New Year’s Pork Chops & Sauerkraut

Rose1 Comment

By now I think long-time readers are aware that my goal here at Forþ-weard is to support other Fyrnsidera in establishing their modern praxis. To me, a big part of that exploring the holy tides and what modern adaptations and traditions for them could look like. Today, I want to talk about the New Year.

Some Anglo-Saxon heathens will tell you that the new spiritual year begins on Modraniht. Some actually move their celebration of Modraniht to our modern New Year’s Eve to sync up their spiritual new year with the calendar one.1 Personally, I consider the time between Modraniht and New Year’s Eve as a liminal time that doesn’t truly belong to either year, a time aside from the day to day. This is my unverified personal gnosis (UPG) and your mileage may vary. As such, I spread out a lot of my “new years” traditions throughout that period. One such tradition is actually a family tradition I’ve decided to continue: eating pork chops with sauerkraut on New Year’s Day for good luck and prosperity.2

The fact that I continue this tradition is a point of amusement in and of itself. You see, when I was growing up it was often a joke in my family that they would have to disown me over my distaste for sauerkraut. After all, what self-respecting American of strong German ethnic background doesn’t like sauerkraut? Well, me apparently, although I have found a way to prepare it to make my family’s New Year’s Day tradition an enjoyable one for myself.

So, here I am sharing for you my version of New Year’s Pork Chops & Sauerkraut for the one day of the year I actually eat sauerkraut by choice.

Ingredients

1 24oz jar German-style sauerkraut3
4 bone-in pork chops
Salt & pepper to taste
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tsp onion powder
2 bay leaves4
1/2 cup dark brown sugar5
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. Salt and pepper the pork chops. You can also sprinkle some onion powder on them if you’d like.
  3. Brown the pork chops in butter in a pan large enough to lay them out in a single layer.
  4. Remove pork chops and add the onions. Cook until the onions are just translucent.
  5. Add sauerkraut, onion powder, and brown sugar. Combine well and add bay leaves.
  6. Place the pork chops back over the mixture and transfer to oven.
  7. Bake for 15 minutes or until pork chops are cooked through

You can be as magical, or as mundane about this whole affair as you would like. Enjoy! If you happen to make this, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

  1. Byron over at Mine Wyrtruman has a blog post entitled “Beginning the New Year with Mothers Night” that discusses the dating of mother’s night and the Fyrnsidu new year in much greater detail. ↩︎
  2. I have absolutely no idea what the history behind this tradition is or why my family does it, they just always have for as long as I’ve been alive. ↩︎
  3. I use the one from Aldi ↩︎
  4. I started adding these for just a little extra magical prosperity kick, but I also find they add a little something something to the flavor. ↩︎
  5. Light brows sugar works fine, I just think dark gives a nicer color. ↩︎

A Pagan’s Post-Election Thoughts

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So, November 5th happened how it happened. I needed a few days to process my bigger feelings and gather my thoughts. As did most of us, I think. Americans left of center are currently in varying stages of grief, despair, rage, and hope. Much of Europe seems to be right there with us on the “America, what the fuck?” train.

This isn’t a “political” blog in the sense that I write extensively about the goings-on in American politics. The goal and focus of my writing is to offer resources to those who wish to begin or continue a heathen praxis. However, it is foolish to think that any body of work dealing with religious identity is apolitical. The very act of having a religious identity is a political act in the United States, especially a non-Christian one.

One of the things I did after the election results rolled in was spend time in prayer with Frīg. I was so angry going into that conversation, but her energy was calm. It was almost frustrating how serene it felt. The message she had for me was clear, even if it wasn’t what I’d wanted to hear at that moment: Stop. Breathe. Think critically.

For me, I believe I was being told to practice good judgment and direct all that rage energy somewhere productive. As much as it might feel good, responding to every dumb right-wing thing I see on FB with “Are you a fucking moron?” won’t be helpful. There is work to be done in building and sustaining my communities so we can weather the storm. There is work to be done to help de-program the people in my life who have fallen for the propaganda. These are the areas where my focus will be in the coming year.

