#rökkr norse

[wraithofme]

New year, new altar setup. Although throughout the past year it had changed and evolved, I just never uploaded pics haha.

Since you all liked my setup last time; I figured I'd share it again 🙂

I really love the rabbit pelt, it's a nice touch and now I even have a little Loki figure ^_^

[broomsick]

Hail the Breaker of Chains, the eternal reminder that patience is always rewarded. Hailed be He who was bound using all that cannot be seen and all that cannot be heard.

[jimi-rawlings]

What is Rökkatru? – Bramblevitch

Miguel Díaz-Canel Justin Trudeau Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud

[skaldish]

I think this is because a lot of us Aglophones (British, American, Canadian, Australian, etc) are so used to the idea of "dualism" in spirituality, nature, and society that we default to thinking of forces in terms of "two opposing sides," and it can be difficult for us to really break from it.

Rökkr is a movement that came about in North America in defiance of the way American Asatru intentionally excluded worship of jötnar—specifically jötnar that stand against the Aesir during Ragnarok. And American Asatru does this because it misinterprets Ragnarok as the Norse End Times, rather than understanding it for what it is: A cautionary tale about the conditions that create societal collapse.

(Most of these conditions were created by Odin casting out Loki's kids because of their natures, and for threating Loki like dogshit and threatening his life whenever his mischief caused them problems. Loki turning malicious was a consequence of the Aesir's actions... especially when we consider that Loki is an allegory for the behavior of children, and if we threaten kids for being kids they turn into vengeful adults.)

Unfortunately this has led to the impression amongst American heathens that this dualism inherently exists in Heathenry, rather than being the product of how American Asatru interprets Ragnarok.

Now, this isn't because American Asatruar are stupid. It's because, for many of them, a life of opposition is their lived experience. Many come from a background of being VERY heavily disenfranchized by both Christianity and society, so this is a paradigm that makes sense to them.

So...it's complicated.

Someone recently asked me how I define the difference between aesir and rökkr in practical worship. For a question like this I like to use the example of Njord and Aegir. It's the easiest to show the relationship. This will be labeled as UPG, as I wouldn't consider this completely supported by archaeological source. (Also I am aware that njord is vanir in origin)

Both Njord and Aegir are "gods" of the sea. But Njord is the god of the sea in a way a fisherman might be, he commands the sea and it's bounty. His wealth comes from the sea. His home is the shoreline.

Aegir on the other hand is the sea. A primordial manifestation of the oceans power. Uncontrolled. An anthropomorphic representation.

This is how I tend define the roles of both aesir and thurs. It casts the aesir in the role of civilization, of building, of man. And in opposition the Jötnar as the wild and untamed natural forces.

[lokiscryptid]

Coincidence that the very week I have openly dedicated myself to the Lokean path my missing tax return finally lands in my account?

Hardly.

I ugly cried. Sobbed. Crying now, even. My family has been suffering.

Thank you, Loki.

[sunshineiswhatmatters]

Invocation to Jörmungandr/Iörmungand

Invocation to Jormundgand

Hail Iormundgand

Child of the Trickster

And the Hag of the Iron Wood,

Brother and sister of Death,

Neither male nor female

But complete within yourself,

Neither forward nor backward

But eternally circling,

Neither of the earth

Nor apart from it

But forever surrounding us

In our Middle Land.

Teach us, O Serpent,

Of what it is to see the end

And the beginning as one,

To see all things

In their place on the wheel,

To live with the turning

And not mistake it for a straight line

Even when the horizon

Is too far away

For our weak eyes to find.

http://www.northernpaganism.org/shrines/jormundgand/writings/invocation-to-jormundgand.html

[skaldish]

I saw a post discussing this, but rather than clown on it I decided to make my own.

The single most telling Western-colonial-Christian thing to ever seep into Heathenry is our need to separate things into clear, nonoverlapping categories.

The view of categorizing things came about during the Victoria Era with the rise of Natural Sciences and species classification. We've tried to cleanly parcel off pretty much every concept into their own self-contained containers since then.

This categorical thinking runs rampant in modern American Heathenry, particularly with how we define deities and spirits. There's all this nit-picking over the differences between the Aesir and Vanir, "rökkr" and "thurs," which spirits we should worship and which we shouldn't, and all this little minutae.

