Favourite Gods and Goddesses

[Brynhild]

To whom do you feel you best relate? How did you find them or how did they find you? Do you call upon them at specific times, or are they always there? Do you revere them in any way, and if so how?

I'll start by saying that the first Norse God I held an attraction for was Thor. He is strong, honest, loyal and doesn't suffer fools gladly. I held a rite in his honour a while back, and the emphasis was on feasting (well, more than usual lol). I don't know who found who, but it's like having a big brother around to protect me. I wear my Mjollnir pendant as an amulet and have been for a good while.

Frigg made a somewhat subtle entrance into my being. As a mother, it's challenging sometimes to find the balance with family, work and friends etc so I call upon her to gain a better perspective for such matters.

Loki has had a habit of barging in, as much to say "You think you can have a party without me, I don't think so!" He may bring chaos with him, but it's always been in good fun.

Freyja has taught me about the more personal aspects of womanhood and earth Magic.

Odin has presented probably the most in the way of challenges for me. Good thing I'm already used to that. He is my principle guide on my Shamanic path and has taken a while for me to get to know. Odin is such a complex personality, but I've been able to discover similarities between us and we've reached a pretty deep understanding. He has this insane way of holding up a dark mirror that looks inside the deeper recesses of my soul. Yet, he is encouraging at the same time. Things like this appear to me when I'm ready to learn that valuable lesson before moving on to the next one.

From the Celtic side of things, I've worked with Lugh. While it's said he is like Odin, I find him to be very different in that he is more approachable and less of a loner than Odin.

The other significant deity who rates a mention would be The Morrigan. I had a difficult encounter when we first met. She is another of them deities who wants to reveal the truth to you - and it is especially so from a woman's point of view. I wrote up a Samhain rite two years ago now, and in its early stages, she more or less insisted that she would be the one who helps me with it all. And she did, down to the very last detail! It was one of the best rites ever and I have a better bond with The Morrigan for it.

Well, that's my raving for the moment...

[Psychonaut]

No deity has ever impressed upon me the true feeling of das Heilige more than our Mother Night. I'm a bit "heretical" in my conception of her in that I don't adhere to the old school cosmology and view her as someone, like Day, who comes and goes. Rather, she is omnipresent. She is the cosmic womb from which all was born. Not a dark blanket as the ancients thought, but, as Lovecraft so aptly said, a black sea of infinity. For me, gazing upwards on a clear night fills me with such a sense of cosmic awe that I am left dumbstruck.

The other deity that I have a close connection with is Óðinn. However, while there is a certain amount of blóting and hailing, my true connection with him is my constant attempt at emulation. As a Rune magician and member of the Wolfbund, Óðinn functions as the archetypal magician, whose ordeals provide me with a framework for my own personal development. So, in that sense, I am much more of an Odian than an Odinist.

[Baron Samedi]

1. Hel: Because she is dualistic, both representing life and death, and I am attracted to cthonic beings.

2. Frey: Because of his relationship to the god Cernunnos, and because he is quite the romantic.

3. Cernunnos: Lord of the Forest, his presence is there every time I go walking in the woods at night.

Much like Psychonaut, I too have a strong attraction to Nott and what she represents.

[Loddfafner]

Odin because he seems to be the one who keeps testing me and I live by the theme of sacrificing for knowledge.

Freyr for his involvement in the agricultural cycle.

[Oresai]

Thor. It was to him I blotted when my goats fell ill and without a vet here, began to die from a disease I didn`t know. I blotted, and almost immediately they stopped dying, the disease cleared up and has not returned. This is truth, and I do have witnesses to it, but written `in bald ink` online or on paper it does sound like fantasy, I admit.
He is honest, blunt and easy to deal with, I`ve no need of gathering the notice of complex, trickster gods or those with their own agendas or whims.
And from the Scots side of me, the Cailleach, the auld woman, who strides winter mountains in a single step, who knocks on isolated doors in the depths of winter and should you refuse her hospitality, will gather your very soul to take with her on her eternal travels. Half young beauty, half old crone, she personifies winter harshness, the Underworld, and the wisdom of age in a shallow world. She also has many traits similar to Norse Hela.

And, not entirely `gods`, but the landwights of this place are high in my regard and interraction, because without their patronage, life would be very difficult here.

[YggsVinr]

I've always been most drawn to Odin for a number of reasons, I suppose. When it comes down to Odin, through all the changes made through time, literacy, and change of religion we can be sure that Odin was always, to the core, a god of the warrior dead and the war-cult. With these two poetry and ecstatic or trance-like states (whether in war or in ritual, or the intermingling of both) have always been associated; in addition to the notion of walking between worlds, not quite belonging to either, but finding one's self on the fringes of society not merely through misfortune but through chosen lifestyle. It is these aspects of life that I very (some might say unusually) much feel myself drawn to, and my lifestyle and enjoyments tend to coincide with them. Maybe its just my own darker, more polemic view on life, but hey, that's me I guess.

[Ulf]

Donnar.

On my first birthday a tree was split in half by lightning during my family's happy birthday singing not ten feet from the house.

I'm a knowledge seeker, but I've never felt drawn to Odin. Only Donnar/Thor/Whathaveyou

[Sol Invictus]

Couldn't tell you my FAVORITE.. But the goddess who's been poking around in my life the most as of late would be Venus .. Just some things happening in class involving a female student .. which might just turn into something .. I can only hope.. 'cause she's a knock-out..

Ave, Venus!

[Gooding]

My closest gods and goddesses are, in order of importance,1: Thor, the World Protector and god of thunderstorms, 2: Frey, the god of Nature and Lord of the Alfar,3:Frigg, the goddess of the family and marital love, 4:Forseti, the god of Justice,5:Odin, the Giver of Victory and god of Wisdom and 6:Freyja, goddess of magic and love.

[HawkR]

I wore my Mjollnir pendant long before I knew I was a heathen, but the way I found Thor, or he found me, is kinda accward I think.

You see, it was during my "love-problems"/"been-betrayed-problems" I first noticed that he was there. I went to sleep one night, being real down, but when I woke up I felt strong again. Now, I would have expected Frøya or Frøy, or even Balder to come to me, not Thor. Now, I'm extremely grateful, after he was there I've felt better and had easier of getting through hard times.

I do got a plan of going to my elder brother(as I sees like an elder) and hopefully he'll learn me more about the gods

Now I haven't blotet to none of them yet, well, there's been small blot like when I do something I usually don't, like shotting booze I can't wait till the Spring-blot Wanna have a online-chatbox-apricity blot someday?