I also think the message of “think critically” is one I’m supposed to share. There have been many, many things posted online since leading up to the election and in the wake of the results. Some of them are true and should be shouted from the rooftops. Some of them are not true. It is vital that we discern the difference. We absolutely must fact-check things before we spread them. We do harm when we share untruths and distract from the real threats.

I don’t know what religious freedom in the United States is going to look like in a year, two years, four years. It feels as though the foxes are well and truly in the hen house right now. But for now, I will still be here, being proudly pagan.

Observing Winterfylleþ

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It’s already late September, and it feels like this year has just flown by. Those of us in the northern hemisphere are officially in what Americans consider to be “fall” (Personally, I prefer “autumn”). For Anglo-Saxon heathens and Fyrnsideras that means Winterfylleþ (Oct 17th) is nearly upon us.

What is Winterfylleþ?

Hence they called the month in which the winter season began “Winterfilleth”, a name made up from “winter” and “full Moon”, because winter began on the full Moon of that month.
De temporum ratione (The Reckoning of Time), The Venerable Bede

We know from the Venerable Bede that the Old English word translates to “Winter Full Moon” and that moon marks the beginning of Winter1… and that’s pretty much all he has to say on the subject. As usual, Bede gives us just enough information to whet the appetite and make some inferences.

For me, Winterfylleþ is one of my four “big” holy days, along with Geol, Ēostredæg, and Midsumor. For me, it is a time for both thanksgiving and propitiation. I consider it to be the beginning of the Wild Hunt, which will end around Geol. I don’t really have strong textual evidence for this last assertion, but I think it is thematically fitting. Many other cultures and pagan paths consider this time between summer and winter to be liminal, the connection between the world of the living and the dead stronger. For example, pagans with a more Celtic lean are getting ready to celebrate Samhain. Norse heathens may be gearing up for Alfablot. In Mexico, the Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1st, and of course, we can’t forget about Halloween and All Saints Day. Seems to be a running theme, no?

Because we have little textual evidence for how the Anglo-Saxons might have celebrated this hinge in the year, I look to comparative traditions to inform my praxis. And so, my Winterfylleþ celebration will be three nights with three parts:

  1. Welcoming my honored dead and beloved ancestors into my home.
  2. Saying goodbye to seasonal deities who I will welcome back with summer’s return.
  3. Offering to the gods with prayers for a safe and comfortable winter.

Welcoming the Honored Dead

This can be accomplished in several ways. I like to make an offering and invite my ancestors to linger in my home before preparing a nice dinner. The offering could be anything, really, but I often offer my ancestors coffee because most of my known ancestors enjoyed it during their lifetimes. I may also offer my grandfather’s favorite cigarettes or some pipe tobacco this year.

Once dinner is prepared, I will then set aside a portion of the meal at an extra place setting as an offering. (If more of my living family were pagan, I would invite them to this dinner as well, but alas, they are not). I am incapable of being quiet, so I don’t do the silent supper I often see suggested for Samhain. Instead, I prefer sharing stories of loved ones who have gone on before. Telling stories and toasting the memories of our beloved dead is a very Anglo-Saxon heathen thing to do, in my opinion. 

After dinner, an additional libation offering or dessert offering at the altar may be an excellent choice. For me, this is also a good time to break out my oracle deck and see if my ancestors have anything they’d like to communicate with me. I derive a lot of comfort from these talks.

Saying Goodbye to Seasonal Deities

To me, this is a time to say goodbye to Eorthe for the season as she enters her winter slumber, awaiting Eostre’s return in the spring. This year, I will be placing my representations of them in a special place to “rest” until Hrēþe’s victory over Winter in the new year. This is, of course, largely based on my own UPG and SPG I share with others that suggest Eostre and Eorthe grow quieter in the winter months. 

