Turningthe Wheel Connla Freyjasonand Michelle Iacona Iaconagraphy Presscopyright 2020

About The Authors
Connla Freyjason prefers to think outside the

box, even as he practices the Old Ways. Having
spent the past twenty years as a Pagan, he is a self-
educated archaeologist, a practicing vitki, and also
a digital artist. Founder of the new Path of Norse
Practice called Heidhr Craft and author of Norse
Witch: Reclaiming the Heidhrinn Heart, his is a
voice straight from the Otherworld. The “presiding
spirit” currently “horsed” by Seidhrkona Michelle
Iacona, he is a man with a valuable voice; a man,
like most men, who got where he is right now
through considerable help from very dear friends
and loved ones.
Michelle Iacona is an author, ordained

priestess, trans-medium, and psychic reader with
over thirty years of combined experience and
practice. The “host” of Connla Freyjason for over
twenty of those years, she has continued her study
of the esoteric arts with such important names in
the field as Laurie Cabot, Christopher Penczak,
Kristoffer Hughes, and Michelle Belanger.
Massachusetts
Turning the Wheel: The Ritual Year of the Norse Witch
(Special PDF Edition) © 2020 Michelle Iacona and
Connla Freyjason. All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be used or reproduced in any manner, without
written permission from the copyright holder or the
listed author, except in the case of brief, credited
quotations.
SPECIAL EDITION
Author Photos: S. Hersey

Book Design: Michelle Iacona & Connla Freyjason
Cover Art & Illustration: Connla Freyjason &
“The Mystic”
Interior Illustration: Connla Freyjason
SPECIAL PDF EBOOK EDITION
Portions of this volume also appear in the following titles

from Iaconagraphy Press:
Norse Witch by Connla Freyjason

Blessings of Fire and Ice by Connla Freyjason
Upcoming:
Heidhr Craft by Connla Freyjason

Wheel of Fire and Ice by Connla Freyjason
Raising Hel by Michelle Iacona
facebook.com/Iaconagraphy
For all those open-hearted Norse Witches who
have gone before, and for all those who will
come after....
Contents
Acknowledgments x
Heidhr Craft 1
The Wheel of the Year 7
Ritual Forms 37
Blessing of Ritual Tools 43
The Blot of Smiths 47
Rite of Reforging 51
Dedication of a Ritual Tool 53
The Alf Wheel 55
Disablot 57
Sigrblot 65
Vanirblot 76
Midsummer 89
Freyrfaxi/Freyrthing 106
viii
Winternights 116
Alfablot 129
Yuletide 141
Krampusnacht 142
The Feast of Hel as Holda 150
High Yule 161
The Tidal Cycle 177
Altar Creation 186
ix
Acknowledgments
Connla Freyjason:
I would like to extend my most humble gratitude to all those

who have played a part in not only supporting but also helping to
build this new Path of Heidhr Craft, most especially my wife-in-
spirit, Suzanne Hersey, and my “hostess with the mostest”, Michelle
Iacona.
Alfred McCarthy: I wholeheartedly blame you for “getting me
into this mess”. Thanks for constantly being there to not talk me out
of it!
John Hijatt: Thank you for always being the voice of
compassionate reason, and the best damn cheerleader a man could
ever have.
Michael Guerra: Thank you for being a constant reminder
that people really are excited about this Path; your passion for this
Craft has often been the wind in my sails when the seas were
otherwise at a dead calm.
Kriselda Gray: I am listening!
Vicky Rowden: Thank you for being our champion when we
needed a champion the most, and then becoming not only a
supporter of the Path, but a very dear friend.
Sharon Currie: Your strength and endurance are my constant
reminder to employ my own. Thank you.
Jim and Michele: Thank you for more than your patronage;
thank you for your friendship and support. You are both role-models
for me, for how to withstand the storms of those who would seek to
criticize and tear down.
Christopher Penczak: Thank you for being the Obi-Wan for
so many for whom otherwise there seemed no hope, myself
included.
x
Michelle Iacona:
This entire ebook series is an acknowledgment of all those

