Odd Encounters

[Psychonaut]

I'm interested to know if any of you Heathens out there have had any odd encounters with the Gods, wights, or anything else. I know quite a few of us have had a specific type of encounter during meditation or rituals, but what I'm interested in here are the odd encounters that are more similar to what occurs in the Eddas, Sagas and folk tales. I'll give an example with my own...

So, back in 2007, I was flying from California to Texas to go to an Army school for a few months. I'd been reading Gaiman's American Gods and brought it with me on the plane. If you've read the book, what follows will be eerily familiar. So, I sit down in my seat on the aisle and I'm immediately assailed by the smell of an unwashed body and faint hint of urine. It's the smell that I've come to associate with the homeless. I look to my left and, lo and behold, the fellow in the seat next to me certainly appears to be a hobo. He looked dirty, was wearing shabby, hobo-esque clothes, etc. However, there was one thing about him that caught my eye (although not as sharply as it should've): he had a bandaid over his right eye, but it was so loosely applied that I could easily see what was beneath. It looked like this guy had just recently lost an eye.

Now strange as this may sound, especially since I was reading American Gods on the damn plane, after noting that there was an odd old one-eyed man sitting next to me, I just sat there and read my book! :confused:

Once I got off the plane it hit me: was that Vegtam, the Wanderer? Maybe it was Woden, maybe it was a nasty homeless guy; but whatever the case, it was a crazy example of synchronicity, especially considering the book I was reading.

[SuuT]

I've had many, but I'll tell of the first (that I remember). I was very young - about five years - and I had gone with my mother and father to visit my uncle at his home. The property was set on about 2 acres, with the extent riding along a tree-line that led to a large woods. About half way between the house and this tree line my uncle had a small pond that I would fish (their conversations would bore me to death, so it was always the first thing that I would ask to do). Anyway, on this visit I had one of those cylindrical whistles that I couldn't stop blowing (I don't know their name, but the one's that go "WeeeeeOOOOOOOOOOewwwwwwwwww!" :D), so my father immediately said, "yes, please, go.", or something to that effect. So I grab a pole out of the closet, and a small package of siversides (I think) out of the deep freezer and trek to the pond, all the while blowing that whistle. I get to the pond, sit on a stump, unthaw one of the fish a bit in the water, bait the hook, and cast. When I did, I dropped my whistle in the water. When I leaned down to get the whistle out of the water, I saw a reflection in the water of someone behind me. I turned around, but no one was there. But on the stump I had been sitting on sat my bright red, very annoying whistle. Being of five years, none of this struck me as odd in any way; so I picked the whistle up and put it back in my mouth and sat back down. I then saw on the other side of the pond an aged man with one eye (I think we have a theme here:)). He, too, was sitting on a stump, elbows to his knees, and smiling - he waved to me, I waved back, and he pointed - almost in a twitch - at my whistle, and nodded his head. I blew the whistle, and he bellowed out laughter. Then he pointed at the water, and I had a fish. I took the line up, and released the fish, then re-cast. Then, the same thing. - exactly nine times! On the ninth time, the man literally clapped - he loved the whistle. On my tenth cast, the whistle plopped in the water again, and needless to say at this point I was at least as ammused as the man, so I hurriedly went to retrieve the whistle from the shallows; but it was gone. The man was too. I didn't catch another thing for the rest of my fishing time.


Anyway, Odinn gave me fish but stole my whistle in exchange. :D


:)


I think it now a fair deal.

[Ulf]

On my first birthday just as my family finished singing and gave me my cake lightning struck a tree not 10 feet from our house, split it in half but remained standing. At least this is what I was told, though we do have pictures of the tree.

On my wedding day just after my wife and I had finished repeating an oath to one another it thundered off in the distance, weird considering it was a clear blue sky. We were both holding a rune hammer I made and it happened right as we finished speaking and right before we set it down. Was awesome.

I've had migraines all my life, a few years back I had the worst one in my life. It was on another level. Basically laid in bed writhing in pain, clutching my skull at 3 am. We currently live on my great-grandfather's land so I asked aloud if he would just help me sleep. A few minutes later I felt a calm feeling in the back of my skull that moved forward through my head. I fell asleep 5 minutes later and woke up feeling amazing.

I'm not sure if this is what you were looking for but it is what stands out in my mind.

[Allenson]

A few years ago, one winter's night, I was at a party at a friends house. I went outside for a spell to get some fresh air & take in the stars. While looking around at the setting, or at least what I could see on a dark night such as that, my mind sort of spontaneously started chanting Wotan, Wotan, Wotan....and sure enough that old bugger took the form of a nearby, towering, spired, balsam fir tree and started hooom-droooming, all ent-like for quite some time & seemingly sizing me up. The event came to end when I heard someone come out of the party for a smoke and slammed the front door of the house closed. It was all very trance like and to this day, I'm not sure if I was actually paid a visit or my mind took over and just created the whole thing.

I've had a few similar happenings since then--always at night, always outside and always in these northern woods. I've wondered how Wotan felt being on a different continent. I reckoned that he doesn't mind too much as at least in this neck of the woods, it isn't terribly dissimilar from his own, and, my own, native genetic climes.

[Lady L]

What a nice thread. :) And, already full of nice stories. :)

I think I have somewhat of a story to offer here, Lyfing sort of spoke of it the other day in another thread but I don't remember which one...and he didn't go into any detail...so I will.

The weekend before this last weekend we were kid free and Saturday we were bored and wanting to find something to do. We had gone into town to get his paycheck and stopped at a gas station and bought him 4 beers and we had called around to a couple people we know looking for a joint. No luck. So, we drove out to the huge golf course and lake behind our house to relax...and to look at the water. Right when we got there we went over to the amphitheater stage-which is a stage w/ bleacher type seats built behind the stage and it all over looks the lake. We stood up on the stage and I said ( as I would :p and as if there was a crowd listening to me ) " I am here to announce the legalization of marijuana " :thumbs up and my husband then says " Hail Thor " and holds up his beer...:D I'm thinking he called out something else but I don't remember- he will.) We kinda laugh and then sit down beside each other on the stage w/ our feet hanging and swinging- within a few seconds this red old ford truck pulls up and this guy-looking quite a bit older than us gets out and says - " I don't mean to intrude but I was gonna fish " We say " Aw- go ahead your not bothering us " Within the few minutes that pass he asks us if we were from here because he was looking for some creek-but we didn't know where it was. Lyfing asked him where he was from and he said " New Hope " :wink...we said OH OK...So a little chit chat and then we were ready to go- we got up and started to walk off and told the dude later and he calls out " hey man " ...." you ain't the police or nothing right..? " :D Lyfing says " No- you ain't are ya..? " so we start walking toward him and he tells us he has a joint in the truck... :eek:and reaches in and gets it and we stand there w/ the dude and chit chat some more and he says " Well, just forget my face " and we kinda all laughed and then we tell him bye.