Prayers for a Safe and Comfortable Winter

In our modern world, the harshness of winter often seems softened by electric lights and gas furnaces. However, it doesn’t take much for those luxuries to disappear, if only temporarily. In my part of the world, we’re sometimes one bad storm with blackouts away from freezing. In my mind, it makes sense to make offerings to the gods in hopes that such storms will pass us by and that death stays away for another season.

As previously mentioned, I consider this to be the beginning of the Wild Hunt. Therefore, it is a good time to ask Woden to steer his Hunt away from my door. Frīg is also a major part of my praxis, so I will be asking for her aid in managing my family’s resources well through the winter months. My offerings will consist of grain, wool, whiskey, and incense. It may seem overboard, but as I said, I consider this one of my “big” celebrations.

The gods that you choose to honor for Winterfylleþ may be completely different. Some Norse heathens choose to honor Freyr (Ing in Fyrnsidu) and the elves for Alfablot at this time. Patricia M. Lafayllve’s A Practical Heathen’s Guide to Asatru2 suggests a Winternights ritual honoring the wights, for example.

Final Thoughts

I view Winterfylleþ as a hinge of the year, a beginning and an end. The practices I am building around this holiday reflect this mindset. As time goes by and I grow in my praxis, these things will likely evolve. It will be interesting to look back at this post next year when I’m preparing for the holiday again.

I’d love to hear from you. Do you celebrate Winterfylleþ? Samhain? Something else? Do you have a favorite tradition associated with this time of year? Let me know in the comments!

Photo Credit: Gippe

  1. The Anglo-Saxons, much like their Norse cousins, recognized two seasons or halves of the year, Summer and Winter. What we think of today as Autumn/Fall and Spring are split between the two. Bede also mentions this before explaining Winterfylleþ. ↩︎
  2. Chapter 14 https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-practical-heathen-s-guide-to-asatru-patricia-m-lafayllve/8763949?ean=9780738733876 ↩︎

Further Reading

Ancestor Veneration

Winterfylleþ

A Ritual for Beowa

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I was very excited to have another opportunity to write a ritual to Beowa this month. It was my pleasure to introduce some of my friends to this beloved Anglo-Saxon god of barley and beer. Our group includes some very talented bards, and we were blessed with a lovely rendition of John Barleycorn to round out our offerings. Here is a link to a popular version of John Barleycorn on YouTube, in case you’ve never heard the song.

As always, this ritual format assumes you have your own preferences for ritual purification.

For this ritual, you will need:

  • Some sort of flat space for an altar. A table, a big flat rock, a window sill. Doesn’t matter.
  • An image of Beowa
  • Libation offerings. Water or juice is absolutely fine, but I suggest barleywine, beer, or malt whiskey.
  • Something to pour the libations into.
  • Incense (optional). I use loose with charcoal or cones, but whatever type you prefer is just dandy.
  • Candles. LED works just as well.

Good Neighbors (optional)

Note: This section is optional and has been put here in case you are performing this ritual outside or in an unfamiliar space (such as a rented park pavilion).

Good Neighbors, Spirits of this Place
We know that this space is yours
But we ask that you let us borrow it for a while
Join us if our purpose is agreeable
Or leave us in peace for a time

Action: Pour libation for the Good Neighbors outside the space where you will be holding ritual.

Statement of Purpose

At Midsumor we reached a fullness as Sunne reached the height of her power. As the full moon comes only fleetingly each month, so too does summer’s peak last but a moment. The waxing year has ended, and the time of waning has began. And so, the harvests reach their peak and must be gathered in.



Now begins the time of reaping all that we have sown. Many of those seeds of intention we planted in the months following Ewemeolc have grown and blossomed, ripened for the harvest, just like the barley on its golden stalks.



And so tonight, we honor Bēowa, the spirit of the barley.

Action: Light the altar candles

Gatekeeper (optional)

Note: I do not usually acknowledge a gatekeeper in my personal praxis, but I know a lot of people do. So, I chose to include this section for those who may be looking for an appropriate gatekeeper-deity in Fyrnsidu. Other options might include Wadda, Frīg, or even Woden, depending on the purpose of the ritual.

