We don’t much remember that Freyr, the Norse god of harvest, also had the unique property that women couldn’t be harmed near him. Not because he would attack those who wanted them harm, but because it was like a magic shield was put on them. Weapons would literally break on impact with women’s skin if he was around.
Gerd is the only jotun woman romantically involved with the gods who is consistently depicted as big, and often fat. That’s because in the story about Freyr falling in love with her he especially admires her “big, white arms”. It also makes sense that a god of harvest and plenty would love a woman embodying that. Freyr, his sister Freya and their father Njord (who also married a jotun btw) are all gods of fertility in each their own way, so I like to depict them as overweight too, though not as big as Gerd.
I also like depicting Freyr as something of a classic romantic hero because of how hopelessly and dramatically he falls in love with Gerd. He longs for her and cries when he thinks he can’t be with her, and gets depressed because he has to wait a whole week to meet her in person. Also, the reason why he doesn’t have a sword is because he gave it to Gerd as a present.
And Gerd is a tough lady. Freyr’s servant threaten her with death (without Freyr knowing) and she doesn’t give a shit. He had to threatened her with bad luck for the rest of her life before she agreed to meet Freyr.
Her father is the sea jotun Ægir which is why I tend to give her a sea inspired look.
These are ways I personally honor Freyr and my personal associations with offerings. If you have something negative to say keep it to yourself, these are personal and work for me.
Take care of yourself mentally and emotionally. He’s a fertile nature god, whatever negative thoughts you have about yourself will grow but so will the good. Practice self love, please.
Drink floral teas or teas made from herbs/flowers you’ve harvested or grown yourself.
Buy your honey and beeswax from local bee keepers or farms.
Support local and small business.
If time/money permits it try to get some produce from your local farmers market.
Volunteer at your local LGBTQ+ center or shelter.
Make him a hearty stew or meal.
Go for a walk at the botanical cards, green house, or even your local flower shops.
Gather seeds, nuts, wheat, and antlers you find in nature and leave them as an offering to him.
Be thankful for the harvest and the food you have.
Get a house plant or grow a little herb garden in your kitchen!
Or grow a garden outside!
Light incense or candles that smell of jasmine, pine, patchouli, honey, or really anything that makes you feel safe and calm.
You can use crystals like moss agate, rose quartz, ruby zoisite, unakite, peridot, or hematite in your practice or day to day life.
Include Algiz, Ingwaz, or Fehu in your altar or worship.
Plant a tree.
Collect coins or start a change jar for extra savings.
Bake him bread or share some with your loved ones.
Leave out sugar water for bees or a hummingbird feeder.
Plant bee friendly flowers like lavender, geranium, beebalm, catmint, foxgloves, pansies, and more!
Listening to calming and soft music.
Decorate your home(or wear) tree, deer, or bee related items!
“The northern tradition views bodily powers as consisting of two separate but linked qualities: might and main. Might (Old English meaht; Old Norse máttr) is the physical strength of the body, the energy within it that enables it to live, powering its movements and actions. Main (Old English mægen; Old Norse megin) is the inner psychological strength that empowers the personality; it is transferable to other people and to objects. In Old Norse tradition, megin (main) is described in terms of who or what possesses it. The earth has jarðar megin; the gods possess ásmegin. When a magician empowers something with megin, it becomes aukinn, ‘augmented.’ A god or person with his or her own megin can also be aukinn with megin from elsewhere. The god Heimdall, for example, possessed ásmegin but was also aukinn with jarðar megin. Anything to be made aukinn must have an empowerment that aligns with the object or person’s innate qualities. If something is empowered contrary to its nature, it still works magically, but there is an inner conflict, as the empowerment is álag, an ‘on-lay’.
Without main, might is useless, for main includes the will to live. It is main that enables a person to exert his or her will in all realms of life. It empowers the magical arts of the human being. We must have both might and main in order to live effectively. Without one or the other, we are close to death. Inner power corresponds with outer powers, by means of being in the right place at the right time to achieve what is needful.”
–Nigel Pennick, Pagan Magic of the Northern Tradition, 2015, pp. 28-29.
aka All Dad, the god of magic, ecstasy, war, and humanities consciousness of inner divinity; He brings knowledge, beer, ideas, written word, and inspiration to help. Sometimes. These are ways I personally honor Dad™ and my personal associations with offerings. If you have something negative to say keep it to yourself, these are personal and work for me.
Do not make a oath you can not keep with him, he takes you word very seriously.
Wear a floppy hat in honor of his floppy hat.
Do research in honor of him. Find a subject you’re passionate about, read books on it, and write notes on it.
Drink meads, wine, stouts, black coffee, and dark teas in honor of him.
Include the runes in your practice or altar, any of them will work. I find he likes
Ansuz, Dagaz, Ehwaz, Ingwaz, Jera, Lagaz, Othala, and Wunjo the most from me.
Give him thanks on Wednesday(Odin’s Day).
Take the time to learn a piece of the local folklore whenever you travel somewhere new.
Practice thinking before you speak and think your actions through before you do them.
Decorate your altar and home in ravens, wolves, runes, and books.
Stay up to date with world news, be informed about what’s going on in your country and others.
Acts of courage in battle(any type of battles) can be dedicated to him.