I kept saying how weird all that was. And, that night I told my husband ya know...what if..? what if that was something..? Needless to say- we got what we were looking for from some stranger from " New Hope " ....:)

[Beorn]

I've had plenty of odd encounters in my life, a few too many to recollect even, but for the life of me I couldn't think of any that would fit into this thread.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading everybody else's experiences and I'm glad that it isn't just me that likes looking up at the heavens whenever possible.
My Dad always told me that he loved looking up at the stars and reminding himself of all the people he had loved and lost.

My first odd encounter was as a child. I was about 10/12 and playing football in my back garden.
I remember I kicked the football over toward the edging of the patio, where the football came to a standstill.
I walked over, bent down to grab the football and a red snake with a yellow dot just above its eyes popped out, did nothing, hissed at me and then went back in under the patio.

To say I shat myself would have been an understatement.
I have since looked for a similar snake that is indigenous to these shores, I even asked a tutor when I attended a PHM course in my later teens, but neither my search or the tutor could tell me the answer.

What the hell was it that hissed at me?


My second odd encounter starts on the cliffs of Tintagel, Cornwall.

I was 14/15 when I first visited Tintagel and bought a lovely Celtic Ogham necklace to remind me of my visit.
It was just a plain black shoe lace with a hand moulded oval shaped adornment with the Ogham mark of my birth month, March.

The man I bought it from told me that I should be careful with that as it needed a purpose; a reason to protect and guide me in life.

I asked what exactly he meant, but he said just to make a wish of sorts and it will come true.

I declared that day that that necklace would protect me from harm and would only depart from my neck when a life changing experience occurred.

I wore that necklace all the way through the rest of my teenage years. Not once taking it off.
I wore it into my early twenties, and still never took it off.

It wasn't until I was 23 that it finally lost all strength and fell off.
I waited till Ceallach came home from work and told her that my life is just about to change, and told her the story behind the necklace.

It was at that point that she deemed it fit to tell me that she was pregnant with our first child.

That was a pretty "life changing experience", don't you think? :)

[Creeping Death]

I kissed the Blarney Stone back in August of 1971 as a 7 year old child , when my mum took us to see our relations in Britain and Ireland, I always remember looking down through that grate and seeing matchboxed size cars .Then in 1984 when I was 20 on an overseas stay in Britain and Ireland I almost puked when my cousin told me all the teens in Cobh go up there to drink and then pee on the stone.:mad:

[Brynhild]

I've had a few strange encounters over the years. One I had was only last night when I call up my guardians of Odin, Thor, Frey and Tyr to be our cardinal watchers.

I was going through the motions of calling them out when all of a sudden, Loki appeared in my mind. I thought WTF? He said, consider me as someone who's floating around for you. I suspect he came in, because some of the neighbourhood kids have been causing a bit of chaos, and Loki also said that if any of them were to cause any more, they'd know what real chaos was about! :D Loki has been wanting me to work with him lately, so I'm pretty sure that this is as good a sign as any to do so.

The other time was just before our last Midsummer, when my youngest son got a Xmas card from one of his best mates. He wrote inside the card:

"I hope Odin gives you what you're wishing for." The gesture is in itself strange enough (I discovered afterwards that the boys were talking about Odin being like Santa Claus), but what's even stranger is that this best friend is also blind in one eye!

Odin has made sure his presence is felt in this thread! Hael, Alfadir!

[Grumpy Cat]

I took a drive out to see the Acadian Odyssey Monument which had just been erected in PEI. For some background on it it was the site of the only part of the deportation where noone survived and it wiped out a whole community. I left a little offering out there.

Now, you know with the recession going on I was a little stressed about money, job security, and whatnot, and I was getting a little frustrated with my job and was thinking of looking for another one, even though I do like my job and the company I work for, and would be very sad to resign, things were getting to the point where I didn't have a life anymore because of the hours and it was starting to affect my health/sanity.

Anyways, that night I had a dream that this man walked up to my car, leaned over and peered in the driver's side window, and he was dressed in like old fashioned Acadian dress, was maybe early 30s, dark hair, and he told me the following: stick to your job, don't worry about the recession, and concentrate on paying back debt.

A few weeks later I find out about this new position in the company which is less hours and more in line with the direction I want to take my career.

I also took the guy's advice, whoever he was, and paid of my Visa balance in full.

[YggsVinr]

Well, I'm not sure I can it was an encounter specifically but it is a bit of a "coincidental" occurrence that I thought I'd share, make of it what you will. Today is the day before our reading week starts here at the university and I also have a philosophy paper due at 10 am. The topic was a little ambitious and due to the accumulation of work lately I was in one of those places overnight where you feel like your writing suddenly doesn't make any sense at all, and are driven into a rather panicked state. The assignment was quite important as it is my last semester here, and a 25% assignment is, of course, crucial to my acceptance into grad school. Anyways, around 4 am or so I was in a bad spot, doubting all the work I'd done on the current topic and just wishing I had another day to cement my argument a little better. We'd had all classes canceled Wednesday and I found myself thinking "what if...". I decided to get an hour's rest to clear my head, but before I did I went to the window just looking outside and my thoughts turned for a moment to Njord and Odin, but particularly also to my grandparents. I held my grandmother's ring in my fist, closing my eyes and just feeling horrible that I would disappoint her because I remember how she was so proud that I was in university when she was alive, how she would write me letters and want to know how everything was with school. One time she even cut out a clipping about bog people from the newspaper and sent it to me because she knew I liked that sort of thing.