people who have believed in us, supported us, and practiced
alongside of us, but most especially Kriselda Gray. You're an
inspiration, lady: never forget that!
I also want to recognize four very special women in my life:
Suzanne Hersey, Sonia Medeiros, Sharon Currie, and Michele: the
four of you have believed in me constantly, and especially during
those times when I had absolutely lost most of the belief in myself. I
literally wouldn't be doing this without you, nor much of anything
else.
I would like to acknowledge Connla Freyjason, my “ghost
with the most”, for dragging me, often kicking and screaming, into
doing things I'm otherwise too afraid to do. Though I often want to
banish you to the nearest Tupperware, I know you only do it because
you love me and believe in me, even when I neither love nor believe
in myself. Thank you for sharing my life with me.
Finally, a word to my Mother (Linda Hunsucker-Brown), and
all of the brave and amazing women in my family who have taught
me to be who I finally am: Mema (Betty Wilson), Ann-Mama (Ann
Wilson-Carpenter), Aunt Bea (Beatrice Wilson-Guinn), Granny (Lucy
Mabe-Bowman), Grandma Hunsucker (Nanny Atha Lockheart-
Hunsucker), and Grandma Wilson (Carrie Virginia Maddox-Wilson).
I would not be this woman without all of you. You are my first Disir,
and this Press and all its books, printed or digital special editions, are
my blot to all of you.
xi
Turning the Wheel
Heidhr Craft
This is not a Heathen book, for we are not Heathens. This is a
Norse-based book, for we are Norse Witches, but that Norse base
may seem completely alien to you, when compared to the Lore-
based status quo which you have likely been spoon-fed up to this
point. You see, what happened was this: we tried to continue
teaching what would be widely accepted by the modern American
Heathen community, and working our butts off to please the
members of that community, and we found, after too much time
and too much pain, that doing that simply didn't work. It wasn't
authentic to who we are, and it most certainly wasn't authentic to
what this faith historically was. So we quit being what everyone in
that community expected, so that we could finally do what the
Gods and our Cultural Ancestors have asked of us. Freyja, Ullr,
Hel, our Ancestral Guides, and a very wise teacher showed us how,
and we know They stand beside us as we write this. Finally, we
stand within our own authenticity. We only hope that as you read
the chapters that follow, you might come to stand within your own
as well.
Heidhr Craft is not some ego-driven Path. In fact, the approval
of others matters little to Connla Freyjason anymore, and he
certainly does not crave the spotlight held by so many in the “cult
of personality”. He no longer needs to “impress” anyone, except
the Gods. It has been a long and hard struggle, and along the way
he has often visibly witnessed Freyja face-palming, but he has
finally arrived at the realization that this life you see him living is
not entirely his own: instead, it is lived in faith and service to
precisely those Gods whom he has come to call Fulltrua and
1
Connla Freyjason & Michelle Iacona
Fulltrui. As the co-authors of this Craft and this book, both of us
(Connla Freyjason and Michelle Iacona) refuse to go back on that,
no matter how many feathers such a concept might ruffle.
To continue to people-please and ignore the real history that
we have come to know and passionately love would be an
abandonment of everything we hold personally dear. It would
require us to abjure oaths we have taken, and to live an
inauthentic life which we refuse to continue to endure. We refuse
to do that: to continue to maintain an inauthentic facade, simply
to keep some half-imagined majority of people “happy”. No, we
have wasted far too much time doing precisely all of that over the
course of the past three years, and we refuse to do so any longer.
When we look back over the course of time since the first book
from Iaconagraphy Press, Norse Witch: Reclaiming the
Heidhrinn Heart, was published, we are astonished by the amount
of time we have wasted either trying to make what we know
“palatable” to the Heathen masses, or railing against the atrocities
which the status quo of modern American Heathenry has fostered
—we're talking about folkishness, racism, white supremacy,
genderism, and all of the other profoundly ugly negative -isms
which it has propagated. On average, we have spent at least
twenty-eight hours a week (and often more) fighting that fight; we
have lost sleep; we have missed meals; we have suffered from
anxiety and depression. And for what? Only to find ourselves
repeatedly attacked, constantly concerned, and steadily worried.
In truth, living like that has made living our faith miserable.
We're not saying that we shouldn't all rail against the atrocities
which that status quo has fostered, for we most definitely should.
What we are saying is that the only way to fight this fight and win
is to find a new way of doing the Old Way: a way which is far
more true (and tru) to its historical root than what most people
have been fed since 1969. We fervently hope that Heidhr Craft can
be the beginning of that New Way.
Who is Connla Freyjason to author this New Way? Some of you
may know him from his previous work, or from his writings on the
Iaconagraphy Press blog, or even as an artist; possibly even as a
teacher or a friend. He is an actual person, yet sometimes, people
seem to get confused about that. You see, he has been an ongoing
resident of the Otherworlds for over twenty years; you might even
call him a “local”, as he's been dead for quite some time now. For
many of you who have read his first book, this isn't coming as any
sort of torrid shocker. Yet, apparently, for some people, this fact is
terribly confusing, so let us take this time to address this particular
2
Turning the Wheel
elephant, and get some things straight, for once and for all. Connla
Freyjason is a man, of Chinese-German-Swedish descent, who just
happens to be dead, and bringing this Path and all that goes with it
into this world via the vehicle of a very talented medium, who just
happens to be neither male, nor Chinese-German-Swedish. That
doesn't make him any less of any of the above. Put it this way:
when you go out and get in your car and drive to the store, are you
less you, because you're in the car? Do you become the car? Are
you suddenly some weird “car person”? Do you cease to exist or
become a fictional character, because you're now inside the car?
Of course not! Yet you'd be surprised (or perhaps not) how often
Connla gets accused of all of the above, simply because of the
“vehicle” he's currently “driving”! He is no more Michelle Iacona,