Æled, radiant one, offering-bearer
We ask that you give life to this flame
That it may carry our gifts and prayers
Upon its rising smoke
Open the gate!

Action: Light incense or pour libation offering for Æled.

Invocation

Hail to thee, John Barleycorn.
To the one who is sown, grown and reaped.
You provide us with grain for beer and bread
Good food to fill our bellies and make us merry
Through your birth, life and death
You keep us hale all winter through.

Hail Bēowa!
[All: Hail Bēowa]

Action: Pour a libation of barleywine, beer, or malt whiskey for Beowa

We offer you now beer and barely and song,

A return for that which you have given us,
that you may raise you head again in the spring
and give us good gifts again next year.

Action: Pour an additional libation for Beowa. Sing or play John Barleycorn.

Closing

From the gods, to the earth, to us
From us, to the earth, to the gods
A gift has been given, may be it be well received.

Action: Blow out the candles to indicate the closing of the rite. Dispose of offerings appropriately.

Image Credit: Canva

A Ritual for Midsumor

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Look at me being timely with posting a ritual this time! The little cadre of midwestern Fyrnsidera that I met up with for Ēosturdæg are meeting again for Midsumor next week. This time we’re having a cookout and giving thanks to Sunne for the life-giving heat and light she provides.

As usual, this post assumes that you or your group have your own preferences for ritual cleanliness.

For this ritual, you will need:

  • Some sort of flat space for an altar. A table, a big flat rock, a window sill. Doesn’t matter.
  • An image of Sunne (optional, esp if outside)
  • Libation offerings. Water or juice is absolutely fine.
  • Something to pour the libations into.
  • Incense (optional). I use loose with charcoal or cones, but whatever type you prefer is just dandy.
  • Candles. LED works just as well.

Good Neighbors (optional)

Note: This section is optional and has been put here in case you are performing this ritual outside or in an unfamiliar space (such as a rented park pavilion).

Good Neighbors, Spirits of this Place
We know that this space is yours
But we ask that you let us borrow it for a while
Join us if our purpose is agreeable
Or leave us in peace for a time

Action: Pour libation for the Good Neighbors outside the space you will be holding ritual.

Statement of Purpose

Today makes the midpoint in the summer season.
It is a hinge upon which the year turns
From new life and growth to harvest and death
The time of warmth and bounty begins to wane
And so we gather to honor Sunne at the height of her power
Before the cycles of nature pull her distant from us once more.

Action: Light the altar candles

Gatekeeper (optional)

Note: I do not usually acknowledge a gatekeeper in my personal praxis, but I know a lot of people do. So, I chose to include this section for those who may be looking for an appropriate gatekeeper-deity in Fyrnsidu. Other options might include Wadda, Frīg, or even Woden, depending on the purpose of the ritual.

Æled, radiant one, offering-bearer
We ask that you give life to this flame
That it may carry our gifts and prayers
Upon its rising smoke
Open the gate!

Action: Light incense or pour libation offering for Æled.

Invocation

Hail Sunne, brilliant Day Rider, and  Ever-glowing goddess
[All Hail Sunne]

Action: Add incense or pour libation for Sunne.

Your brilliance warms Mother Eorthe’s soil,
Calling forth the green growing things that nourish our bodies.
Today, we celebrate the peak of your glory.
We relish and respect the hot rays of your light,
And adore the feel of your warmth upon our skin,
Even as we protect ourselves from your full might



Accept now our offerings, our praise, and our thanks for the beautiful gift of your light. Remember us, even as the wheel turns and autumn begins to encroach upon our bright summer joy.

Action: Add incense or pour additional libation for Sunne. If in a group, allow time after the main offering for individual prayers and offerings. You may also allow time for additional toasts and/or divination.

Closing

From the gods, to the earth, to us
From us, to the earth, to the gods
A gift has been given, may be it be well received.

