By Fire Well and Tree

Wounded I hung on a wind-swept gallows For nine long nights, Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odin, Offered, myself to myself I scarcely believed the words left my lips.  I was meditating.  I was at a coven gathering, where we were experimenting with different kinds of recorded music and meditation or trance.  At the time, I wasn't very good at that, but through this exercise I discovered that simple music (a single Asian flute) works best, and I found myself on Yggdrasil.  I decided, in my meditative mind, to head towards Alfheim, having been told in a seidhr that I should sit with Freyr for a while.  On my way, there was a man hanging, upside down.  As I approached, he begged me for some water.  There was a bucket with a silver ladle nearby, and I reached down to get some water, I stopped. Me:  You aren't supposed to have this. Himself:  Please.... It was then that I quoted the above back to him and then continued.  (Special note: In real life I cannot qu

One of the key things about any spiritual or magical undertaking seems to be this one.  Know thyself.  Who am I?  By way of introductions for those who don't know me, here we go. First and foremost, I am a Child of the Earth.  I mean this literally.  There is a chant I learned early on in my pagan days that goes: Earth my body Water my blood Air my breath and Fire my spirit I think that sums it up fairly well.  There are a whole bunch of other meditations and conceptualizations connecting the human body to various aspects of nature, mirroring the creation of the cosmos in some mythologies out of the body of the primal being. I am a wife, daughter, sister, aunt, godmother, daughter-in-law, great-aunt (oy), and friend.  I'm not always so successful at all of those all the time, what with the being human and all.  But I place great store by my place in the social web.  I try to be loyal and supportive; but I am also not a doormat.  I don't turn the other cheek; I wo