than you are your Hundai or Ford when you get in it, turn it on,
and drive to the store.
Connla Freyjason is not Tinkerbelle; he doesn't need you to
jump up and down and clap your hands three times and shout “I
believe you” repeatedly in order for him to continue to exist, and
neither does Michelle Iacona. What we do require are the same
things which all other human beings require: to be treated with
dignity, decency, and respect. Whether you are willing to give us
that or not is entirely up to you; we assure you that we will
continue to be authentically ourselves—and continue to exist—
whether you do, or not.
Neither Connla nor Michelle profess to know everything about
everything, and any teacher or guide who does should be held
suspect immediately. We are, however, privy to a lot of knowledge
that perhaps your average living, breathing person is not, thanks
to Connla being a “local” of the Otherworlds, and Michelle being a
seidhrkona, spaekona, and trans-medium. We also know a lot of
what we know precisely because we have put in the work: we have
done the exhaustive research, and we have worked hard to educate
ourselves so that we might, in turn, share that information with all
of you. We know what we know, but that doesn't mean that we
know everything either; it simply means that we do, in fact, know
what we know. Likewise, there are some things we don't know,
even given our spiritual backgrounds and/or the nature of our very
existence, without asking someone or something else: the Gods,
the Ancestors, the Invisible Population. And when it comes to
some things, They're not terribly forthcoming, because there are
some things that simply none of us are meant to know yet. Why
aren't we meant to know them yet? Maybe it would break our
brains; that's part of that everything that we don't know.
3
Neither of us will ever claim to know something that we don't
actually know, either, nor will we ever claim to be something that
we patently are not. One of the things that neither of us are is
ethnically Saami. What we know of that culture and their practices
is either based on hours upon hours of scholarly research, based
upon past-life recall (which we have thoroughly vetted via further
hours upon hours of scholarly research), or comes down to Connla
through one of his own teachers—his Ancestral Guides, Hjarta and
Sikka--who both happen to be even more dead than he is (having
passed over during the Vendel Period). In a faith with a primary
basis in Ancestor veneration, we would hope that no one would
question their reality-of-being, either, though we're fairly sure
some people probably will. (By the way, they're not Tinkerbelle,
either.) Connla has taken on those teachings after much careful
discernment, which has involved the aforementioned hours of
scholarly research for fact-checking, and then in good faith, in
precisely the same way we place ourselves into your hands as your
potential teachers now. Therefore, anything “Saami-derived”
which you may encounter as you travel through this book is
neither intended nor implied as cultural appropriation, anymore
than it was that when the Svear did likewise in Vendel Period
Sweden. Nor is any of it intended or implied to be authentically
modern Saami practice: apart from current ethnographies which
we might somehow have the opportunity to study, we genuinely
have no way of telling you what such modern practices might
entail. These are simply things that Connla has been taught in
good faith, and then researched heavily and even employed
experientially himself, to make sure they “stack up”, which we are
now passing on to you, as they may apply for this journey we are
undertaking together.
Having said all of that, this New Path which Connla Freyjason
has founded is called Heidhr Craft, after the first Norse Witch in
the world: Heidhr-Gullveig, for it seeks not only to burn bright and
shining (the meaning of the word heidhr), but also to rebirth what
has gone before, in the same way as Gullveig, thrice-born, upon
Her pyre of spears (Voluspa). In truth, we are still working,
learning, and growing, and we expect we will continue to be doing
all of those things likely for a long time to come. For a very long
time, Connla thought he was going to call this New Path
Heidhrinn Sidhr, rather than Heidhr Craft. He quickly found that
sidhr is a confusing word for some people; too often confused with
seidhr. In Old Norse, it means “custom, tradition, path, or faith”: it
denotes a way of life, and that is most definitely what we hope this
4
Turning the Wheel
will become for others, as it has certainly become that for us and
ours. But this is also a magickal path—the Path of the Norse
Witch. That still doesn't make it seidhr, though, at least not given
what that term has come to mean in modern parlance. You see,
seidhr was never the “catch-all” term for Norse Magick which it
has become in the modern world, either, and as we work to
reconstruct together, Connla hopes that will likewise become more
clear.
Perhaps “reconstruct” isn't quite the right word, either; perhaps
reclaim might be a better one. Yes, Connla has had to reach very
far back in the historical record to trace the true roots of this Norse
Practice, and yes, he has found himself studying disciplines (like
archaeology and anthropology and etymology and folklore) for
which he never could have dreamed he would develop such a
passion. Yet Connla has done all of that not solely to reconstruct,
“to the letter”, how things were or might have been in the past.
Instead, he has done all of that to reclaim these Traditions from
the post-WWII quagmire in which they have wallowed for far too
long. We cannot live in the past, nor should we wish to. History
should not enchain our practice—in fact, it must not—though it
should ignite it. When we create a Great Divide between
Reconstruction and Occultism, we only serve to fool ourselves, and
create other chasms in the process: chasms with ugly names like
genderism, sexism, racism, and a host of other despicable -isms.
For, in truth, were it not for that first spark of magick—of faith; of
occultism—why would we care to attempt to reconstruct in the
first place? What, indeed, would be the point? So that we can have
the world's coolest, supposedly faith-driven chapter of the SCA?
Neither Magick nor Will nor History remain static; all flicker and
grow and wane, precisely as do flames. And for a flame to continue
to burn, it must not be robbed of air; you cannot put it in a
container with impenetrable walls (rules and regulations and
dogma) and expect it to continue to glow. It is written in the
Havamal:
A brand kindles a brand, until it burns with flames,

