30 Days of Njord, Day 19: Jewelry

I love this great Njord bracelet made by Victoria S. In her own words:

This bracelet was initially conceived and created during a meeting of the Vanic Conspiracy. The charms on it include a Conch shell, an anchor, a sand dollar and a small tree. In addition, there are six small silver shells spread out through the amber, turquoise, silver, obsidian and quartz gemstones. The stones are selected to honor the nature and sea-orientation of Njord, and the charms and seashell beads are all directly linked to trade on the sea and to commerce.

I work with a lot of partners who come from outside of America, so the cross-sea commerce focus is key for me.

I think her connection between her work life and Njord’s gifts make a lot of sense. This bracelet also reminds me of a fishing net and all of the lovely things that can be caught in one. Perhaps the lesson here is to spread your net wide and see what treasures are out there to find. Sometimes you can catch valuable things unexpectedly.

30 Days for Njord, Day 14: Offerings for His Tribe

I get reminded from time to time (thanks Njord!) that the Vanir are a close-knit tribe. When you honor one, you should at least give a tip of the hat to the others. With that in mind, here’s my full article on Offerings for the Vanir.

30 Days for Njord, Day 8: Gin

Because I’m not the only one who thinks Njord likes gin.

http://www.spiritofnjord.com

30 Days for Njord, Day 4: Offerings for Njord

Njord is, in my experience, a very generous deity. He is often content enjoying whatever the other Gods are being offered, and he’s also often happy to share his offerings with any other deity. Still, He deserves His own dedicated offerings whenever he can get them.Offerings can be on a set schedule–say, once a month or once a quarter–but they can also be spontaneous;  for example, as an offering for a gift given or a request made.

Here are some suggestions of things I have offered Him or think that He would enjoy being offered:

Food: Fish, seafood, and pork. (You can’t go wrong with pork with any of the Vanir deities.) Clam chowder with crusty bread. Herring and rye crackers. Also, one of the offerings I give him often are gold-foil-covered chocolate coins. You can also give chocolates made with sea salt or in the shape of seashells.
Drink: Dark beer; gin; vodka. Or, anything that you have available. Currently, I am giving him whatever variety of gin I have on hand, though in the past I had a dedicated bottle of Death’s Door gin for Him from a local distillery.)
Other offerings: Gold or gold-colored coins; beads, shells, spices; anything else than has been used/can be as currency. Also, loose tobacco or cigars, either smoked or not. Seashells; fishing gear; boats. Anchors are another key image with which I adorn his altar.

Patheos: Offerings for the Vanir

I’ve started a series on Patheos recently on offerings for the Norse Gods. This first one covers suggested offerings for the Vanir: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/agora/2016/01/happily-heathen-offerings-for-the-gods-part-one-the-vanir/.

Click: Burnt offerings

It’s funny how I can know a lot of things on an abstract, intellectual level, but that information doesn’t really make much difference until I actually experience it myself, or for whatever reason it hits at a heart level. Maybe it’s just me. /shrug

Yesterday’s example of this is the Hellenic tradition of burning offerings that are aimed at the sky gods (as opposed to burying those for the chthonic deities). I have a crapload of logistical stuff the next few days which involve a rental car, two different airports, luggage, a plane ride, a cat, a bus, a hotel, misc. paperwork, and my day job. (Plus, the weather in the Midwest, and getting my extremely reluctant parents to pick me up at the airport, which, to hear them talk, is equivalent to enduring a root canal with no anesthesia.) In any event, I’m completely stressed out because I have no control over most of this and there are a billion things that could go wrong. And I’m already exhausted from a 2.5 week trip. So! An offering to Hermes seemed in order.

I picked Him up a chili cheeseburger (Thenea’s suggestion) and burned bits of bit in a small brazier in another friend’s backyard. Now, I’ve known for a long time that this was The Thing to Do when giving offerings to the Greek deities; and logically, it makes sense–sky gods would want their offerings in a form that would go up into the sky–but it always felt a bit odd to me. But after slicing the burger up into small bits and feeding it to the fire for five hours or so, I finally got it. Yes–that smell of burning fat and meat is delicious, and not nearly as charcoal-y as I had expected. The experience is  reminiscent of summer days when you get wafts of grilled meat from a neighbor’s barbecue. It made me hungry, and I had just eaten. So, yes, Greek Gods–I get it. And now that I do, I’ll be giving you more offerings in this way in the future.

And Io Hermes! Wish me safe, secure, hassle-free, efficient, and inexpensive travels this week!