But the Aesir and Vanir represent tribes, not species of gods. "Rökkr" is a new concept invented by Raven Kaldera for his Northern Tradition. "Thursatru" is also extremely new. For all our focus on reconstructionism, people seem to overlook how our very approaches to Heathenry are distinctly products of our own time and society.

The Old Norse made very little distinction between powers and venerated ancestors, gods, and spirits of all sorts. They saw these powers as a part of their lived reality, and in turn they told stories, formulated customs, and passed down superstitions about them. This is the very foundation of animism; the intersection and the experience of all these things.

I can't speak for everyone here, but the kind of spiritual reconstruction I'm personally interested in is reconstructing the mode in which the Norse may have viewed the world, not just their means of practice. This is why I call my heathen path forn sidr ("old ways") even though some of it seems modern and new; it operates off of a similar OS to what the Norse used (to my best understanding of it, that is).

I have no problem with people finding categories useful. We should, however, be aware that this is something we're introducing to Heathenry, rather than something that has always been there or was lost to time. Labels are a self-adopted thing, after all. They serve us rather than exist as things we must adhere to.

I feel like this whole thing is something we need to talk about a lot more in Heathenry.

[panthera-dei]

OK, then. Time to chat about Odin, my patron. Who would 100% beg to differ.

Odin was already a skilled practitioner of magic before he ever started learning from Freyja. The difference is, Odin knew a different type of magic. Not a weaker or less important type of magic, just different.

Odin knew "men's magic." Mainly galdr, or rune magic. Galdr is NOT the magic inherent to men, but the magic that was practiced by people who fulfilled a male/masculine gender role in Norse society. Freyja knew seidr, or spirit work, which was considered "women's magic" - again, NOT magic that only people with uteruses could perform, but magic that was mainly practiced by those with a feminine/female gender role in Norse society.

Odin was taking on a "female" gender role by learning from Freyja. Why? Because seidr, unlike other types of Norse magic, is very sexual in nature. Specifically, there's a lot of penetration imagery (via "riding" a staff, yawning to "inhale" a spirit's power, etc). In Norse culture of that time, being on the receiving end of a penetrative sex act was primarily viewed as a female thing. In learning how to perform seidr magic, Odin was behaving in a Gender Non-Conforming Role™.

And guess what? He fucking slayed at it. He mastered both types of magic. And in the process, proved that you can be any gender and be GNC/non-binary and be a kickass magic-user. And as a result, many historically documented Norse warriors (berserkers & ulfhednar/ulfsarks) and Norse women (aforementioned seidr-workers) as well as GNC people (referred to with the derogatory-but-also-feared-because-Odin terms "argr" and "ergi") practiced magic of one or both kinds in the society of their time period. Neither was considered better or stronger than the other; they both performed vital services to the community, and that's what counted. Many men would perform seidr magic or seek out seidr-workers if the situation called for it. Likewise, many women knew at least a little galdr magic, even if they pretended not to for the sake of gender conformity. And this isn't even getting into the wormhole of Loki and the "trolldom" or Rökkr magic!

The stuff that happened in the Norse myths and in the ancient Norse culture is rife with gender nonconformity.

So do your damn research before you make any bold claims.

No, I don't have sources listed for this because I've been studying multiple types of Norse magic for quite some time, but there's nothing here that a little research can't help you find.

Magic has no gender.

Women are not “more magical”, men are not “devoid of magic”. In many cultures of the world, men have made most of the input into the development of magical craft. You don’t need to be a cisgender woman to do magic or call yourself a witch; witch is a gender neutral term.

Magic is a craft and a skill, not a chromosome - not to mention that people who believe in bioessentialism in magic have a very shallow understanding of genetics.

[armsdealing]

FENRIR + GODHOOD / WOLFHOOD.

although it is not explicitly expressed in any particular attestation (that i know of), i do chose to view fenrir as a god of wolves -- on top of being the norse god of destruction. this due to his status as the most significant, infamous wolf in the mythology, as well as the oldest, fiercest and largest of angrboda’s offspring. keeping this in mind, i choose to view him as the ultimate symbolic representative of what wolves are in norse mythology.

