changeling-charms - Tumblr blog

changeling-charms · 3 years

Text

☿️🌌September 26th - October 18th Mercury Retrograde In Libra🌌☿️

Alright, final boss time, last Mercury Rx for the year! We got this, flower friends. This retrograde will last from September 26 to the morning of October 18th and will be in the sign of Libra.

⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

Libra is ruled both by Venus and the Sign of the Scales. Venus is the planet of love and affection, and thus our relationships and social lives will be the star of this retrograde. Libra also being the Scales, is the representation of balance, so we can work to restore balance in our relationships and within ourselves to help get things back into sorts.

That being said, it is a retrograde and Mercury is moving much slower than they would like. The coming weeks are susceptible to being more easily unbalanced and inducing added stress, and this can make us feel out of sorts and off our path. It will be important to work on maintaining balance, surrounding yourself with all of the peace and harmony you reasonably can, and avoiding the chaotic people in your life(as much as you can).

Right when Mercury enters its retrograde, it will be locked in a square with Pluto. Use this time as a period of reflection. Harness the energy of magic and use Mercury's present position to help you ascend to a high place spirituality. You can expect to experience a lot of healing and transformation if you seek it out.

Between the dates of October 5th through October 10th, Mercury is going to meet with Mars, which could trigger heated exchanges with our nearest and dearest. We must remember to be careful with what we say, most importantly, how we say it. When Mars and Mercury meet, words can feel like weapons. Use this energy to reshape the way we interpret and communicate our feelings and information; transform the way we express our needs with our partners, coworkers, and the other important people in our lives.

The Moon will also be in Libra on October 5th, all of this energy can be helpful for bringing us together if used properly. Especially with those from the past whom we may want to reconnect with, and find some middle ground. Use this brief period to find some balance and restore stability through the retrograde.

#astrology

78 notes · View notes

changeling-charms · 3 years

Text

🎄🔥Nordic Holidays🔥🎄

Let me start off by clarifying that these are the Norse holidays I personally celebrate and how I choose too. I have it split up into major holidays(holidays I try not to miss aka major holidays) and minor holidays(Smaller celebrations, I might not even celebrate these, etc.). This information will vary from person to person, you can celebrate whichever holidays however you want! Enjoy ~

✨Major✨

Jól

Jól otherwise known as Yule/Yuletide is a Nordic holiday celebrated between sundown on the Winter’s Solstice for a following twelve days(now you know where the Christians got it). It is also during Jól that the Wild Hunt takes place, Óðinn rides out with his dead, elves, or the dwarves may ride out across Midgard. Seeing the Hunt was thought to bring famine, plagues, and war but offerings of food and gifts could be left out for blessings and prosperity. Jól was said to mark the return of Baldr from Helheim and the loosening of grip of winter of the Earth.

There numerous references to Jól in the sagas including Skáldskaparmál, Heimskringla, and poetry written by the skald Eyvindr Skáldaspilli which when translated reads:

“again we have produced Yule-being’s feast [mead of poetry], our rulers’ eulogy, like a bridge of masonry”. Most of these references testify to Jól being celebrated with blóts, feasting with family, drinking, gift giving, and dancing.

To be more specific, you can celebrate the twelve days of Jól by being hands on in your devotion! This was traditionally a time of year that was largely devoted to baking, finishing the mead making process, and hand making decorations and offerings to the heathen home and gods!! There was typically at least one julbord(feast) and an animal sacrafice.

For example, straw animals in the shape of goats(Þórr), stars, boars(Freyr), horses, and ravens(Óðinn) were made and hung up around the house or a Jól tree! Yessss, that was something that German immigrants brought over to the U.S. The Jól tree was traditionally a tree outside that was decorated and offerings were left at in honor of Yggdrasil! You can also make wreaths, garlands, and woven rugs or wall hangings!

The first night of Jól is typically called the Mothernight, this was in honor of the All Mother Frigg and the Disir. The first night(the longest night) is supposed to be symbolic to the rebirth of the world from winter. This is the perfect night to start on some weaving or crafts! Frigg is known for her weaving.

