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Wintertime in Finland, Jari Sokka

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you have GOT to be able to admit when you’ve believed something bigoted in order to improve as a human being. like you NEED to be able to handle that if you want to act in line with your values

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source

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enjoying the last rays

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I've been really slack with my worship recently, so here's a reminder that you don't need to actively worship every day of the week! the gods will understand if you can't do much for them for a while

don't beat yourself up over it

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Faroe Islands (by Hughie O'Connor)

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"Let your craft be like a tree, firmly rooted in the old, but stretching into the new. Get your hands dirty, and find out what works and what doesn't work for you."

- Roger J Horne's Folk Witchcraft: A Guide to Lore, Land & the Familiar Spirit for the Solitary Practitioner

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Fungi under water, Sweden.

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Mossy trail

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The 12th-century Skog Tapestry, found in Skog Church (Hälsingland, Sweden) in 1912.

Details in the tapestry show the mixing of pagan and Christian beliefs.  The first Christian missionaries arrived in Sweden in the early 800s, and spent the next three centuries converting the population, but the old beliefs never fully died out.

The stave church in the centre of the tapestry has two dragon heads on the eaves of the roof.  Old Icelandic law forbade ships with dragon-head bows to come directly into land, in case they offended the land spirits.  But here, the dragon heads have been placed on the roof to protect the church (the building and the Christian people). This was an important architectural feature in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Animals (possibly lions) are approaching the church from the left; and horses and knights approach from the right.  This is thought to represent the church under attack.

There is a bell tower in the church, and another beside it.  Medieval Scandinavian Christians believed that bells cleansed the air and purged it of evil spirits.  According to Saint Rimbert (830 – 888), however, pagans resisted the introduction of church bells in Denmark – possibly they believed they would anger or frighten the spirits.

On the far left is a group of three figures, sometimes believed to be Odin, Thor and Freyr, as the first one is missing an eye.  However, he was originally depicted with two eyes, and the missing one was lost to wear and tear.

It is possible that these three figures are three Scandinavian Christian kings – Eric I of Denmark (1060 – 1103), Magnus Barefoot of Norway (1073 – 1103), and Inge the Elder of Sweden (1060 – 1105).  Others believe that they represent the Magi or the Trinity.

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by Alex Erismann

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Apologies for the hiatus! Here’s some photos from the Forest I took

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Trollforest in Lida, Sweden.

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Skaði is important to me for many reasons but one of them that I think the community underutilizes is her status as a transplant. She is Jotnar, living amongst the Aesir Gods. Skaði lives in a world she is not native to, in a culture that is not her own. She intermarries a Vanir God, whomst is also living in a land that is not his own. Many of us living in North America are not native to it, and find ourselves in somewhat of a disconnect with the land. Skaði is a phenomenal teacher of this lesson; connecting to land you are not native to. Learning to respect, honor, and live harmoniously with a place that our ancestors are unfamiliar with. Though we are not indigenous here, it is vital that we learn to care for the land we occupy, to love it as if we are native to it, out of respect and reciprocity. Skaði is versed in this, and I think that this facet of hers is overlooked.

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‘The Överhogdal tapestries’, Sweden (1040 and 1170 AD)