Action: Blow out the candles to indicate the closing of the rite. Dispose of offerings appropriately.

A spice jar of incense and a black stone mortar and pestle.

Nine Herb Charm Incense

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Disclaimer: I AM NOT AN EXPERT. Do not touch, consume, burn, or otherwise mess with any plant you are unfamiliar with. Consult an actual herbalist or your doctor. For all the gods’ sakes, please exercise caution and common sense when working with herbs. Always burn incense in a well-ventilated space away from pets.

One of the rather frustrating things about reconstructing Anglo-Saxon paganism is the lack of written sources. What sources we do have were written in the centuries after conversion and tend to provide only tantalizing hints about what might have been. One such piece of writing is the “Nine Herb Charm,” a medical text that describes the use of a combination of, you guessed it, nine plants in a salve along with a lengthy verbal component.1

Were these nine plants the most sacred plants in Anglo-Saxon paganism? We don’t know. Heck, we’re not even 100% sure what some of them actually are. But, the Nine Herb Charm provides all sorts of interesting glimpses into the Anglo-Saxon pagan mind. For example, it mentions “the seven worlds,” informing us just a little about the Anglo-Saxon sense of cosmology.

Since the Nine Herbs are described—at length—to drive out poison and illness, I thought it would make perfect sense to adapt them into an incense recipe for cleansing during formal rituals.

Nine Herb Charm Incense

  • 1 part dried Mugwort
  • 1 part dried Plantain leaves
  • 1 part dried Bittercress
  • 1 part dried Betony
  • 1 part dried Chamomile flowers
  • 1 part dried Stinging Nettle
  • 1 part Applewood shavings
  • 1 part dried Parsley
  • 1 part Fennel seeds

I ordered everything except the parsley and applewood from an herb shop on Etsy. The parsley came from my pantry, and I shaved bits off a piece of the applewood my husband keeps around for his smoker. From there, I measured everything with a teaspoon into my mortar and gave it all a good smash to break up the big bits. This yielded me about half a spice jar of incense.

Guesses & Substitutions

Scholars aren’t entirely sure about the identity of some of the plants. Attorlaðe, for example, is unknown but thought by many to be woody betony.2 I did see someone claim that this plant was black nightshade, which I would not recommend. Cockspur grass is another common interpretation. I chose betony.

The next questionable interpretation is for “lamb’s cress.” Some people take it to mean watercress, while others say hairy bittercress or Cardamine hirsuta.3 I opted to use Cardamine bulbosa, a close relative to hair bittercress that is native to North America.4

My next swap is the applewood shavings. In the charm, they seem to be using a mash made of crabapples. I suppose I could have gotten my hands on some crabapples and dried their skin or something, but I think using a bit of applewood actually makes more sense for incense, especially given that the wood was intended for a smoker anyway.

And finally, there is the parsley. Some scholars believe that fille in the charm refers to chervil or a similar plant.5 Chervil is related to parsley,6 which is much more readily available in my local grocery store. Patti Wiggington uses thyme in her Nine Herb Charm salve.7

Don’t forget a good chant

I also wrote a little galdor to go with it because why not? The original charm had a verbal component, after all.

Nine herbs sacred burn and smoke
Remember all which past you smote
Drive out illness, malice, and pain
Clear this space of the profane.

Conclusion

Is this an exact replica of what was used in Anglo-Saxon times? Definitely not. But do I think it will make the right connections and enhance my praxis? Absolutely.

Let me know in the comments if you have a different Nine Herbs blend that you favor. I’d love to know!

  1. Read a translation here https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/nigon-wyrta-galdor ↩︎
  2. I went with betony, which is listed here: https://heorot.dk/woden-9herbs.html. However, you can find a couple of alternative suggested plants here https://www.herbalhistory.org/home/the-nine-herbs-charm-plants-poisons-and-poetry/ ↩︎
  3. https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/nigon-wyrta-galdor#wyrts ↩︎
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardamine_bulbosa ↩︎
  5. https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/nigon-wyrta-galdor#wyrts ↩︎
  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chervil ↩︎
  7. https://www.pattiwigington.com/saturday-spellwork-the-9-herbs-charm/ ↩︎

Sorry if I got a little lazy on the footnotes this time, y’all.