Anyways, there was no sign of snow or storm when I first lay down, but about an hour and a half later I woke up and there was storm outside, blowing snow and at first didn't dare think that there was even a chance the university would be closed. But lo and behold, at 7 am I checked the university website and it was. Maybe its all pure coincidence on this unpredictable island, but I was just in a really bad place earlier this morning, worried that the whole thing, and therefore my future, would be a disaster, that, even though I tend to take my spirituality more symbolically than literally, I do believe I did get some help. Merci mémère.

[YggsVinr]

Well, my odd encounters got a little odder throughout Friday. It should be said that on short notice my mother and I decided it would be nice for me to come visit for a few days during reading week, so that I did.

So in the few hours after the storm, I found myself at Toronto airport waiting for my flight transfer. Because of various delays I decided to go get something to eat. As I stood in line I decided to go grab a beer instead so I walked up to the bar and sat down to order. Nearly at the same second that I sat down an old man came and sat down next to me, smiled and immediately started talking to me. At first I thought it was a little strange and was on my guard, but after a while it all started to seem very surreal. He began asking me questions about school, what I was studying and so on and when he discovered it became quite interested and he actually seemed to know quite a bit about the Icelandic sagas and so on. We got to the issue of traveling and it turned out that he was practically a traveler by trade, having spent a lot of time traveling the world and working odd jobs when he needed the money. The strange thing is, is that since my experiences in Europe in 2006 I'd been considering the same thing and he did nothing but encourage me. But the words he said I find difficulty repeating here, they just sounded almost prophecizing telling me that most people today are lazy and will never actualise their full potential, will never know the extent of what they're capable of or how resourceful they are; that if I took that path I might find it difficult to reintegrate myself back into society and a normal life but that that path I would likely never regret. In some ways it seemed to play on the uncertainties I've had lately with my school work, as if telling me that I'm not fully using all my resources and every opportunity. That I've lost some dedication and that I needed to rediscover the motivation I'd had before. It just all seemed very affirming, and to boot his eyes were eerily akin to my grandmother's. Blue eyes aren't very uncommon, but my grandmother's eyes were peculiar, nearly perfectly white with only a hint of blue. I've only seen others with such eyes on occasion and even then not exactly alike. This man had the exact same eyes and with the events of that morning it was far too "coincidental".

When my flight finally came I decided to watch a movie so I flicked through the options and put on some random movie I basically just planned to doze to. Anyways, so I sat there for 20 minutes or so not really paying attention when suddenly I see a sign that reads AESIR pop up on the screen. I was pretty much shocked awake and started paying attention. We had to land soon after so I'm not sure if the movie involved anything related to the Aesir or Germanic spirituality as it didn't seem to indicate that in the portion that I watched, but I couldn't help but feel like the universe had been screaming something at me that day, like it had a message to give me. I think I got it pretty loud and clear but it was still a really eerie, supernatural day. I've never experienced anything like it.

[Aemma]

I guess my two stories have more to do with our housewights than anything else.

Story #1: About 5 years ago now, we had decided to put up our suburban single family for sale and move into something a bit smaller (a townhouse) and relatively less expensive (still in the same neighbourhood though) in order that we might more easily manage my staying at home on a full-time basis. When we had put our house for sale, the market hadn't been bad at all; houses seemed to be selling at a fair pace. Therefore we were expecting a quick enough sale. But for some reason, our house wasn't moving. Sure we had our fair share of showings but never an offer on our beautiful house. So, one day, our real estate agent called us and informed us that we'd have yet another showing. So the three of us got our coats on and just before leaving I told hubby and son, wait a minute, there's something we've got to do before we leave. I looked at them and then looked about where we were standing (in the mudroom of all things right by the garage door, but really at the very centre of our house) and suddenly I started talking out loud to our home asking it to release us from its hold. I had thanked it for having housed us for these few short years and that we had loved being here and being protected by it but now, it was time that it let us go in order that we may carry on with other parts of our lives.....and yes you guessed it, the good people that came for that showing that day ended up buying our home. All it took was a bit of a heart-to-heart with our home. :)

Story #2: One Autumn night a couple of years ago, I had one of the strangest encounters of my life...nothing like this has ever happened to me before or since. I was sleeping in our bed, hubby comfortably snoring away next to me. A typical night. I usually sleep facing outwardly and facing the window where the curtains are usually opened somewhat in order to let the night's glow shine in. And this night was as typical as any other. I know I had been sleeping but for some reason I was roused out of my slumber and consequently opened my eyes. And there by my bedside stood a young man of short stature, wearing what seemed to be very ragged clothing, no shoes, sporting brown shaggy hair. He was just peering at me with no real expression on his face other than of one who is just looking and seeing in fact. I didn't feel any malevolence coming from him at all, nor curiosity, just being. I don't know how else to describe it really. I was startled to say the least and started freaking out I suspect for I woke hubby up with a start. In the middle of these few precious seconds, I at once thought it was our son coming to my bedside in the middle of the night for something (as had been his practise the odd time) and so I reached out to this young one while calling out my son's name, but in the blink of an eye and a split second of realisation, I knew that this was not a vision of my son but of some other being. And as quick as the blinking of my eyes, he was gone.

I asked on a couple of online heathen communities what they thought of this 'sighting'. One postulated that it was just a being caught in a thread of the multiverse; some suggested that it might have been my fetch, but honestly I wasn't dying. ;) Others offered that I had just been introduced to our housewight. I tend to believe the latter. :)

As a family, we've always felt our homes in a profound and spiritual way...there exists a real spirit there. And other than our first home having had a definite female sense to it, all of our others have always felt male. And so our housewight, whose name is Jack by the way, lives with us I know in my heart of hearts. We often say bye to him when we leave the house and ask him to take care of things when we're away. He can be a tad mischevous but never overly so. He's an extremely pleasant spirit to have about in our home. :) He's housed in a beautiful stone which we keep by the fireplace next to our tree named Ed. :)

Well those are my stories and I'm sticking to them! ;)

Nice thread Psy!

Cheers All!...Aemma

[Osweo]

And there by my bedside stood a young man of short stature, wearing what seemed to be very ragged clothing, no shoes, sporting brown shaggy hair. He was just peering at me with no real expression on his face other than of one who is just looking and seeing in fact.

The shaggy hair is quite typical for Boggarts and the like. Even in Russia, where they're called 'Domovie'. The youth is unusual, though. Most I've read about are old.

