Norse Harvest Blot

HALLOWING

Set up altar in the North with a drinking horn or chalice; mead, beer, juice, or mil and honey; and a ceremonial bowl (blotbowl).

Gothi (priest) or Gythia (priestess) is the blot (pronounced blote) leader and the Valkyrie is the ritual assistant.

Introduction:

G: The Harvest is complete as we move into the cold and darkness. The trees change color and the animals store food for the coming winter. The body of Jord cools and prepares for the coming frost. As we feel the chill of the north winds, we retreat for reflection and thanksgiving.

V: Soon the Wild Hunt will be upon us and the veils between the worlds grow thin. We come together in thanksgiving to ask for blessings of protection and guidance from the Old Gods.

Hammer Rite

G makes the invocation and swings a ritual hammer or makes the sign of the hammers (an upside down "T" shape surrounded by a circle in the air), at north, south, east and west, moving around outside the circle of participants. "Thor, Hammer-Hallower, I call you to hallow this stead and hold this sacred space."

Invocation

Standing with arms outstretched over the head in the Z rune Elhaz, the G invokes the deities of the harvest season.

G: I give thanks to the Landvaettir for their blessings and for sharing this space with us. Those who should far, fare well. Those who should stay, stay in peace and protection, harmless to me and mine.

Hail Freyja, Golden One! Holder of the glorious Brisingamen, that brings fertility and abundance. As we love and honor you, may we find love and power within us. Join us and accept our thanks. Hail Freyja!

Hail Freyr, HArvest God! Keeper of the rain and the sunshine! As we love and honor you, may we find creativity and inspiriation within us. Join us and accept our thanks Hail Freyer!

Hail Sif, Great Lady! We come to this place grateful for your gifts. Golden-haired goddess of the ripening grain, as we love and honor you, may we find beauty and grace within us. Join us and accept our thanks. Hail Sif!

Hail Thor, son of the Earth Mother! Strong and noble keeper of Thunder, Red-Bearded Guardian of us all, guide us through the seasons and the cycles of life. We thank you for the fertility of our lands and for the abundance we have received this year. As we love and honor you, let us find strength and wisdom with us. Join us and accept out thanks. Hail Thor!

Consecration

G takes up the horn. The V pours the drink into the horn.

G: (makes hammer sign over horn then holds it up over head) Hail Gods and Goddesses of the Harvest! I offer this horn to you. Hallow it and accept it as our sacrifice.

Sharing the Offering

G raises horn and toasts the deities invoked.

V takes the horn around to the company, saying, "In peace, may the inspiration of Kvasir be with you, " to each participant.

Three more rounds are made, either reflecting on past, present, and future, or sharing poems, jokes, and boasts of your deeds over the previous year. Refill the horn if necessary and make sure that some of the drink remains at the end of the toasts.

This combines the blot and sumbel, two separate rites. It can take a fair amount of time depending on the number of participants. Alternatively, the G gives a short speech on the past, present, and future before the first and only round, during which participants make brief offerings of their own.

Libation

The remains of the horn are poured into the blotbowl. As it is poured onto the earth, G says: Thus do all things return to the earth.

G: Hail to the gods of the harvest! Hail Jord, Earth and Mother of Thor, for all your blessings! I give thanks to the Landvaettir for their blessings and for sharing this space with us. Those who should fare, fare well. Those who should stay, stay in peace and protection, harmless to me and mine.

End of rite

Whew! I feel as if I've just performed this ceremony through typing it, so anyone who reads the whole thing should get a drink and make a toast and make a libation if they choose, cause that's where I'm headed! That took a lot of energy - Hail Grain Gods and Goddesses - here comes my speech - it is easy to forget in our day and age what our ancestors went through just to survive. They were probably just praying that a few of them would survive from one season to the next to carry on the clan - they knew that some would always die - grim....but maybe that's why they had less of a problem with death than we do?

We surely suffer much less from the many discomforts they endured from the elements - they were constantly reminded of those entities that resided in the East West North and South - especially in the North as it cut through to the bone with little to shield them from it.

Certainly not like we have today - and on top of that to have to sit and get dirty - well it doesn't bear thinking about - or bare thinking about - how to get clean when it's 5 degrees below 0 F.

Not much time for thinking about anything like we are able to do,  anything except doing the next thing that'll keep you and yours alive.

We have much more to be thankful for, but are much less in touch with the Old Gods and Goddesses, and much less thankful than our ancestors were, having lost touch with them.

Perhaps we are entering a future where that is changing - via the internet, and other forms of media where we can so readily communicate our thoughts and feelings with one another, and not fear to be chastised or made fun of - unlike anything in the past - with education and kindness coming to the fore, we are, I hope and pray, opening a new door of awareness and sharing.

So mote it be.

Anne O.T.G.

OK, end of speech, time for 

Offering, Libation ,Happy Mabon

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The Fall Equinox is associated with the classical myth of Demeter and Persephone. Persephone was abducted by Hades at this time of the year, and September was the time of the Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greece. One Wiccan tradition enacts a modern version of these mysteries in September every year. Throughout Europe, a variety of customs have surrounded the cutting of the last sheaf of the grain harvest. In fact, there is such a pattern of opposite beliefs in different localities that one is tempted to think that customs were in some places deliberately turned around backwards as part of the process of Christianization. The last farmer in the neighborhood to finish the harvest might be the subject of teasing or penalties. Being last can be interpreted as good luck or bad luck, or may presage marriage in the coming year. In some places the last sheaf must be cut by a man, and in some places by a woman. Various techniques are used to select the reaper of the last sheaf by chance. Keeping the last sheaf may be said to ensure plenty or famine in the coming year, depending on the region. The last sheaf might be hung up to preside over the threshing or the harvest feast, and then kept until the following year. In some places the sheaf might be thrown onto the fields to ensure a good crop at the time of the next year's spring sowing. In other places the last sheaf, was ritually burned, or fed to sick animals to cure them, or thrown to the first fowl to be butchered. Bits of harvested grain were used for hair ornaments or buttonholes. The last sheaf might be woven into an elaborate decorative "corn dolly."