Disablót

Disablót was a sacrificial holiday(blót) in honor of the female deities, women, disir and valkyries. It’s purpose was to enhance the upcoming harvest and prepare the grounds for sowing.

It is mentioned in Hervarar saga, Víga-Glúms saga, Egils saga and the Heimskringla. This celebration still lives on in the form of an annual fair called the Disting in Uppsala, Sweden(I really want to go to this). There’s a lot of debate to when the holiday was originally celebrated because the sagas all are slightly different. However, it is currently celebrated at the end of February by Sweden!

It was around this holiday that the first furrows were plowed in the fields and that there was a feast of new beginnings.

Nordic folk customs would include getting ready for the gardening season, preparing for the gardening/farming season ahead, and making a feast for your loved ones and female deities you work with.

Sigrblót

Sigrblót also known as Summer Finding or Ostara is the celebration of the spring equinox and welcoming good weather. It is a celebration of the rejuvenation of the earth, fertility, and growth.

This is a holiday often used to celebrate the Germanic god Ēostre, the embodiment of springtime and life, Iðunn, god of youth and renewal, and Frigg/Freyja, for their key elements in fertility magic. Is more commonly seen in modern days as a celebration of the renewal/awakening of the Earth(Jörð), the deities, and life. It is also a celebration to welcome joy and light into one’s life.

Nordic folk custom would include a large bonfire, smorgasbord(as always), baking sweets, and honoring the gods mentioned above or ones important to you this holiday.

Midsummer

Midsummer is probably the second biggest celebration next to Jól. It is pretty much just the celebration of the summer solstice and can also be celebrated in hopes of a good harvest at the end of fall.

This holiday is attested to in the Ynglinga sagas and has long been a passed down celebration. Folk custom for celebrating would be large bonfires, speeches, smorgasbord, dancing around a majstång(traditionally for fertility), lots of drinking, and galdr. This is another holiday with a lot of hands on folk tradition; wreath making, kindling fires, making toy viking ships of wood and filling them with offerings to be burned, burning corn figures, adorning homes, halls, and the fields with fresh flowers and greenery.

A lot of of historians believe this is a particularly good time of year to make blessings to Baldr. This was also the time of year for sailing and war. With crops planted at home, vikings would set off to go to other lands.

Freyrfeast

My favorite holiday!! There is no actual surviving name for this beast but it’s believed to be held around the star of August and most modern Norse pagans celebrate it on August 1st. The Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta has an account of a priestess of Freyr traveling across Sweden at the start of winter with a picture of his god as a sacrifice for fertility and to honor him. Traditionally it’s a celebration of the first harvest where the primary god honored is Freyr with Sif and Þórr also celebrated as gods of harvest.

Traditionally the very first sheaf of grain harvested(I use my first bundle of lavender) is bound and blessed as an offering to the aforementioned deities and spirits of the field.

Folk customs include decorating the village well and springs, holding a grand feast of the gathered harvest, and baking a bread in honor of Freyr to give him at the end of and then plit among family. Preserving meats and vegetables was also done along this time of year and is a great time to start new batches of mead for upcoming blóts.

Haustblót

This is the celebration of the Autumn Equinox, the second harvest of the season, and when Norse folk would start preparing for winter by bringing livestock + stored food inside. It is referenced to in the Ynglinga sagas as well as the Eddas. It’s not as celebrated in modern times but farmers and agriculturalists still celebrate it and you can too!!

It is another joyous holiday celebrated with grand bonfires, large feasts, drinking, and dancing. It is believed that villagers would cast the bones of their slaughtered cattle on the flames to help them survive the winter.

There is a belief that once the village fire and all other fires were extinguished the families would go back their homes and light their hearth from the common village flame, bonding the community! I don’t know if this true but I’ve heard the story a few times and I honestly love the idea of it.