See John Rhys here about the Manx version, the Fennodyree:

The Manx brownie is called the fenodyree, and he is described as a hairy and apparently clumsy fellow, who would, for instance, thrash a whole barnful of corn in a single night for the people to whom he felt well disposed; and once on a time he undertook to bring down for the farmer his wethers from Snaefell. When the fenodyree had safely put them in an outhouse, he said that he had some trouble with the little ram, as it had run three times round Snaefell that morning. The farmer did not quite understand him, but on going to look at the sheep, he found, to his infinite surprise, that the little ram was no other than a hare, which, poor creature, was dying of fright and fatigue. I need scarcely point out the similarity between this and the story of Peredur, who, as a boy, drove home two hinds with his mother's goats from the forest: he owned to having had some trouble with the goats that had so long run wild as to have lost their horns, a circumstance which had greatly impressed him [a]. . To return to the fenodyree, I am not sure that there were more than one in Man--I have never heard him spoken of in the plural; but two localities at least are assigned to him, namely, a; farm called Ballachrink, in Colby, in the south, and a farm called Lanjaghan, in the parish of Conchan, near Douglas. Much the same stories, however, appear to be current about him in the two places, and one of the most curious of them is that which relates how he left. The farmer so valued the services of the fenodyree, that one day he took it into his head to provide clothing for him. The fenodyree examined each article carefully, and expressed his idea of it, and specified the kind of disease it was calculated to produce. Inaword, he found that the clothes would make head and foot sick, and he departed in disgust, saying to the farmer, 'Though this place is thine, the great glen of Rushen is not.' Glen Rushen is one of the most retired glens in the island, and it drains down through Glen Meay to the coast, some miles to the south of Peel. It is to Glen Rushen, then, that the fenodyree is supposed to be gone; but on visiting that valley in 1 892 [b] in quest of Manx-speaking peasants, I could find nobody there who knew anything of him. I suspect that the spread of the English language even there has forced him to leave the island altogether. Lastly, with regard to the term fenodyree I may mention that it is the word used in the Manx Bible of 1819 for satyr in Isaiah xxxiv. 14 [c], where we read in the English Bible as follows: 'The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow.' In the Vulgate the latter clause reads: et pilosus clamabit alter ad alterum. The term fenodyree has been explained by Cregeen in his Manx Dictionary to mean one who has hair for stockings or hose. That answers to the description of the hairy satyr, and seems fairly well to satisfy the phonetics of the case, the words from which he derives the compound being fynney [c], 'hair,' and oashyr, 'a stocking'; but as oashyr seems to come from the old Norse hosur, the plural of hosa, 'hose or stocking,' the term fenodyree cannot date before the coming of the Norsemen; and I am inclined to think the idea more Teutonic than Celtic. At any rate I need not point out to the English reader the counterparts of this hairy satyr in the hobgoblin 'Lob lie by the Fire,' and Milton's 'Lubber Fiend,'whom he describes as one that

Basks at the fire his hairy strength,
And crop-full out of doors he flings,
Ere the first cock his matin rings.


http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/cfwm/cf108.htm

[Beorn]

We were playing a game at the local hall. I remember playing the game and seeing the other Cubs clambering around in the dark.
The pack leaders were at the front of the hall leading the game and catching out the cubs not good enough to crawl from one side to the other in silence.

It was on my attempt at climbing over the makeshift barrier that I suddenly got this sensation that I didn't exist and that life was not real.

It's not an overly conscious thought, but one which can only be best described as a tickle down the back of your spine, a loose feeling in the head and a sensation that you at this particular point of reference no longer exist in the plane you thought you had.

It is very hard to explain, but since that time I have had only one other experience akin to this but not as strong.

[Barreldriver]

I posted this in another thread, but I guess it could go here, I've got a few more things I'll mention after this segment:

"First off I'll start of with late last night/this morning's occurance. I had just began to fall asleep, was still in and out(I have a horrid cold right now), and as I began to doze off I began to see what appeared to be a ship, with a man at the prow with an auburn beard, he spoke in a tongue that I did not fully understand, then as the ship begins to gain some distance it hits a large wave, the man is unbalanced, he regains himself and has a laugh with a nearby commarade, it fades out and I'm in a hall with a stone fragment floor, I take a drink from a vessel and begin to rise, a man with dark hair and beard and crow like eyes appears and caws like a crow, and slits my throat, I fall to the ground and watch the blood trickle away, as a woman flees the scene with a child screaming in arms.

The one thing that caught my attention was the fact that the dark haired man had eyes like a crow's. For a period of nearly 2 years crows all of a sudden began to just flock around me and my grandfather's property, neglecting to go anywhere else, and each time I would witness this there would be one pair of crows that sepparates off and does their own thing, in one instance this pair flew right over my head, I had thought they were going to collide with my skull. Crows are often associated with death, the fact that I've had such encounters with crows and that the fellow that kills me in this daze dream thingy had crowlike traits makes me suspicious.


I get dreamlike things like this all the time, but this is the first time I can remember exactly how I die in it, the other times I just remember dying no other details."



The funny thing is, I had this dream in Pittsburgh where I have never seen a crow, only a ton of pigeons, the crows that flocked around me and nearly collided with me I saw when I was staying at my grandfather's home in Ohio, so there's a time lapse of nearly half a year in between the time I saw the crows and the time I had the dream.



I frequently have dreams that revolve around death, usually something affecting the lungs or throat such as having one's throat slit, an arrow to the lung, or a stab wound to the lungs. I also have reoccurring dreams about being on a ship lost in the middle of a fog.


A year ago I was out wandering my grandfather's property, and I began to walk up the road, I made a right and was at the top of a large hill, as it descended it entered an area where the woodlands begins to meet the road and the treetops arch over forming a canopy like cover over that section of the road, something strange had caught my eye, I took out my phone and took a picture, there was a figure standing in an odd posture with raggedy garments and damaged mail, could not make out the face, and it looked as if he had a buckler, I tried to post this picture on stormfront(before I took my leave) but I could not get the original off of my phone, so I took a picture of the picture and it was barely discernable, but people were still able to make out the vague features. I also posted numerous other pictures, my favorite being one I took at 2 in the morning I took a picture of a cloud floating infront of a partially full moon and the cloud looked like a Norseman wielding an axe and shield, it was a hit for a while.

[Frigga]

Well, the most vivid odd encounter I've ever had, was in my dreams.