Although modern Pagans often identify the harvested grain with the sacrificed God, the last sheaf of the harvest actually tended more often to be personified as female. It was referred to as the cailleach (Irish Gaelic for "harvest hag," pronounced "coy-luck," more or less), or in English as the "maiden," the "shorn maiden," the "ivy bride," or the "wheat girl." In Germany the last sheaf was made into a female figure, dressed, and carried home with ceremony to preside over the threshing. Among North African Berbers a straw figure is set up in the fields while the women are reaping, and then carried off by mounted warriors in a mock marriage by abduction. John Barleycorn, a British folk figure popular among modern Pagans as a harvest Deity, was actually associated specifically with the barley which was made into beer. The widespread tendency to associate the staple grain crop with a female figure may be a distant echo of the ancient Eleusinian rites, which honored the disappearance of the Goddess with the waning year and Her return in the spring. In Ireland, the Fall Equinox is the time of the goose harvest, and there is a very old custom of giving gifts of newly-butchered goose and mutton to the poor. This tradition translates readily into a modern one of observing the season by contributing to food pantries or to organizations which serve the homeless. The Norse celebrated the Equinox by making bread dough images of Freyr and Freyja, and sacrificing to the Elves.

Occultists have traditionally regarded the Equinoxes as risky times for magick. Some people prefer to avoid magickal work and important decision-making for a period of several weeks preceding an Equinox.

Mabon falls at the Fall Equinox, or when the sun enters Libra. The Welsh name Mabon means "great son" and refers to the Son of the Great Mother. This Celtic mythological figure, who has many names and figures in many tales, was identified by the Romans as Mercury or sometimes as Apollo. In Christian Britain He was superseded by St. Michael, to whom churches on many sacred Pagan sites were dedicated, and the Fall Equinox became the Christian feast of Michaelmas. In medieval times, rents fell due and contracts were settled at Easter and at Michaelmas.

Mabon is primarily a harvest festival; it falls either during or at the end of the European grain harvest, depending on latitude. The Fall equinox is the mating season for deer, and marks the beginning of the hunting season in many places. In British folklore this time of year is associated with Herne the Hunter, who leads a wild phantom chase through the forest, heralding confusion and change. In one Craft tradition the Fall Equinox is called "the Night of the Hunter," when weak livestock which will not survive the winter must be slain. Mabon in some traditions marks the death or departure of the God in His yearly life-cycle; in others, however, this may occur at Lughnasadh or at Samhain. The Fall Equinox has also been identified as the "assumption of the Crone," when the dark face of the Goddess assumes the sway over the world which She will hold until the return of the Maiden at Imbolc.

This day sees light and dark in balance again, before the descent to the dark times. A harvest festival is held, thanking the Goddess for giving us enough sustenance to feed us through the winter. Harvest festivals of many types still occur today in farming country, and Thanksgiving is an echo of these.

In this way the Wheel turns, bringing us back to Samhain where we began our cycle. Many of the festival days coincide with holidays of the Jewish and Christian calendars. This is no accident; these points in the year were important community celebrations, and were kept largely intact although they were rededicated to the Christian God or a saint. The names may have changed, but the old Pagan practices still show through.

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A traditional practice is to walk wild places and forests, gathering seed pods and dried plants. Some of these can be used to decorate the home; others saved for future herbal magick. The foods of Mabon consist of the second harvest's gleanings, so grains, fruit and vegetables predominate, especially corn. Corn bread is traditional fare, as are beans and baked squash.

"Give thanks to the Gods for the harvest.
Evaluate the past year, and identify what to harvest and what to plow under.
Identify and cut away outworn habits and emotional baggage which are wearing you down.
Work for balance and equilibrium in nature or in human affairs.
Give to those less fortunate than you are.

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]great autumnal decoration/guardian spirit project:

From "The Blessed Bee"  A Pagan Family Newsletter"

"Autumn is a time of transformation and celebration, when nature dances in spectacular colors and the seasons fade into winter.  What a special time to create Pinecone Fairies from Mother Nature's gifts that fall to the Earth.


.....go on a nature craft supply hunt for items such as pinecones, willow branches, colorful leaves, dried up wild flowers, nuts, seeds, small rocks, feathers, moss...thanks the forest for the gifts you are taking. 
Upon returning home, other supplies you may need are scissors , yarn, fabric scraps, glue (white or glue gun) and a marker.
Pick out your favorite pinecone to be the base of the body.  Tie a piece of yarn around the center of the pinecone, leaving about an extra foot for hanging the faerie when finished. Now get creative - glue on sticks for arms and legs, a small rock shell or seed for a head, moss for hair, pine needles for clothes or whatever else you can possible imagine!
To make wings, simply take a scrap of fabric, tie it in the middle and glue it to the back of the pinecone - or maybe you found some feathers to make a nice headdress {or wings}- draw a face with marker and viola!"

the author further states..."I have my Pinecone Fairies hanging from houseplants around my house my home.  You can also hang them outside on your favorite tree or near your garden.  I like to think of them as nature divas, calling the plant and animal spirits of the forest to bless and protect our homes and gardens as we prepare for winter's rest...They can also be a magical addition to puppet theatres or plays."

by Julie  Gauss, certified clinical herbalist, work-at home mother and homestead wife.

Anne's suggestion - what about a whole Yule Tree decorated with them - I'm gonna go for it!!!:)
Blessed Bee the Faerie Yule Tree!
 

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