tell me, dear reader. Who do you honor? Why do you find them worthy of your honor?

Post History: I wrote, proofread, and finalized this post on August 18, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. It was was a great honor to be invited to be an advance reader for this book and I want to once more thank Yvonne for the opportunity. I look forward to promoting it and talking about it at great length when it’s released. ↩︎
  2. I might quibble a bit at the “most worthy part,” but I think that would be a lively discussion during pub theology rather than a more serious battle or a potential schism. ↩︎
  3. I’ll note that I’m writing this blog post from my perspective as a polytheist. However, I think the principle is applicable to any other understanding of the Divine and/or the numinous. ↩︎
  4. Apparently, WordPress seems to have issues saving blog posts that have TIkToks embedded in them. That’s annoying. I guess you’ll have to click through to see the video instead. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion, Spiritual Development, Witchcraft

Synchronicity vs. Looking for Signs: Thoughts while reading “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith

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Happy Friday, dear readers! For today’s blog post, i want to share some reflections inspired by Ryan Smith’s discussion of synchronicity in chapter one of Spinning Wyrd. While discussing the topic, Smith offers this bit of cautionary advice:

When you accept synchronicity into your life, you should refrain as much as possible from actively imposing meaning where it might not be present. Not all moments of coincidence are necessarily instances of synchronicity. Sometimes a flock of ravens chattering on the power line is just a conspiracy of ravens and not a visit from the god of victory to remind you that your utility bill is overdue or that a blackout is imminent.

Personally, I think this is a much needed warning. I too have noticed some Pagans’ tendency (especially among witches) to look at every moment in their life and try to find some sort of sign or portent in it. This can be anything from seeing an animal on the way to work to wondering what it means when the flame on their spell candle dances. And while I get that this is likely at least partly motivated by an understandable and admirable desire to see the wondrous in everything,1 I think a lot of people take it too far. Sometimes, animals show up simply because they exist in the same world as us. And sometimes, a flame dancing is just a demonstration of chaos theory.2

Smith goes on to discuss some of the criteria he uses to discern whether a given event is truly a case of the powers trying to send a message or just stuff coincidentally happening. His biggest advice is to focus primarily on those events that happen in close relation or proximity to ritual or other mystical work. So for example, he might take a raven or two landing on front porch shortly after holding a blot to Odin as a sign more readily than if he saw those same ravens on a fence while walking through the neighborhood on the way to the park. This strikes me as good advice.

I would also suggest that the problem often comes when we actively look for these signs and portents. In my experience, a true sign from the powers feels substantively different than a circumstance to the point where I immediately take notice even though I wasn’t looking for such a sign. And to be honest, I trust the powers I work with to send another sign if I happen to miss the first one.3 So this allows me to relax a bit and not push myself to be on the constant outlook for such signs, making me less likely to “see” ones that are not actually there.

Of course,this requires a person to have a certain level of trust in their own intuition, including the trust that their intuition will ever kick in to begin with. But that’s a confidence and trust that an be built over time and in my opinion, is something well worth cultivating. Ultimately, I think that once most people experience a handful of signs from the powers, their confidence that they’ll spot them without going looking for them begins to grow and they’ll be able to relax.4

Post History: I wrote the draft of this post on August 3, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on August 9, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. Though I have also hypothesized that “what does the flame dancing mean” is often a case of someone — especially if they’re relatively new to witchcraft — looking for some sign that their spell is “working.” That in itself deserves its own exploration as building that kind of confidence in one’s magic is a real need. ↩︎
  2. As someone who’s a bit of a math nerd, I must admit that chaos theory is pretty wondrous in its own right. Sometimes, appreciating the way in which such “randomness” can appear beautiful is well worth meditating upon in its own right. ↩︎
  3. This is also why many mystics and witches suggest that paying attention to repeating “coincidences” is another great way to discern legitimate messages from the powers. I think there’s merit to that bit of counsel as well. ↩︎
  4. Of course, even experienced witches and mystics sometimes mistake a coincidence for a sign or even misread a sign’s meaning. This is to be expected, as developing and improving our discernment is a never-ending process. ↩︎
Books, Paganism, Religion, Witchcraft

Pondering the “Invoking Fire and Ice” rite in “Spinning Wyrd,” by Ryan Smith

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When I was exploring the differences between my witchcraft practice and Wicca back in May, I mentioned that i was still exploring how to start my rituals and create a sort of ritual and magical space. At the time, I shared the following thoughts:

Also, there an aspect of circle casting I’ve found some Wiccans express that I find appealing — the idea of creating magical space, a “place that is not a place in a time that is not a time.” Or another way to put it would be “creating a liminal space for ritual.” This to me is different from creating sacred space and has a value. Setting aside a space to work magic in a given moment makes sense to me.

This also feels right for working with Freyja, though I’m not sure she likes liminal spaces, so much as wild spaces. My perception of Freyja is that much of her worship and magic is about stepping beyond the domain of humans and the bounds of civilization. In many ways, I imagine it as making forays from Midgard out into the wild and primal places of Utgard. So I’ve thought about exploring a way to create ritual space that is a sort of “pocket of Utgard.” Or perhaps a sort of outpost in Utgard. I haven’t made much progress with the idea, but it’s definitely one I keep toying with.

While reading Spinning Wyrd by Ryan Smith, I ran across his “Invoking Fire and Ice” rite, which may be an excellent starting point for what I want to do. To be honest, I’m a bit embarrassed I didn’t think of it myself. After all, the rite involves invoking and bringing together fire and ice — the opposing forces that were pivotal in sparking the creation process in the Norse myths — “in a way that leads to them meeting, joining, and creating a new synthesis of possibility and space for new creation.”1 I’ve often waxed poetic of the creative tension of the fire of Muspelheim and the ice of Niflheim. And yet, it did not occur to me to magically invoke these forces and that creative tension in order to make a space for my own efforts at creation and making changes to wyrd.

I also think this idea meets my needs for creating a sort of “wild space.” After all, the civilized order of Midgard did not come from the meeting of the fire and ice of the two elemental realms. That had to be shaped from the primal forces that resulted from that first moment of creation. I feel that my invocation of fire and ice would create a similarly primal space of unordered forces that I (and those working with me) could according to my (our) needs.

Post History: I began writing this post on July 21, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized the post on July 25, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. I’m directly quoting from chapter one of the book here. ↩︎