In the thread, Questions for Heathens, I made a reference to a dream I had. I'll go into more detail here. About four years ago, I had been having dreams from the Christian cult church that I used to belong to, dreams where the members that I used to know where trying to convince me to go back to church, since I was backsliding and going to go to hell. I always had to tell them "No, I can't go back, I'm an Odinist now." That went on for about three years, where I would have about 3-6 dreams a month. Then, in November of 2004, I had another dream. I was at my old church, on the pulpit. I was speaking out against the main pastor, and saying what a liar he was, and trying to convince people to leave, and find their own way. I was then forcefully turned around by a hand on my shoulder, and there he was: Roger H., the leader of the church. He menacingly hissed in my ear that if I didn't shut the fuck up, he would rape me, and kill me. I was then thrown to the ground, and had to watch as he spoke to the congregation, and told them I was possessed by the demonic, and I was evil, etc. I was cowering, and scared. I then, for no reason I can think of, had a double action revolver in my hands. Now, I have a lot of dreams where I have to defend myself from someone, and I'll shoot at them with a gun, and it doesn't work, my attack was ineffective. Well, that's what happened here. I tried to defend myself from him, and it didn't work. For some reason, I had to fling out the cylinder, and swing it back in again in order for my shots to work, and make contact with him. The first shot was not effective, and when he noticed I was trying to kill him, he turned around with murder in his eyes. I then had to franticly do that maneuver with flinging out the cynlinder, and swinging it in again for the next three shots, which all made contact. He then lay gurgling in his own blood. I calmly walked up to him, and dipped my fingers in the blood welling up from the wound in his chest, and drew the Thurisaz rune on his forehead. I then threw my head to the sky, and screamed out, "Odin, Thor, Frey, Tyr, Thurisaz!!!" Everyone in the room, then just quietly left.

I believe that Roger H. was the embodiment of the evil spirit of that cult, and that it didn't want a single person to leave, and not only leave, but find a new path to supplant it's domination over them. I feel that I called out to the Gods, and they heard me, and fought for me in my dreamstate.

[Barreldriver]

I feel I need to leave PA asap. I had another encounter not too long ago, a few minutes actually, I had posted in another thread about a hostile presence that has been buggaring my room mate and my attempt to aid the situation, it worked for a while, at least for him, but now I think that I'm screwed, I was looking at my laptop and something caught the edge of my eye, I looked up as I looked up I saw a figure dash to the bathroom, I turned on the lights and began to observe the apartment, I have a view from the couch into a bedroom and shit is undulating, that's never happened before, and I constantly hear the sound of ocean waves. I'm starting to get real P.O.'d. The Asatru Folk Assembly responded to my original query and told me to use runic magic, I did that and it worked for my room mate but now it seems that I'm unprotected since he currently has the runes and I do not have the resources to make more right now. Mother of hells bells I want to fight something that isn't so cowardly, fleeting running around bothering those who are deemed weaker, well eff this, I'm no weakling and I'll be damned before I get shown up by some pissed off pussy entity that can't act with honor and give me an oportunity to fight face to face. lOl! And as soon as I finished typing this and hit send my internet cut out for 5 min. lol! What crock.

[HawkR]

Dunno if this can be seen as an encounter. But a few years back, me and my ex were having this huge fight over nothing(classic) and after some time, I just lay down in the middle of the road(no traffic at all btw) and while whatching here go away from me I felt peace, allmost like some people say they get when they die. It was like everything was okay, nothing mattered anymore, I were done. It was an extremely good feeling. And I've never had it since...

[Lyfing]

Most of the time when I am out in the woods all by myself I notice someone watching me. I will look up and there will not be anybody there and I will go back to what I was doing and out of the corner of my eye they will be there again.

It could just be me worried someone is there and I'm going to kill them. I don't like cutting timber with anyone around. It feels like Odin and it might be a Valkyrie.

Later,
-Lyfing

[Barreldriver]

Had an odd one last night, each time I closed my eyes I saw a circular pendant with two crows fused down the center in the middle, then the crows split apart and flew off, then I began to feel woozy and a bit drowsy, my breathing stopped for a while, then I closed my eyes again and saw little purple speckles then I got up to go pee. :P And no I was not under the influence of anything, drugs or alcohol lol.

[The Black Prince]

A few years ago I spoke with a aquintance of mine that I knew from highschool. I had met him while waiting for a bridge that was open. We just had some converstation about how things were going et such, he told me he left his girlfriend and quit his job (he worked for her father).

A few days later I met a good friend of mine and he told me he had been to a funeral the week before because a friend of him had died in a motorcycle accident. It was quite sad since that friend really had such a nice future going on, he had a nice girlfriend and was working inher fathers bussiness et such. I didn't really noticed it at the moment but later I realised (when I heard the name) that the guy he spoke about was the same I met a few days before.
I have never spoke about it to anyone.

The second thing happened last year when the father of a friend of mine had cancer. On a certain day I saw him cycling, so I waved at him and he waved back. During the evening I heard that the father of my friend had died in the afternoon, he had been laying on bed all day since he could keep his balance anymore. Again I didn't say anything, rather thought that I apparantely imagined it.

I still don't know what to think of it, it is just weird I guess.

[Hrimskegg]

Last year was a very good year for sledding! So I dragged my friends and family up to the old, hilly golf course to abuse it's slopes for entertainment several times. One time in particular we went up in the early evening, before the sunset and there were three of us (my brothers and I). We only had two sleds between us so we switched off to be fair and at one point I wanted a rest so let my little brother (he was only eight at the time) take the sled by himself and stood up on the hill over looking the sled run. Just after my brother had laughingly carried down the slope noticed something was different. The valley below me seemed to open up dramatically and the air was sweeter, the light brighter. I felt someone standing near, to my right. I looked over and there he was, there and yet not completely there, Ullr, hands on his hips, laughing and shining. He gave me great comfort then and he, just as all the Aesir have done for me, has always met me half way when I have taken a spiritual leap of faith. Praise Ullr.

[Klärchen]

Anyway, I cannot believe in mere "accidents" any more, and these "odd things" happen no matter what or whom one believes in. I learnt to understand this phenomenon via astrology. C. G. Jung, who also believed in a spiritual world, called this "synchronicity":
http://www.carl-jung.net/synchronicity.html

[Liffrea]

Three, two dreams and one meditation experience.