Book Review: The Darkening Age

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The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey takes the story of Christianity’s “triumph” and turns it on its head. The reader is taken on a journey through time where, piece by piece, the pagan Roman world is transformed.

I had always assumed that the rough condition of many ancient statues was primarily a function of age and rough handling by people who did not understand their value. Likewise, I attributed all of the lost literature to time, war, natural disasters, and general human carelessness. I’m sure those factors played a part, but I did not realize how much purposeful destruction was wreaked upon Greek and Roman art during Christianity’s rise to power. I suppose it really should not have surprised me.

After my initial shock, the primary emotions I felt throughout this book were an ebb and flow of grief and rage. For each thing preserved from ancient Rome, a hundred more were destroyed. How many great works of art, literature, and science did we lose? How many decades or even centuries of advancement did they hobble? It saddens me to think of all the books we’ll never read because some preacher or bishop decided to burn them.

Some may find Nixey’s condemnation of the early church heavy-handed, perhaps even a little rage-baity. Indeed, I found myself having to step away from the book at times. But I think it is important to see these events through the eyes of the pagan beholder—and not the victors who wrote the history books. And yet, because so much pagan writing was lost, Nixey must condemn the church fathers largely through their own words.

Speaking of sources; the citations, footnotes, and bibliography for The Darkening Age are extensive. I thought I still had almost half the book left when it ended, only to discover it was all back matter!

The writing itself is very approachable rather than academic or stuffy. The way Nixey weaves the overall narrative of the early church with stories and anecdotes from individual writers is very engaging.

All in all, I would recommend the book to anyone with an interest in the subject matter.

Building an Altar Shelf

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I’ve recently had a drive to spruce up my general altar space (this is separate from my area dedicated to Frig). One of the things I really wanted was a shelf to elevate certain items. I looked all over the internet, and nothing felt quite right. So, I decided to do a little DIY. Fortunately, I have a very handy husband who no longer asks questions and just breaks out the measuring tape.

A picture of a 4ft stair tread propped against a toolbox and surrounded by misc stuff, including camping chairs, turkey decoys in a bag, and hardware cloth.

My first order of business was the wood. I did not want to make it out of pine or poplar, though I supposed I could have picked up an appropriately sized board at Home Depot. I was just starting to think I would have to go to a dedicated lumber store when I found this: a red oak stair tread.

Please ignore the camping chairs, bag of turkey decoys, hardware fabric, and other misc items in the picture. The garage really isn’t suited for photo shoots.

Is this the ideal material for building a shelf? Probably not. Was it easily accessible and easy to put in the backseat of my car? Absolutely.

Here’s the full material list:

  • 4′ red oak stair tread
  • 4-pack of 2″ corner braces
  • 1 pack of 1″ felt pads
  • Fine sandpaper or sanding block
  • Tung oil (or whatever finish you prefer)

And the tools we used:

  • Table saw
  • Chop saw
  • Drill
  • Electric sander
A picture of the listed materials.

The space I wanted to put this in wasn’t really deep enough to accommodate the whole depth of the stair tread, so the first thing we did was rip it down to 9″ wide with the table saw. If you have the space for it, the rounded edge of the stair tread could actually make a nice front for the shelf. Alas, I do not have the space.

A sketch of how we cut the stair tread.
Here is a rough sketch from my iPad of how we cut the stair tread into the shelf pieces.

After that, my husband cut the legs from the main piece, measured at 7″ each. The remaining 32ish inches became the top piece. While he was doing that, I spot-tested how the tung oil would look on the scrap from step 1.