Flame is kindled from fire;
Humans from humans gain worth through
renowned speech;
The foolish gain their worth from conceit.
--Havamal 57, Connla Freyjason Translation
5
Attempting to contain the Esoteric (whether you choose to use
the word Magick, Faith, or Occultism) firmly within the walls of
Reconstruction (and vice versa) is precisely the sort of conceit
mentioned in that passage. In other words, it is profoundly foolish,
and a worthless endeavor. So, yes, while we may be
“reconstructionish”, our intent is solely to reclaim, and then allow
brand to kindle brand.
Which is where the “Craft” in Heidhr Craft comes into play. “To
craft” is to exercise skill in creating something; to make or produce
something employing great care and ingenuity. The entire purpose
of this reclamation is ultimately to empower individuals to create a
practice which is authentically their own. Whether or not that
does or does not remain within a Norse context is entirely up to
the individual: so long as the final practice is personally authentic,
that is what ultimately matters. In the end, all that ultimately
matters is what matters ultimately: a practice which helps you to
cope with and muddle through life's ultimate situations--those
moments when the mystery of things is so great that it literally
brings you to your knees—hopefully bringing you out on the other
side with a deeper relationship to the Ultimate. What we provide
herein (and, we hope, in all we teach) are tools and methods, in
much the same way one might be provided with certain tools and
methods when learning a handicraft, such as scrapbooking or
crochet. Often, first-time crafters will buy a kit, which includes all
the tools necessary to create a specific project, as well as
(hopefully) very well-defined instructions for bringing that project
to its completion. Yet that craft would likely not become a very
rewarding pastime if all you ever did was buy that same kit over
and over and recreate that same project, would it? No, eventually
you would wish to buy other yarn, other ephemera, or other paint,
and create something uniquely and authentically your own. Faith
and magickal practice work exactly the same way! This book
contains many tools and methods, and, when first starting out, you
are definitely encouraged to repeat them as-is, but the hope is that,
eventually, you will take the “yarn” and “paint” and “ephemera”
provided herein and use them to create something beautiful on
your own. These are the principles; you are the fire that will make
them go. And that is why Connla Freyjason called this New Path
Heidhr Craft: we can give you the tools and the methods, but in
the end, this practice will be what you make of it.
We hope the rituals within resonate; that this brand will kindle
your own, until it burns brightly; that warm, sustaining flame is
kindled from that fire.
6
Turning the Wheel
The Four Cornerstones