My first dream took place in my garden, I was lounging in a chair reading (as I usually do in summer), I began to hear a banging noise coming from the workshop, I get up go to investigate (my garden becomes a lot bigger in this dream) I begin to feel warm and my hammer (which I always wear) starts to weigh me down and pull my head to the ground. I eventually round the corner and there is a man with his back to me hammering away at an anvil, by this time I can barely stand, I’m boiling warm and the weight is heavy around my neck……then nothing.

The second (the parts I remember) is weird. I was out walking in the hills with a friend I hadn’t seen since school. I arrive at a house and an old woman answers the door and gives a pound coin, she tells me to take it to the Church at the top of the hill. I walk to the Church and I find it’s locked, eventually someone let’s me in and I’m inside this Church for a long time looking out the window, when I become aware of an old man struggling with a rug bound around something. I go over to look and I notice hair coming out of the rug, the old man stands back and I untie the rug to find a body inside……me.

The meditation experience I had was a year or so back. Meditation has always been somewhat hard and inconsistent for me, but it’s easier now. Anyway this one time something clicked, I felt as if I was being held in this…..place….and even if I wanted to leave (which I didn’t) I wouldn’t have been able to do so. I was shown a vision of utter blackness, total suffocating dark. After a time the darkness began to give way and I had sight of flowers, a lot like daisies, then I was let go. I learned later on that there is a flower, a lot like a daisy, known as Baldrs flower.

[Amapola]

LoL

I saw a man holding a hammer this morning. He might have been Thor.

Sorry, I could not help myself.
My apologies

:embarrassed

[Hrimskegg]

LoL

I saw a man holding a hammer this morning. He might have been Thor.

Sorry, I could not help myself.
My apologies

:embarrassed

Did you go up an ask him if he was Thor? If not, I guess we'll never truly know.
:rolleyes2:

[Osweo]

Did you go up an ask him if he was Thor? If not, I guess we'll never truly know.
:rolleyes2:

I have a similar story of just such a missed opportunity in my own life. It was about ten years ago but still it nags me...

Those who have read Homer's Odyssey, will recall the instructions received by the hero in the Underworld, on how to apease the wrath of Poseidon. He had to take and oar and walk northward into the European hinterland, until he was so far from the sea that a passer by would mistake his oar for a winnowing fan, and ask why he was carrying it. That would be the sign that Odysseus had reached a suitable place for the peculiar ritual required.

I was stood at Piccadilly station one time, and noticed a rather scruffy weary looking man wandering about with an oar on platform 14... and I said nothing.

That poor bastard has been wandering the Earth for 3200 years! :eek: I could have saved him! I did nothing! :(

[Radojica]

LoL, I thought that kind of people died out a long time ago, but i was wrong. I had that "pleasure" to talk with one senior sergeant who was and still is a communist, who still adore Tito and his SFRJ :eek: :blink:

That guy was hillarious and was saying nonsenses until i told him that because of his "i had that, i was able to do that" now i have nothing or almost nothing and that although i am happy his generation had almost everything now its me and my generation who have to pay for his wild parties, whores and smoking of expensive cigars :grumpy:.. Of course, he refused the responsibility of his generation for what me and people a bit younger and older than me are going through now. Not to mention some personal tragedies. Can you guess whose fault was it? USA, of course :rolleyes2:

Something like this guy :lol00002:

mEn-L9-PObc

[Hrimskegg]

What exactly does this have to do with encounters (supposed or otherwise) with the supernatural?


LoL, I thought that kind of people died out a long time ago, but i was wrong. I had that "pleasure" to talk with one senior sergeant who was and still is a communist, who still adore Tito and his SFRJ :eek: :blink:

That guy was hillarious and was saying nonsenses until i told him that because of his "i had that, i was able to do that" now i have nothing or almost nothing and that although i am happy his generation had almost everything now its me and my generation who have to pay for his wild parties, whores and smoking of expensive cigars :grumpy:.. Of course, he refused the responsibility of his generation for what me and people a bit younger and older than me are going through now. Not to mention some personal tragedies. Can you guess whose fault was it? USA, of course :rolleyes2:

Something like this guy :lol00002:

[Radojica]

What exactly does this have to do with encounters (supposed or otherwise) with the supernatural?

That kind died out and finding someone like that is bordering with supernatural :D

[Hrimskegg]

That kind died out and finding someone like that is bordering with supernatural :D

Please stay on topic. :ohwell:

A good friend and member of my little pagan group had an interesting encounter in Las Vegas last year. It was at night and he was just coming out of a gas station when he was approached by a weathered looking homeless person with a blind and milky eye. This homeless person asked my friend for a single quarter, to which my friend responded that he didn't have any cash on him and that he was sorry. My friend then stepped back into the gas station to check on his traveling companions and when he came back outside there was absolutely no trace of the strange man.

[Radojica]

Please stay on topic. :ohwell:



Fuck off

[Anthropos]

Please stay on topic. :ohwell:

A good friend and member of my little pagan group had an interesting encounter in Las Vegas last year. It was at night and he was just coming out of a gas station when he was approached by a weathered looking homeless person with a blind and milky eye. This homeless person asked my friend for a single quarter, to which my friend responded that he didn't have any cash on him and that he was sorry. My friend then stepped back into the gas station to check on his traveling companions and when he came back outside there was absolutely no trace of the strange man.

Without assuming anything out of the ordinary, I suppose that the homeless individual might have been able to move, and that quite simply he had relocated to somewhere out of sight. It could happen even in broad daylight.

[Hrimskegg]

I see a clue there... I suppose that the homeless individual was able to walk, and that quite simply he had relocated to somewhere out of sight. It would be possible even in broad daylight.

Hey, this is my friend's story. By the way, you may be familiar with how bright the Las Vegas downtown can be and according to him, he did look around a bit for the old guy. I don't recall saying for sure that this was a particular instance of an encounter with the divine, though I would like to point out that there are several motifs in the story that relate to the theme of a supernatural encounter.

[Anthropos]

Hey, this is my friend's story. By the way, you may be familiar with how bright the Las Vegas downtown can be and according to him, he did look around a bit for the old guy. I don't recall saying for sure that this was a particular instance of an encounter with the divine, though I would like to point out that there are several motifs in the story that relate to the theme of a supernatural encounter.