DESTRUCTIVENESS AND WOLF SYMBOLISM

wolves, in northern europe, were subject to an complex treatment: 

on one hand: they were a true threat for the average peasant, whose experience with them was that of a beastly predator that threatened their flocks and even the peasants themselves and their children. there’s even the case of the wolfssegner, typically destitute elderly men who made a living in certain germanic tribes selling charms against wolf attacks, or casting malevolent spells that would prompt them. their customers were, naturally, farmers and peasants. throughout the working class and the poor there’s this commonality of viewing wolves as destructive forces, as malevolent. yet, on the other hand, the warrior classes saw the wolf for his might -- his power, his wildness, and fierceness -- as well as social traits, his capability for pack bonds. wolves were also associated with odin, having two wolves as his pets (geri and freki) and of all berserkers it’s the wolf warriors (the úlfhéðnar) who are sometimes seen as odin’s special warriors. when they’re viewed on this angle they’re seen as noble, brave, loyal, and wise. 

as a rule, the pack was seen as a symbol of camaraderie, and it was lone wolves who were the problem. the word for outlaw in northern europe was "wolf's head", referring to the bounty on the severed heads of lone wolves who became a problem to settled villages and needed to be exterminated.

well, fenrir didn’t get to be seen as noble, loyal, or wise. in many ways he is the prototypical lone wolf figure -- kidnapped by the aesir, torn from his clan and family to keep him from becoming the predicted destructive force he was to become. he was denied a pack, and so ironically it only pushed him further toward rebellion and mayhem; he grows progressively but quickly and as he grows he turns even more of a ravenous threat in the gods’ eyes, forcing the gods to bind him. it’s easy to see the similarities, how commonfolk’s fear of wolves -- especially the lone wolf -- would be reflected in their deities. as a jotunn, and more specifically a rokkr, fenrir represents nature’s more destructive qualities, a chaotic primordial force that can be interpreted as downright hostile to mankind. yet, seeing him only in a negative light is limiting, in my opinion, everything that fenrir is, and it’s just plain inaccurate, as it is framing fenrir in the absolutist moral framework of christianity. the jotnar are not evil, they’re not demons, they’re merely oppositional to the aesir because of the inherent way their essences and wants (to be amongst nature and accept it as is, good and bad) clash with the aesir’s wants (to tame nature’s useful side for their benefit and fight against its more harmful aspects to protect themselves and mankind). the struggle against fenrir is one of the most elementary examples of this jotnar/aesir conflict.

fenris is, in many ways, jotun essence taken to its furthest point, its ultimate uncompromised end. this means understanding that when we say that the jotnar are, by nature, part of nature... that means also that they partake of the entirety of nature and not just the euphemized happy bits that we like to pretend are what nature "really is". every part of nature is dangerous and not terribly disposed to privilege humans over any other part. the sea eats people, the fire lays waste to countrysides, the ice storm freezes you, the earth will receive your corpse and fill it with maggots. our planet whirls around a sun that will burn out, in a galaxy that will wind down and disintegrate before it can explode again into life.

to understand these things as not only "not negative" but as awesome, mind‑bending, even beautiful ‑ that's how we understand jotun nature. it's terrifying, yes ‑ and there is also a good and benevolent side, but you don't get only that aimed at you, ever. it's about accepting the whole package without this secret fingers‑crossed idea that if they just like you enough, the forces of nature will make a special exception for you. and that doesn't work.

to see Fenris is to see a magnificent creature who must be chained, or he’ll eat the world. it’s seeing the grandeur of a hurricane, an earthquake, a solar flare, and knowing that this too is the hand of the divine… and at the same time knowing that they will do terrible harm. Fenris is what he is, entirely and fully, and he will not compromise himself to be anything else for anyone else… even if he must be bound. are there things about your nature that you would rather be imprisoned than compromise? If not, then perhaps you might not understand Fenris. he embodies our ambivalence toward the universe, which sees us as expendable flecks of dust. … and the only way to get around that is to see from a higher perspective, one that can appreciate the divinity of ambivalences.- X

fenrir is not just an agent of change. he is change itself, the ultimate threat on the status quo of the gods. and because of that, as he brings about ragnarok, he’s an agent of renewal and transformation. 

fenrir, like the wolf's hook cross, is a representation of unchangeable fate. there is an aura of fatality surrounding him that the gods sense, and none more so than odin, because it is primarily his existence which is subject to fenrir's whim. odin, having heard the prophecies of the volva (fenrir's own mother, angrboda) knew that his son balder would be slain, that his brother hodur would do this act. that the rökkr forces would break free of their bonds, and destroy the gods. and that finally he, odin, would die within the massive jaws of fenrir.