Light incense or candles of opium, cedar, wine, sandalwood, dragon’s blood, and nag champa.
Learn the Elder Futhark Runes. What Odin did for them, what they are, and then create you’re own if you’re able.
Be courageous in honor of him.
Don’t be an alt-right piece of shit, don’t stand for any of that Nazi bullshit. Nazi’s don’t get into Valhalla.
Use the crystals amethyst, snowflake obsidian, any jasper, and fluorite.
Whenever you are approached by a raven say your good morning and gratitude to them.
Stand up for those in need and for what is right.
Always seek to be better, wiser.
Don’t associate him as this omnipotent deity. Odin bleeds and breaths just like you and I.
He also likes memes just like you and I. Not everything has to be serious with
Hidden like Viking gold under the landscape there is a rich body of nearly lost folkwitch tradition hiding in plain sight on the internet. Particularly in the 18th and 19th century antiquarians, folklorists and ethnologists documented the rural and occasionally urban folk beliefs of practically all of the UK and much of Europe. Organizations like the Folklore Society, founded in 1878, were created to help catalog and publish this body of collected ethnological data. A vast repository of a spectrum of witch and cunning craft practices.
Below are a list of links to various sources on the internet. The non Abramhamic roots of British folk traditions date from an era of Celtic settlers, and thus much of the spirit tradition concerns beings we now collectively call “fairies”, though their origins and nature differ greatly.
Books Available Online for free:
Folklore Society/Folk-Lore Journal:
Over 100 publications made by the Folk-Lore Society can be found on Archive.org. Unfortunately these are mostly unsorted, although they represent a massive amount of folkwitch information. Particularly in the realm of curses, hexes, salves, second sight, and boundary magic.
I will be launching a separate blog dedicated to delving into the contents of the Folklore Society’s publications in the next few weeks. In the meantime – Happy digging: Link to archive of FOLKLORE JOURNAL
Books whose content focuses on first-hand accounts of folk traditions, alpha by author. (* denotes particularly important titles)
Benjamin Thorpe
-Northern Mythology, Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3
Lady Wilde
– Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland * Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3
In Norse mythology, Lofnis the goddess of forbidden loves – any romantic love that is forbidden or frowned upon by family, clan, or society. While she may not change the minds of the disapproving, she gives star-crossed lovers permission to find a way to be together and create their own hearth where the vision is more tolerant. She is also a goddess of games.
Today she is invoked by lgbt people, as well as those who have nonstandard relationship styles. Her symbols are keys and Lavender is her flower (Lofnarblóm in Icelandic means “Lofn’s flower”). She is also one of goddess’ Frigg’s handmaidens, just like Sjofn, goddess of affection, whom she is very close with.(picture)
Viking traveler’s amulet, based on the Lillbjärs picture stone. The back reads: “Unharmed Go Forth, Unharmed Return, Unharmed Back Home”, Frigga’s blessing to Odin, possibly from Vafþrúðnismál.
Skin tone, body type & anatomy practise for me, and some… shirtless Asgardian dudes for you. Your dash is now blessed. You’re welcome.
Freyr & Loki.
There’s a fun contrast in how opposite they look from each other, but mostly I paired them up just so super-tall Heimdall and wide-like-a-barn-door Thor wouldn’t dwarf them. I drew Loki about as tall as Thor, but he’s so narrow that he looks small in comparison.
With the designs of Freyr and Freyja I want to avoid the general “god/goddess of beauty” vibe with pale white skin, chiseled abs and skinny thighs, because honestly? If you’re supposed to represent sun, the richness of the earth, the fertility of people and fields, and wealth and luxuries and whatnot, you might as well look like you have time to enjoy some of it.
“You might call it exhaustion, I call it smoky eye.” – Loki, probably
Loki kink shamed everyone for having sex that one time. so intense kinkshaming it started ragnarök
Otherwise ?????
(also loki had sex with 1 horse, and heimdall had 9 moms)
I think its like mentioned one time in one poetic verse (MIGHT even be a kenning. Idk. Too tired to look), and then Basically Never Mentioned Again
Just Little Fragmented Norse Sagas Things
(That is, it is one of those things were one suspect there is a deeper story behind it, but that story is lost to the ages so now its ????)
In Norse mythology, the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr are nine sisters who gave birth to the god Heimdallr. The Nine Mothers of Heimdallr are attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; in the poetry of skalds; and possibly also in a poem in the Poetic Edda,
a book of poetry compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional
material. Scholars have debated what being “born of nine mothers”
implies and have sought to connect the notion to other European folk
motifs. Scholars have theorized that Heimdallr’s Nine Mothers may be
identical to the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán, who personify waves. In turn, Heimdallr would be born of the sea. (x)
I was also too tired to summarize myself, so I looked it up. XD I had forgotten about this, but I’m glad I did look for it because this picture of baby Heimdall riding into the world from the sea is amazing and everyone should see it:
reblogging for baby Heimdall. Look at him. What a cute little weirdo. Out there in the sea, having fun with his moms.
So…baby bird eggs have just been showing up for me. This has never happened before. Less than 2 weeks apart I have found lost bird eggs far from any sort of tree..is this some sort of omen or message from a deity??
fair--y backup 