Such as?

[Hrimskegg]

Such as?

In folklore there are several instances of the homeless facade being a cover for some sort of supernatural entity, whether that be a witch, magi or, and this tale is in the vein of this one, Odin. It's commonly held by believers that Odin moves about Midgard furthering his agenda, anyway, the homeless fellow was blind in one eye, and that points toward this. Again, I can't say "It was Odin", but I can say the homeless man reminds me of Odinic folklore. Also, begging has also been used in folklore to gauge the worthiness of the person being put upon for money. Usually in the tales, when a person is bothered in this manner they aren't kind to the disguised beggar and are cursed and when the person is kind to the beggar they are blessed. Certainly the tale of Beauty and the Beast starts in a very similar manner. And, finally there is the part at the end where the man disappears, which is a common exit method for those who are supernatural and those wishing to be seen as supernatural (i.e. the Batman). So there you go.

[Anthropos]

In folklore there are several instances of the homeless facade being a cover for some sort of supernatural entity, whether that be a witch, magi or, and this tale is in the vein of this one, Odin. It's commonly held by believers that Odin moves about Midgard furthering his agenda, anyway, the homeless fellow was blind in one eye, and that points toward this. Again, I can't say "It was Odin", but I can say the homeless man reminds me of Odinic folklore. Also, begging has also been used in folklore to gauge the worthiness of the person being put upon for money. Usually in the tales, when a person is bothered in this manner they aren't kind to the disguised beggar and are cursed and when the person is kind to the beggar they are blessed. Certainly the tale of Beauty and the Beast starts in a very similar manner. And, finally there is the part at the end where the man disappears, which is a common exit method for those who are supernatural and those wishing to be seen as supernatural (i.e. the Batman). So there you go.

Odin sacrificed his eye for wisdom. Why should some poor fellow who happened to be blind on one eye have anything to do with it?

The manner of interpretation that you applied has a direct parallell here:


LoL

I saw a man holding a hammer this morning. He might have been Thor.

Sorry, I could not help myself.
My apologies

:embarrassed

Saga-thumping literalism at its best.

[Hrimskegg]

Odin sacrificed his eye for wisdom. Why should some poor fellow who happened to be blind on one eye have anything to do with it?

The manner of interpretation that you applied has a direct parallell here:



Saga-thumping literalism at its best.

Well if you're going to be a troll about it, literal or otherwise :thumb001: then I'll leave you with this: we are perfectly in our right to believe what we want, just as we should respect the opinions of those around us, because we all have the right to believe as we like. I have made every possible effort to meet you half way, and I can see that you're not interested at all in coming into a better understanding of those you interact with here, in the "Living as a Heathen" part of the forum. I believe in this "stuff" and you are definitely in the wrong if you think you poking fun at it will somehow show that you're more entitled or have a better opinion. If you're going to question anything that I've said on this thread, you'd have better question my experience concerning Ullr. It has no grounding in the mundane world, there is no "person" wandering around on the slope with me who could, or could not be Ullr, there is no logical proof that I could give you to explain what happened beyond insanity. If you are so bold as to question my beliefs, then do so in a complete fashion, your petty arguments have no bearing on what is and what is not, they only cause strife and that is not wanted here, nor should it be condoned.

[Anthropos]

Well if you're going to be a troll about it, literal or otherwise :thumb001: then I'll leave you with this: we are perfectly in our right to believe what we want, just as we should respect the opinions of those around us, because we all have the right to believe as we like. I have made every possible effort to meet you half way, and I can see that you're not interested at all in coming into a better understanding of those you interact with here, in the "Living as a Heathen" part of the forum. I believe in this "stuff" and you are definitely in the wrong if you think you poking fun at it will somehow show that you're more entitled or have a better opinion. If you're going to question anything that I've said on this thread, you'd have better question my experience concerning Ullr. It has no grounding in the mundane world, there is no "person" wandering around on the slope with me who could, or could not be Ullr, there is no logical proof that I could give you to explain what happened beyond insanity. If you are so bold as to question my beliefs, then do so in a complete fashion, your petty arguments have no bearing on what is and what is not, they only cause strife and that is not wanted here, nor should it be condoned.

It was handed down that Odin sacrificed his eye for wisdom. Do you contest that? Or is it simply your mission to spread the idea that any partially blind man is some kind of revelation of Odin? I have at least as much right as anyone to debate this, and I have a much greater claim to it than no few. I have no obligation to meet any 'Heathen' half-way. No matter how little the importance of these things, they are nevertheless a part of my cultural heritage. I don't have to comply when someone comes along with ridiculous interpretations of it, as if it should have come from a sentimental and primitivistic attitude like that of so many contemporary 'Heathens'.

[Hrimskegg]

It was handed down that Odin sacrificed his eye for wisdom. Do you contest that? Or is it simply your mission to spread the idea that any partially blind man is some kind of revelation of Odin? I have at least as much right as anyone to debate this, and I have a much greater claim to it than no few. I have no obligation to meet any 'Heathen' half-way. No matter how little the importance of these things, they are nevertheless a part of my cultural heritage. I don't have to comply when someone comes along with ridiculous interpretations of it, as if it should have come from a sentimental and primitivistic attitude like that of so many contemporary 'Heathens'.

I am not contesting that at all. The forms which the Gods take are completely up to them, and in folklore sometimes Odin is encountered with both eyes fully functioning. He keeps the theme of eye deformity because it is how we have come to know him, and how we might most easily recognize him. Gods or creatures who are capable of shape changing are not constrained by such petty things as the loss of a limb or, in this case, an eye. Certainly, it is Odin's prerogative to do as he pleases and if he wishes to come to a man as a hobo with a blind, milky eye then he will do so! Wouldn't missing the eye and coming forth on Sleipnir with Gungir in hand be too obvious? Wouldn't it be more reasonable for the sly and cunning Odin to come in the form of a hobo in a distant place and make you guess the whole encounter all the way home? Is that not his nature?

In any case, you miss my mark, because you are blind by your own pride. I did not say the homeless man was Odin, only that he reminded me of him. You have proven yourself to be a bigoted hypocrite by your own words, and it pleases me that you stand by them with such resoluteness, as it proves you to be an even bigger hypocrite than first appearances led me to understand.

