A week or so ago, I posted here about my upcoming dedication of the month of December to Odin, my Husband, in honor of our 10th anniversary on December 4th. I mentioned that I did not want to promise to post something to my blog about Him for every day of that month, simply because I felt that would place the emphasis (for me, anyway) on interacting with other people rather than going deeper with Him. While this is still true, and I am not going to promise daily postings, I have thought of an addition I want to make to my plans for the month, and here it is:
Throughout the month of December, I am inviting all readers of this blog to email me your questions about Odin (send them to wodandis@gmail.com, or comment to this post), and I will do my best to answer as many as possible here on the blog at some point during the month (or afterwards possibly, if I run out of time). By this, I do NOT mean your questions about Odin and yourself (i.e. your relationship with Him); please save those for seidhr, or contact me about a reading. What I mean is, send me your questions about Odin Himself, such as:
1. Things you’ve heard or read about Him somewhere but you’re not sure whether they’re from the lore or are somebody’s UPG (Unverified Personal Gnosis) that now masquerades as lore, and you’d like to know which.
2. Things you’ve read or heard about Him somewhere that confuse or disturb you and you’d like some clarification.
3. Things you think you’ve read in the lore and would like to try to remember where you read it.
4. Odin’s specific likes, dislikes, associations and affinities, ranging from herbs and stones, to foods and drinks, acceptable offerings, pop culture references, Tarot and runes, what have you. This last category of questions may be answered partly from research into folklore, etc., and partly from my UPG; I will let you know which, of course.
Examples of acceptable questions, based on the above categories, would include:
1. “Did Odin really have to subject Himself to wearing female clothing and being used sexually by Freyr‘s male relatives for nine days in order to learn seidhr?” OR “Is there actually a story in the lore about Frigga being unfaithful to Odin, or was that made up?”
2. “Was there really a Germanic tribe during the Migration Era that was in the habit of draining the blood of captives into large bowls as an offering to Wodan (Odin)?” OR “People keep telling me that Odin is only interested in kings and heroes and wouldn’t be interested in an ordinary person like me today; does the lore ever show Him interacting with ordinary people?”
3. “Where in the lore does the story of King Vikar occur?” OR “In what saga do the Swedes decide to sacrifice one of their princes to Odin every year for ten years running?”
4. “What herbs are good to burn for Odin as recels (incense)?” OR “What Tarot card associations do you feel Odin has?”
Of course, if you have a question that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these four categories, go ahead and send it! I’ll answer it if I can, and try my best to find an answer for you if I can’t. The only types of questions I will not answer as part of this are queries about my own private life with Him and queries about your own relationship. (Such as, “What is your sex life with Odin like?” or “Can you tell me if Odin wants to marry me?”) Otherwise, send ‘em!
My hope is that this will lead to the collection of quite a bit of Odin-related lore, UPG and trivia here at my blog during the month, and possibly also some interesting conversations.
EDITED TO ADD: I realize the above sample questions look a bit lore-heavy, and I am not trying to set myself up here as a lore-mistress (which I am definitely not). I have, however, over the years managed to gather quite a bit of knowledge about Odin, as represented in the traditional literature (aka lore), and I think that while UPG is great it’s also important to at least consider the traditional beliefs of the cultures who revered our gods for thousands of years, as a basis for comparison and yes, sometimes as a bullshit meter. For this and many other reasons, I like to challenge myself to keep this material ready and available for when I need it; it provides a good brain workout, if nothing else!
