It has been quite some time since I last posted a blog. I have multiple stories regarding the House of Mundilfæri that I will be editing and adding. My own personal path has been veering away from the primary tribe of the Æsir and falling in line more with the Vanir. This began the summer of 2020 during an online drumming meditation with a fellow pagan. Freyja appeared and took me into a hut within Vanaheim. To quote various companions of Doctor Who, it was bigger on the inside. There I saw hundreds of Vanes waiting for me. Most of the faces have been lost to me now but I remember at the time being able to see them clearly. Without going into a great deal of detail, as it is extremely personal, I was inducted into the clan of the Vanir. Coming out of the trance-journey I felt a significant shift within me and knew that I had just undergone a rite of passage. It was from that moment that I began to slowly shift away from the more structured, almost militant, devotion of the Æsir into the elemental, fluid flow of the Vanir. It hasn’t been easy as I have worked with those gods and goddesses for most of my adulthood now. I still have ties that I am loathe to break and some promises that need fulfilled so the journey with them is not completely over. Fortunately, the Vanir are patient.
One of the areas that is changing is my observances of high days. While I still recognize the main eight high days I tend to observe more of the seasonal shifts that flow with what the land is calling for rather than a calendrical day. Which is the other thing. As a human in the 21st century I cannot completely throw out the modern day calendar. My boss would be rather miffed if I failed to work my scheduled time simply because the moon isn’t in the right phase. For mundane existence I am still required to follow a 12 month calendar with 24 hour days. This doesn’t mean I have to forget about everything else. Yes, I have a 9 to 5 job. However, I can still live my daily life by the cycles of Miðgarð and the universe around me. It means that sometimes I will have to wait to do my workings until I clock out and just adjust for the shift rather than doing things right on the nose of an hour and whatnot.
Another area is going to be how I celebrate Yule. In years past I have observed a 12 day rite whose original idea came from a fellow pagan, Leesa Kern. It is my understanding that a book is in the works regarding this practice so I highly recommend the reader to keep a lookout and buy it. The original idea centered more around Celtic and Gaulish practices. This was more than ten years ago so if there were other pieces I have honestly forgotten them. I do remember hearing the idea and thinking it would be great turned into a more Norse-centric practice. Over those ten years I fine-tuned and tweaked it to something I was quite proud of and freely shared in a public venue on social media for most of those years. Now that a book is in the works there appears to be some questions about citing sources and giving credit whenever I share something regarding this practice. I want to be very clear, my Norse practice is mine. No one else wrote my personal practice even if I did glean some ideas from other sources along the way. No one else created my practice. What I do is solely mine. Having said all this, I value my friend and do not wish anything so stupid as who invented what to keep us from sharing ideas. It actually worked out in timing as I had already begun to realize that I needed to start changing how I celebrate Yule along this new path. My only wish is that the credit situation could have waited until after the first holiday season I had truly started to enjoy since my daughter died. It cast a dark pall across my household and I found myself tearing down anything to do with Yule on Christmas Day. All the depression-like feelings and despair of a special time of year being ruined came flooding back. It brought back the loss and heartbreak all over again. I signed off of all my social media pages and have yet to log in two and a half months later.
I don’t yet know what my personal practice is going to develop into moving forward. I will be able to say that no one else owns my ideas and the way I incorporate them into my daily devotionals and rites. I do have a morning and evening rite that calls to the House of Mundilfæri. I am also working through some coursework on two different paths that I feel will make a wonderful addition to my faith. I hope that those who truly care for my well-being will be happy for me and excited to watch as I develop. It is my intention to begin posting more of my stories, insights, and workings to those who are interested. My faith is not for sale. I am being called to share these things freely as there are people who may find benefit and joy in reading and learning from what I can offer.
In the meantime, enjoy the beauty to be found in this restful time of year. I wish for you to find peace and light upon your own journey and most especially…
May you find your sacred breath.