and
The Wheel of the Year
Connla Freyjason
“Stand here, beside me, like this,” Hjarta
instructed his son Hundr, now fifteen. The two of
them stood at the top of the mound in the north-
east of Valsgärde Gravefield, which contained the
grave of Hjarta's Mother, Sikka, and it was night.
The elder vitki raised his staff, pointing it towards
the Pole Star, and his son emulated the father's
stance. “And you name it, thus:
Vita, for you would seek the wisdom of

Alfheim; of Freyr, the Ancestors, and the Elves.
You would seek to know, that you might teach
others, but before you can teach them, you must
thoroughly know yourself.”
Hjarta turned, facing the East, and

pointing his staff likewise, and encouraged his son
to do the same. “And you name it, thus:
7
Thora, for you would dare to do the work, based

upon what you have come to know. You would do
the work of the troll-wives, and the Landvaettir;
the Huldufolk and the dyr-andar [spirit animals].
That you might bring the right kinds of change to
a world desperately in need of changing.”
Hjarta turned again, facing the South, staff

still pointing; Hundr did likewise. “And you name
it, thus:
Elska, for now that you know and dare,

you may practice love. That is the lesson of
Hvergelmir; of Hel down in Her Halls:
Hospitality, Compassion, Love. That is why we
serve our community: because first we love. There
can be no respect without first having that, and
this is a lesson all would do well to remember.”
Finally, he faced the West, and Hundr did

his best to emulate his father. “And you name it,
thus:
Vilja, for now that we know and dare and

have come to understand love —and only now—we
may take the seat of holy will—heilag-vilja—beside
Freyja in Her Hall. This is the place of Power; a
place we dare not approach without the other
three: Vita, Thora, Elska. Never forget that, boy.”
Hjarta lowered his staff, closed his eyes,

and stood between it, the ground, and the sky.
“Close your eyes,” he cautioned Hundr; “then
speak as I speak:”
Vita, Thora, Elska, Vilja:

Stand I now at the Center,
And I am Yggdrasil:
I am in all things,
And all things are in me.
I am the horse,
8
Turning the Wheel
And I am the cattle;

I am the goose,
Upon the wind;
I am the dirt,
And I am the river;
I am the bear
Inside its den.
I am you,
And I am your children--
Children's children,
Til time should end.
I am all things,
Interconnected;
All the Worlds,
And the places within them;
All the times outside of time;
Even the words,
Inside this rhyme.
Enda er, ok enda skal vera.
“Enda er, ok enda skal vera,” Hundr whispered,

and in the distance, the Snowy Owl called.
In Heidhr Craft, the Wheel of the Year is understood as a map:

a reality map for the entire Tradition that is Heidhr Craft. “Reality
Map” is a term coined by Christopher Penczak to describe “any
magickal model designed to help us understand both the nature of
the universe and the nature of the individual”. In other words, it's
sort of a visual framework, to help us not only understand our
place within a particular paradigm, but also to provide an overview
of the elements, spirits, ethics, ideals, and whatever else might be
included within that paradigm. Using such a map, we can better
practice mindfulness by being able to realize “hey, I'm here”, in the
grand scheme of things. Reality maps can also be a great tool to
prevent us from getting overwhelmed or bogged down in what
might otherwise seem like a mountain of information. As with any
good map, there are many possible roads to take; many different
directions in which to journey. We have the freedom to go
whichever way we wish, perhaps spending more time on one road
than another, or maybe returning to a favorite path again at a later
time. The map is a guide only; it may provide us with directions on
how to get from “point A” to “point B”, but the directions in which
9
we choose to journey are ultimately up to us. As you can readily
see, the Four Cornerstones, later explained to me by my
Ancestral Guides, Hjarta and Sikka, were already apparent in the
original Wheel, as delivered to me by Freyja:
Originally, these Cornerstones were given to me as Vita, Thora,

Elska, Vilja. Consequently, it wasn't until I began translating them
into English that I realized their close resemblance to the modern
Witches' Pyramid, popular in Wicca and other branches of modern
Neo-Paganism. Let me assure you: I am not inviting you into
“Wiccatru”! (Also, I hate that word: “Wiccatru”!) These two
Ancestral Guides, whom I have come to deeply trust, are a man by
the name of Hjarta, who was apparently interred in Valsgärde
Boat-Grave 8, and his biological mother, Sikka, who was
apparently interred in the Great Mound at Valsgärde. According to
him, I was his son, Hundr (interred in Valsgärde Boat-Grave 7), in
a previous life. Scoff all you like: as I said, none of us are
Tinkerbelle. Again, I can assure you that I have done the necessary
research for effective discernment, which I encourage you to
10
Turning the Wheel
likewise do, should you ever seek out your own Ancestral Guides. I
have been profoundly lucky, in that both of those whom I have met
are associated with tangible archaeological sites which I can use as
a sort of “litmus test” of their veracity. I have likewise used the site
of Valsgärde Boat-Grave 7 as a “litmust test” for the veracity of any
of my own past-life claims to identity (often resulting in
goosebump-worthy epiphanies, such as my need to create a
leather pouch to wear at my waist, only to discover, in the tangible
archaeological record, that the man in Boat-Grave 7 was actually
in possession of an identical bag). I have found the most effective
way to teach what they have taught me is via the vehicle of
storytelling: to recount the memories with which I have been
gifted, so that the student can likewise place themselves back
there, in that period in time. I believe in full transparency, to the
best of my ability, as a teacher. So I lay all of this at your feet, here
at the very beginning of our journey, so you can decide whether
you can accept it, or not. If you can, then let us take our first brave
steps together along this many-colored path around the Wheel. If
not, I hope wherever your road finds you will be a bright and
peaceful place.
In the same way that they apparently did for our Cultural
Ancestors, these Four Cornerstones, when coupled with the
Wheel of the Year and the observance of the Tidal Cycles (more on
this later in this book), may provide for us a base from which not
only to learn, but also to teach and to practice. Within each, we
find not only encoded one of the various Otherworlds and its
denizens, but also the lessons of that Otherworld: lessons of ethics,
magick, and, ultimately, life-ways. Hopefully it will be easy to see
how returning to this most basic, earliest cosmology also returns
us to a worldview that is adaptive and inclusive, in which things
and people become far more than simply “things” or “people”, but
instead a part of a cosmic community which is intrinsically
interconnected. What happens to one, therefore, ultimately
happens to us all. That is the deepest core of Heidhr Craft, just as
it was once the deepest core of Vendel Cosmology. The ultimate
purpose of our journey around the Wheel of the Year (via these
Four Cornerstones) is ultimate reparation with ourselves.
Suddenly we find ourselves back at Center with the realization—I
hope—that it is not just a place from which to set forth on our
journeys, but in fact an intersection: the crux of a crossroads, not
only that lead to Otherworlds, but also that lead deeply within.
11
• Vita: To Know: The Road North