Vetrnætr/Álfablót

Otherwise known as Winters Night(or Samhain). This is the celebration of the last harvest, honoring of the landvættir, ancestors that protected the land through harvest, the vanir, paying respects to Death, and the welcoming of winter. Vetrnætr and Álfablót are celebrations of the same holiday but Álfablót is a blót that’s held privately in the home on the day of Vetrnætr.

Similar to Freyrfeast, for Vetrnætr the last sheaf of wheat/grain was bundled up and blessed and often given as an offering to Óðinn and his dead setting out for the Wild Hunt. It was believed with the start of the Wild Hunt the dead could return to the places where they had lived and a large feast, celebration, and fire were commonly used in their honor.

This was also a time for serious contemplation of death. To the Norse people, death was always around the corner and was viewed as a natural part of life. Death wasn’t viewed as negatively as it is in modern times but rather the Norse lived their lives in a way to live & die with honor, so their future ancestors would have something to celebrate on this day.

Álfablót in particular was typically run by a woman but we’re past gender norms now so whoever is comfortable running a ritual do it. It is a sacrifice to Freyr and the elves of Alfheim, in honor of the families ancestors, the life force of the family and the hearth, and is believed to also be a ritual for fertility. It is done the night of Vetrnætr.

Minor

These are not necessarily minor, they are just not holidays that I always keep up on, don’t celebrate, days of remembrance, etc. There are definitely more Scandinavian holidays I’m not including because I’m not knowledgeable on them all and they’re not as widely celebrated(like celebrating Flag Day in America).

January 19 - Þorrablót is an Icelandic midwinter feast in honor of winter and Þorr which contains song, story telling, and traditional Icelandic foods like blóðmör and Brennivin. It is typically celebrated during Þorri February 2 - Barri is the celebration of the union between Freyr and Gerd and a celebration of fertility and the earth. February 9 - Remembrance for Eyvind Kinnrifi, he refused to convert to Christianity so Olaf Tryggvason tortured him to death. March 28 - Ragnar Lodbrok Day! Cheers to one the most legendary Vikings in history, King of Denmark and Sweden, and raider of Paris. April 31st-May 1st - Waluburgis Night, a celebration of the saint Valborg a nun who was the niece of Saint Boniface. May 9 - Remembrance for Gudrod of Gudbrandsdal, whose tongue was cut out by the Norwegian king ‘St. Olaf’ for speaking out against the tyranny of the Christian Tryggvason, and urged others to resist him and continue worshiping the old gods. May 20 - Frigg Blót! This actually a fave but it’s not really major so I’m keeping it down here. It’s a celebration of warmth and spring. Traditionally the time of year to go camping, hold a bonfire, and perform a blót for Frigg and honor her as the All Mother, pray for good blessings and health to those of your hearth. June 8 - Lindisfarne Day: It’s believe that on this day in 793 CE three Viking ships raided the Isle of Lindisfarne which is marked as the start of the Viking age. July 9 - From the Laxdaela Saga, it is a day of Remembrance for Unn the Deep Minded, she was well-known and respected cheiftan in Iceland. October 8 - Day of Remembrance for Erik the Red, founder of Greenland. October 14 - Vetrablót is a celebration of the harvest and honors Freyja as the god of fertility and honors the disir as well. November 11 - Feast of the Einherjar, a holiday where the fallen heroes of all the halls(Valhalla, Fensalir, etc.) are remembered. November 27 - Feast of the winter and hunt gods Ullr and Skadi, also a day to celebrate Weyland one of the greatest Germanic craftsmen.

Tip Jar | Patreon | My Shop | Instagram

#holidays #vetrnaetr #sigrblot #midsummer #haustblot #disablot #jol

4K notes · View notes

changeling-charms · 3 years

Text

“Heathenism is, that men worship idols; that is, that they worship heathen gods, and the sun or the moon, fire or rivers, water-wells or stones, or forest trees of any kind; or love witchcraft, or promote ‘morth’-work in any wise; or by ‘blot,’ or by ‘fyrht;’ or perform any thing pertaining to such illusions.”