[Anthropos]

I am not contesting that at all. The forms which the Gods take are completely up to them, and in folklore sometimes Odin is encountered with both eyes fully functioning. He keeps the theme of eye deformity because it is how we have come to know him, and how we might most easily recognize him. Gods or creatures who are capable of shape changing are not constrained by such petty things as the loss of a limb or, in this case, an eye. Certainly, it is Odin's prerogative to do as he pleases and if he wishes to come to a man as a hobo with a blind, milky eye then he will do so! Wouldn't missing the eye and coming forth on Sleipnir with Gungir in hand be too obvious? Wouldn't it be more reasonable for the sly and cunning Odin to come in the form of a hobo in a distant place and make you guess the whole encounter all the way home? Is that not his nature?

In any case, you miss my mark, because you are blind by your own pride. I did not say the homeless man was Odin, only that he reminded me of him. You have proven yourself to be a bigoted hypocrite by your own words, and it pleases me that you stand by them with such resoluteness, as it proves you to be an even bigger hypocrite than first appearances led me to understand.

:rofl: :lol:

I think you are wishful enough to mistake your own wishes for Odin's.

[Hrimskegg]

:rofl: :lol:

I think you are wishful enough to mistake your own wishes for Odin's.

You must not be very familiar with what Odin can do.

[Grey]

I've for some time toed the line between interest in heathenry and belief in it. Tonight, however, I was reading an article on Elhaz Ablaze regarding a necromantic episode in Australia while I listened to Blood Fire Death. I don't normally pay attention to song lyrics, but immediately after the mention of electronics screwing up as a result of spiritual activity, I heard clearly the single line from the song "Now wait for the sign" following which the electronics in my room began to malfunction in various ways and when they stopped I heard one second line: "Now given is the sign". The entire event was undeniably eerie, for sure.

Edit: This might not be exactly the right thread for it but it was close enough I thought.

[Osweo]

The entire event was undeniably eerie, for sure.

Edit: This might not be exactly the right thread for it but it was close enough I thought.
I get this sort of thing so often that it's ceased to amaze me, and the individual cases slip out of my memory as new ones come in. I give it a sly nod now. It seems Somebody likes to play with us... ;)

Here's a word for you, anyway; Synchronicity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity
Some great examples on the Wiki page, especially this;

The French writer Émile Deschamps claims in his memoirs that in 1805, he was treated to some plum pudding by a stranger named Monsieur de Fontgibu. Ten years later, the writer encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him that the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turned out to be de Fontgibu. Many years later, in 1832, Deschamps was at a dinner and once again ordered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friends that only de Fontgibu was missing to make the setting complete—and in the same instant, the now senile de Fontgibu entered the room.[8]

This one certainly points to 'something in the ether' at a particular time;

The comic strip character Dennis The Menace featuring a young boy in a red and black striped shirt debuted on March 12, 1951 in 16 newspapers in the United States. Three days later in the UK a character called Dennis The Menace, wearing a red and black striped jumper made his debut in children's comic The Beano. Both creators have denied any causal connection.
:p

Jung managed to squeeze a whole book out of it;
http://www.carl-jung.net/synchronicity.html

The term synchronicity is coined by Jung to express a concept that belongs to him. It is about acausal connection of two or more psycho-physic phenomena. This concept was inspired to him by a patient's case that was in situation of impasse in treatment. Her exaggerate rationalism (animus inflation) was holding her back from assimilating unconscious materials. One night, the patient dreamt a golden scarab - cetonia aurata. The next day, during the psychotherapy session, a real insect this time, hit against the Jung's cabinet window. Jung caught it and discovered surprisingly that it was a golden scarab; a very rare presence for that climate.

So, the idea is all about coincidence: in this case, between the scarab dreamt by the patient and its appearance in reality, in the psychotherapy cabinet.

But this coincidence is not senseless, a simple coincidence. By using the amplification method, Jung associates in connection with the scarab and comes to the concept of death and rebirth from the esoteric philosophy of antiquity, a process that, in a symbolic way, the patient should experience for a renewal and vitalization of her unilateral personality, the cause of the neurosis she was suffering from.

Thus, a significant coincidence of physical and psychological phenomena that are acausal connected.




Jung's book on synchronicity
Behind all these phenomena Jung places the archetype or the constellation of an archetype, which, in his view, is a process that engages equally objective manifestations, in the physical world, and subjective ones, in the psychological universe.

Jung writes a book on synchronicity together with Nobel laureate W. Pauli, a book we invite you to read (learn more).

Synchronicity, as an explicative theory, applies to phenomena from the area of parapsychology, prevision and premonition, to I Ching (specific method of consulting the Oracle of Changes), to astrology and many other borderline fields.

It is also present in psychotherapy, as we have already shown. Several psychoanalysts noted certain strange coincidences in which their patients received information about them by extra-sensorial ways, information that was not accessible to the general public.


One from my own life is rather odd;
In 2001 I went to a New Year's party in Moscow, in the central office of my company. I didn't often go, preferring to stay and socialise with the people in my small suburban filial.

Anyway, I left the noisy room and went to sit in another and drink and chat with the total strangers there. One girl had a very familiar accent. "You're from Manchester, aren't you?" says I.
"yep."
"Whereabouts?"
""
"Shit! Me too!"
The next thing was rather odd. I don't know what made me ask such a peculiar question - it's not TOO strange, but hardly predictable;
"What postcode?"
"M** %&#"
"Jesus, that's my old house! ... I know you. I remember you! Your Dad had an old red Lada, he used to spend all day outside working on it! What was his name?... Stanslaw!"
"And you used to climb the cherry tree over the road!"

***

She lived in the house diagonally opposite mine [postcodes can cover a few houses in a small area]. And we met entirely by chance, years later, thousands of miles away, sat in one small room, with about five people in, from all over the world - Russians, Americans, Australians...

That's just a coincidence so far. Here's the best bit; Her parents were emigres from Poland. 'The Poles' isn't really a word that rolls off the tongue, so we used to call them [i]the Russians.

[Grey]

On the topic of meeting one-eyed men, I do all the time; my father, my wife's father, and her grandfather all have just one eye. Coincidence? I think not! ;)

Oddly enough, they do all have seemingly Odinic personalities.

[Hrimskegg]

Well, the sons sometimes turn into their fathers.