thus, the binding of fenrir with gleipner is nothing but a postponement of the inevitable. it is merely an instance of the gods, and odin in particular, performing, and realizing, their role. for, although the fate incurred by fenrir may be unavoidable and unchangeable, it does not necessarily mean defeat or resignation. one of the great lessons of the rökkr is that this life is nothing, that there is no integral meaning to it, and that it can all so easily be consumed by fenrir. the purpose of living, then, is to realize this truth, and then to build ones own worth and meaning from existence. - X

PATRON OF WOLVES, WARGS, AND WEREWOLVES

fenrir is not a friendly god, and he’s not an easy god to worship. he’s not even a welcoming god. he’s demanding, intense and he can see through the souls of the most hard-hearted individuals, and frighten them. for him, vacuous violence and bloodlust isn’t enough -- he demands your sincerity, your raw emotion, your anger; you need to be true to him or he will not bother with you, and in fact might even offend him and make him hostile. humans, in particular, need a specially strong connection to nature (physical nature, and their inner nature) in order to connect with him. and if you do manage that, he can make an unstoppable force out of you. he is, on top of everything else, a god of last resorts and if you’re ever in dire need of protection you can count on him to intervene.

this all being said, humans are not his only believers. they’re not even his main believers, since people tend to turn to more approachable (and relatable) deities like the aesir first. fenrir focuses mainly on wolves, and in midgard it’s not entirely rare for him to be near them, helping them, or using them as emissaries. he focuses on wargs, the norse wolf-like beings that inhabit ironwood alongside the volvas, considering he’s the oldest of them, and his mother reigns over them as chieftess. and he focuses lastly on werewolves. 

regardless of a werewolf’s origin, fenrir’s nature is such that most wolves will feel a connection to him. they will feel drawn to fenrir, and perceive his paradoxical otherness/familiarity and his power. however, it’s up to them how they will respond to it. a lot of them do worship him (there might be one or two doomsday cults/packs out there waiting for his reckoning), and there might be sacrifices done his name. but a lot of them, when encountered with his presence, chose to ignore his influence, or even respond defensively. regardless, fenrir does not take this personally. werewolves are just as human as they’re wolves and so they carry an egocentrism that is, in his opinion, wholly theirs. still, it’s not rare for him to occasionally encounter mortally wound werewolves (particularly lone werewolves!) and offer them a chance at survival, or keep them company while they feel alone and heal.

[witchblrdex]

@lechuzita-0v0 is a 25 year old  Christian, Hellenic Polytheist, Norse Heathen from the United States. They are Bisexual, Cupboard Witch (secret practice), Neurodivergent, Non-Binary, POC, Queer, Spoonie Witch and interested in  Astrology, Brujeria, Divination, Pop Culture Witchcraft, Tarot and/or Oracle Cards, Seidr. They worship Apollo, Frejya, Loki, Odin, Santa Muerte, Mother Mary, Rökkr. 

[wraithofme]

My current altar set up.

My main deity is Fenrir, but I honor his family as well.. since we've been forming a bond as of late. Loki and Hel especially have been calling out to me lately.

[broomsick]

While I’m at it, another useful reminder: it isn’t disrespectful to worship both the Rökkr and the Æsir. The heathen community shouldn’t be divided into Loki-worshippers and non-Loki worshippers. This supposed rift between families of Gods, which some people create to feel like they worship the “right side” or whatever, isn’t even a thing in my experience. You don’t have to pick sides as if this were a war. Even if there was some sort of rivalry between the Rökkr and the Æsir, it wouldn’t be our business to tell who’s “wrong” and who’s “right”. It wouldn’t be our business to judge such a thing. I’ve heard so often stuff like “I want to work with Baldr but I already work with Loki, awkwardd”, same goes for Ódinn and the rest of the Æsir. It’s useless to say the myths don’t reflect reality if you take the altercations between Loki and the Æsir (like Baldr’s myth) at face value, and see them as historical fact. I’m not saying you should worship all these Gods, but that you can. Nobody will be mad, and especially not the Gods. I worship both the Rökkr and the Æsir and I haven’t been struck down by lightning yet. Neither Baldr nor Loki have ever expressed that They were mad about me worshipping the other. If you’re familiar with hellenic polytheism, pitting the Rökkr against the Æsir is like pitting the Titans against the Olympians, refraining yourself to worship one in favor of the other. So if you ever feel called towards any deity from norse tradition, please don’t hesitate to contact them or start working with them, regardless of the deities you might already worship.