This excerpt from The Law Codes Of King Cnut, written by Archbishop Wulfstan (on behalf of King Cnut) in approximately 1020, serves as a fantastic outline for exactly what constituted “heathen” practices, from the time at which they were trying to ban such practices.

Thorpe Translation, Winchester Laws Volume 1, p.162

#norse history

230 notes · View notes

changeling-charms · 3 years

Text

ᚢᛁᛏᚱᚾᛅᛏᛦ

The next festival on the Old Norse and Old Icelandic calendars is Vetrnætr, or Winternights. Beginning on the full moon following the first new moon after the autumnal equinox and lasting for three nights, this year it runs Oct 20-22. This is reckoned using the lunar system as Andreas Nordberg describes, but there was also a week-counting system at the time which would put it about 26 weeks after the start of summer.

It marks the transition from summer to winter, along with the beginning of the first winter month, Gormánuðr (Innards/Slaughter Month). Vetrnætr and associated practices are attested in several primary sources, most directly in Ynglinga Saga (alongside Jól/Midwinter and Sigrblót) but also in Víga-Glúms Saga, Egils saga Skallagrímssonar, Gísla saga Súrssonar and Austrfaravísur. Several deities and groups of beings are mentioned or implied as being offered to, including Freyr; Óðinn; the dísir (Dísablót) and the álfar (Álfablót).

The reference to the honoring of Freyr comes from Gísla saga Súrssonar when Þorgrímr says that they will be performing a sacrifice to Freyr during the autumnal blót. Since Freyr is also known as the lord of the álfar this could lend support to the connection between them and Winter Nights, but that is in no way certain from this reference, and would be purely conjecture.

However, there is a clear reference in support of their being honored at this time, and that comes from Sweden. In the skaldic poem Austrfararvísur, Sigvatr Þórðarson journeys to Sweden in the service of King Olaf II in Norway at the onset of winter. When he comes to a place known as Hof he seeks a place to stay. However, he is turned away at several different houses, each time by a man named Ölvir. He is told that the people there are heathen and are performing a sacrifice to the álfar, and that they also fear Óðinn’s wrath should they allow the ceremony to be interrupted by outsiders.

The account given in Austrfararvísur does not explicitly state that Óðinn was honored at that time, but it certainly carries a heavy implication of it.

Lastly, the reference in Egil’s Saga says that Egil and and Ölvir are first denied ale when they travel to the home of Barð because it is being used for the Dísablót.

Details are fairly vague about specific practices during the time of Vetrnætr, and appear to have varied quite a bit regionally. This is demonstrated by the account of Álfablót happening in Sweden while Dísablót occurred in Iceland and probably Norway. In Sweden, Dísablót took place in late winter.

One thing mentioned that seems to have been commonplace, though, is the offering of ale, likely aided by a recent harvest of barley. The account in Austrfararvísur gives a possible reference to ale being used as an offering; because the man who turns away Sigvatr at every house is called Ölvir, it has been interpreted as possibly being a title rather than an actual name, meaning “Ale Being.” Similarly, the Egils Saga reference clearly contains ale being used as an offering during a religious ceremony.

Additionally, this was the time to slaughter livestock that would not be kept through the winter since the colder weather would now allow meat to keep longer without spoiling, and this practice was likely incorporated into Vetrnætr celebrations.

In the somewhat later primstav system this point was standardized to Oct 14th by our modern Gregorian calendar, so either of these times is pretty valid for observing the start of winter. In any case, summer is quickly coming to a close!

References

Snorri Sturlusson. Heimskringla. (New York: Dover Publications, 1990).

Nordberg, Andreas. Jul, disting och förkyrklig tideräkning: Kalendrar och kalendariska riter i det förkristna Norden. (Uppsala, 2006). Available from: http://www.kgaa.nu/upload/books/103.pdf

Thorsson, Örnólfur et al. The Sagas of Icelanders. (New York: Viking Penguin, 2000).

#vetrnaetr #Holidays

146 notes · View notes