The chop saw burned the wood a bit, but I was able to get the marks off with the electric sander. I also used this to speed up the process of cleaning up the sharp edges of the cuts before finishing with very fine grit sandpaper.

Then, it was time for assembly. I forgot to take pictures, but we measured 4″ in from each end and marked it. We then measured 2″ in along those lines on each side to mark where the braces would go. We placed a leg and a brace and marked the holes. Repeat for each brace.

Drill, baby, drill. Pre-drilling is important, especially since this is a hardwood. Hubby drilled all the holes, and then assembly began.

The shelf flipped upside down to show the corner braces
Here you can see the placement of the braces.

From there it was just a matter of rubbing on the tung oil and leaving it sit for 15 minutes before buffing it out. I let it cure for a day and then repeated the process and cured it one m ore day before adding the felt pads. And voila! A finished shelf for my altar space.

Finished shelf sitting on a work bench.
The finished shelf sits on the garage workbench

This was a really fun and gratifying project. The finished product is hardly perfect, but it was made with love and perfect for my needs. I’m looking forward to having this shelf in my sacred space for many years to come.

A Ritual to Eostre

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The spring has just been flying by and I have not been on top of the blog! It seems I blinked and it was Ēosturdæg. The big post I’ve been working on will be delayed, I’m afraid. But, never fear, I do have more content coming. For now, I have a somewhat belated ritual to share with you. I composed following group ritual for a meet-up with other Fyrsideras this weekend. I’m posting it a bit late but there’s no rule that says we can’t hail Ēostre any time besides Ēosturdæg! It’s a little short and sweet but I hope y’all find it helpful.

A few important notes: I am assuming that the individual or group performing the ritual has their own preferences for ritual cleansing, and so jump straight into the hallowing. And while I do not personally include a gatekeeper in my personal praxis, I have included a section for those who do; feel free to skip it. As always, my hallowing and closing are borrowed from my friend Wind in the Worldtree. See my Geol ritual for more ritual notes.

For this ritual you will need:

  • Some sort of flat space for an altar. A table, big flat rock, a window sill. Doesn’t matter.
  • An images of Ēostre (optional)
  • Libation offerings. Water or juice is absolutely fine.
  • Birdseed or similar
  • Something to pour the libations into.
  • Incense (optional). I use loose with charcoal, but whatever type you prefer is just dandy.
  • Candles. LED work just as well.

Hallowing

May the gods guide us,
May our oaths keep us,
May our deeds free us,
May our ancestors aid us always.
May the gods banish from this place ill and wrong,
Hallow this space, shield us from all baneful wights,
Let the gods’ blessing be over our heads!

Action: Walk around the space with a flame such as a candle or lamp as the words are spoken. Light the altar candles.

Statement of Purpose

We have come together today to celebrate the coming of spring, the beginning of a season of warmth and growth. Hrēðe has defeated Old Man Winter, and now Ēostre dances across the land, coaxing all that is green and good from Eorthe’s rich soil.

Gatekeeper

Æled, radiant one, offering-bearer
We ask that you give life to this flame
That it may carry our gifts and prayers
Upon its rising smoke
Open the gate!

Action: Pour a libation or light incense for Æled

Invocation

Hail Ēostre, Bringer of Summer and Bearer of Blossoms

[All: Hail Ēostre]


You bring us to wakefulness with the dawn
As you rouse the Earth from her Winter slumber.
You know the timing of flowers and the dances of bees.

We come before you to celebrate your day,
Grateful for the waking world around us,
For he dandelions that grow plentiful around our feet,
The singing of birds and the buzzing of bees.
And the sweet scent of spring rain before the summer blooms.
We thank you for these signs of the turning season
And the warmer temperatures that bring them.

They are such beautiful gifts that you give us.

A gift calls for a gift, and so now we bring you our humble offerings.

Action: Pour libations and/or scatter birdseed (if outdoors). If in a group, allow time after the main offering for individual prayers and offerings. You may also allow time for additional toasts.