[lokeansuz]

Norse Small Devotional Acts Masterpost

Æsir Baldr Bragi Eir Frigg Heimdallr  Lofn Máni Nanna Njörun Oðin Rán Sigyn Sól Thor Tyr Üllr Víðarr 

Vanir Freyja Freyr Njörðr

Jötnar Ægir Jörð Skaði Rökkr Hati and Sköll Hel Fenrir Loki

*This list is a work in progress and I will be creating more in my future free time!* Feel free to message me requests, just know I won’t necessarily get to them immediately. Updated: 03/29/2020

[lokistrom]

Rökkatru and the Nine Worlds

Rökkatru and the Nine Worlds

Norse shadow walkers. Lokeans and Jotunkin. Most think us limited to one or two of the Nine Worlds, but is not the Agent of Discord free to roam the entirety of Yggdrasil? And if that fluffy-tailed creature isn’t Rökkr, I am not sure what you would consider him to be. We would be limited to only certain realms, forbidden from other planes by the beliefs of others. But in truth we have every right…

[broomsick]

3 & 17 for the polytheist ask game! -@thevirginwitch

Hi Virgo! Thank you so much for the question!

3: which patheon(s) do you worship?

I worship the norse pantheon, by which I mean the Æsir, the Vanir and the Rökkr, but I also venerate Jötnar and spirits such as the landvættir (skogvættir more often than not) and the Dísir. Some specific spirits I worship are the Greenman whom I see as a forest spirit, and the Fox spirit.

17. Do you have any UPG’s?

I do! I actually have quite a few, but I’ll just say those which I find the strongest and which come to my mind. I believe that Thórr is extremely playful, and that He’s a fan of handicrafts. He loves to receive them! To me, Freyr feels super free-spirited but also quite protective, in the sense that He always wants to cheer you up when you’re feeling down. I associate Him a lot with sunsets. Freyja has always been followed by the smell of flowers when She came to me, but like, the single most exquisite smell you’ve ever experienced. Ódinn’s presence is extremely calming but He never really “speaks”. Communing with Him is like looking out onto the sea on a cloudy day and you just naturally understands what He wants you to feel without there being any specific message. I’ve experienced Frigg’s presence very strongly recently, which was totally new for me because I’d never felt especially drawn to Her. She came to me through a sort of dream, as I was about to fall asleep. She looked surprisingly young and we were both inside a warm and homely cabin at the heart of a large forest, where snow was falling. She was preparing a meal for me and saying words of comfort. I just knew it was Her! As for Baldr, in my experience at least, He’s fond of extremely cold but sunny days, as well as calm instrumental music, like the harp. His presence feels somewhat like that of a child, because He is eager to know about you and He is curious about your life, asking many questions. He always presents as cheerful to me and when He is not, He is simply comforting. He feels like a sincere smile. To me, Loki likes rock music! He also loves to play pranks and make you jump out of your skin, so much so that it can almost be scary, but He never has any bad intentions. He’s actually pretty sweet and fun! Plus, He also sort of smells like the smoke from a fire. I have plenty other UPG’s but I’ll stop here: we don’t want to make this post too long! I’ll direct you to this previous post I made, where I listed what some of the Gods feel like to me!

[broomsick]

Inclusive heathenry

Hi hi! @broomsick here! Welcome to my blog!

Sun ♋️ Moon ♈️ Asc ♐️ | any pronouns

I am agender and major! Please don’t hesitate to ask me questions by messaging me or sending an ask!

I’m a practicing norse polytheist but very interested in other pagan practices so please tell me about your beliefs, I’m willing to hear everything about them!

I try to spread as much information about norse paganism and norse myths as I can, as accurately as possible. I worship the Æsir, the Vanir and the Rökkr equally, which means I post about all of these. I also venerate Jötnar and spirits such as the landvættir (skogvættir more often than not) and the Dísir. Some specific spirits I worship are the Greenman whom I see as a forest spirit, and the Fox spirit. I will post about the sagas as well, as I am currently re-reading them.

Question box is open to new witches and new pagans, or just to anyone respectful!

My tags:

#eddas = passages from the eddas

#sagas = passages from the sagas

#norse paganism = my religion

#prayers = my devotional writings

#spells = my spellcraft

#asks = questions I’ve answered