Closing

From the gods, to the earth, to us
From us, to the earth, to the gods
A gift has been given, may it be well received

Action: Blow out candles to signify the end of the ritual and dispose of the offerings appropriately.

The Etymology of Easter, a Primer

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I thought it was a bit early to be talking about Ēosturdæg, but Ostara gets celebrated earlier and the nonsense has started on social media already. So, here we are. This was not the post I was intending to write for Ēosturdæg (in fact, I have another one mostly written in drafts) but it is the one I feel compelled to write because I had the misfortune to be scrolling TikTok this morning.

There exists a certain pagan-phobic subset of Christians that refuse to use the word Easter. Some that I knew during my Christian days would stubbornly refuse to call the holiday anything other than “Resurrection Sunday” (despite the fact that other names for the holiday derived from Latin exist). And why would they do this? Because according to them, the word Easter comes from the name of the goddess Ishtar.

It’s funny, because they’re half right. Easter does come from the name of a pagan goddess… but not that one.

To understand the basic etymology of the name and why English speakers generally call the holiday Easter, we need look no further than the Venerable Bede1.

Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated as “Paschal month”, and which was once called after a goddess named Eostre, in whose honor feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honored name of the old observance.

De temporum ratione (The Reckoning of Time), The Venerable Bede

For those unfamiliar with Latin, “Paschal” in this context is the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this passage, Bede explains to us that an older English word has been grafted onto this celebration that is now dominate in England at the time of his writing.

So, Ēostre was a goddess in what we now called England who we know existed from this one singular reference from an English monk writing in the 700s CE. She may or may not have had cognates in other Germanic cultures, such as Jacob Grimm’s hypothesized Ostara. Honestly, this is an area of rather fascinating scholarly debate. I will save further discussion of that for my other upcoming post though.

Meanwhile, Ishtar (or Inanna, as she was known to the Sumerians) was a goddess worshiped by various cultures in and around Mesopotamia.2 The name Ishtar comes from Akkadian, a Semitic language.3

The probability that Ishtar influenced the development of Ēostre as a goddess or a linguistic concept in a completely different language family (Indo-European) is incredibly low. The Wiktionary entry for Ishtar even notes that this is a debunked modern folk-etymology.4 But if you want to explore the actual etymology of Ēostre in much greater depth (and gain a terrible headache) I suggest you check out the book I reviewed last month by Philip Shaw.

In conclusion, Easter comes from an Anglo-Saxon name for an Anglo-Saxon goddess that attached to a Christian holiday as a localized name through the normal processes of syncretism and assimilation. While the name may be pagan in origin (if you believe Bede as I do), it has been used in a Christian context for a minimum of 1300 years. If it was good enough for Bede in 725, it’s probably fine. But if you’re going to be weird about words with pagan origins I’ve got some bad news about the days of the week…

Post-Easter Edit

I’ve see so many progressive Christian clergy slandering the Venerable Bede this week that it’s making my head spin. You do not have to accuse Bede of “making shit up” to make the case that the celebration of Easter as we know it is a Christian phenomenon. In case I was not clear above, having the local name stem from a possible pagan goddess does not make the holiday itself pagan. Easter is an entirely Christian holiday and not “stolen” from pagans. That doesn’t invalidate pagans who wish to celebrate Eosturdæg as a day devoted to Eostre or pagans who wish to celebrate the equinox as Ostara. Something doesn’t have to be ancient to be valid.

  1. Bede was a monk who lived from about 672 CE to 735 CE. He wrote an An Ecclesiastical History of the English People, as well The Reckoning of Time, which is the single best source for reconstructing the pagan Anglo-Saxon calendar. Here’s the Wikipedia entry if you want a jumping off point to read more about Bede. ↩︎
  2. Here’s the Wikipedia entry on Inanna if you again want a jumping off point for further reading. ↩︎
  3. Somewhat ironically, “paschal” from the Latin “pascha” actually comes from another language in the same family as Akkadian: Hebrew. ↩︎
  4. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ishtar ↩︎