◦ Season:
▪ Winter
◦ High Days:
▪ Winternights
▪ Alfablot
▪ Yule
◦ Moon Phase:
▪ Waning
12
Turning the Wheel
◦ Otherworld:
▪ Alfheim
◦ Deities:
▪ Freyr
▪ Ullr
▪ Volundr
◦ Ethics:
▪ Integrity:
• Honesty
• Equity
• Deeds
◦ Magickal Path:
▪ Staff-Carrier:
• Vitki
• Volva
• Vivil
◦ The Invisible Population:
▪ Ancestors
▪ Alfar (Angels/Elves)
▪ Landvaettir
▪ The Wild Hunt
◦ Lessons on:
▪ Personal authenticity
▪ Basic elements of practice
• utiseta
• basic ritual form
• blot
▪ Basic Cosmology
▪ Basic Ethics
▪ Ve Creation
▪ Basic Psychic Protection
▪ Basic Pantheon Work
13
• Thora: To Dare: The Road East

◦ Season:
▪ Spring
◦ High Days:
▪ Disablot
▪ Sigrblot
◦ Moon Phase:
▪ New
◦ Otherworld:
▪ Jotunheim
◦ Deities:
▪ Angrbodha
▪ Loki
▪ Sigyn
▪ Gerdha
▪ Skadhi
▪ Freyja as Menglodh
◦ Ethics:
▪ Honor:
• Wisdom
• Courage
• Justice
◦ Magickal Path:
▪ Troll-Rider
• Trolldomr
• Kitchen Witchery
◦ The Invisible Population:
▪ Trolls
▪ “The Fae”
▪ Dyr-Andar (Spirit Animals)
◦ Lessons on:
▪ Learning to do what we know (put theory into
practice)
▪ Ritual Year
▪ Tidal Cycle
▪ Basic Magickal Practice
▪ Understanding reality maps and astral space
▪ Altar Creation
14
Turning the Wheel
▪ Emotional and Spiritual Balance

▪ Psychic Protection
▪ Ritual Objects
▪ Sacred Tools
▪ Gemstones/Crystals
• Elska: To Love: The Road South

◦ Season:
▪ Summer
◦ High Days:
▪ Vanirblot
▪ Midsummer
◦ Moon Phase:
▪ Waxing
◦ Otherworld:
▪ Helheim
▪ The Hvergelmir
◦ Deities:
▪ Hel
▪ Baldur
▪ Nanna
▪ Sigyn
◦ Ethics:
▪ Hospitality:
• Love
• Compassion
• Blessings
◦ Magickal Path:
▪ Seidhr-Bearer
• Mediumship
• Divination
• Spirit Communication
◦ Invisible Population:
▪ Huldufolk
▪ Helhest
• Unicorns
▪ The Beloved Dead/Ancestors
▪ Husvaettir
15
◦ Lessons on:
▪ Community
▪ Definitions of Community
▪ Working with, in, and for the Community
▪ Hearth-Making/Hygge-Craft
▪ Building Relationships
▪ Spousal and People Blots
▪ Healing and Helping
▪ Charity
▪ Alms-Giving
▪ The Way of the Peaceful Warrior
▪ The Lessons of the Kettle Grove
• Vilja: To Will: The Road West

◦ Season:
▪ Autumn
◦ High Days:
▪ Vanirblot (to some extent)
▪ Freyrfaxi/Freyrthing
◦ Moon Phase:
▪ Full
◦ Otherworld:
▪ Vanaheim
◦ Deities:
▪ Njordr
▪ Freyja
▪ Idunna
▪ Nerthus
◦ Ethics:
▪ Reciprocity:
• Loyalty
• Peace
• Happiness
◦ Magickal Path:
▪ Godhi/Gydhja
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Turning the Wheel
◦ Invisible Population:
▪ Psychopomps
▪ Dyr-Andar (Spirit Animals)
▪ Beloved Dead Animals
▪ “The Fae”
◦ Lessons on:
▪ Sovereignty
▪ Heilag-Vilja (Holy Will)
▪ Ritual Smithcraft
▪ Faring-Forth/Astral Travel
▪ Psychopomps
▪ Manifestation
▪ Magick
▪ Herb-Lore
▪ Ritual Leadership
▪ Community Leadership
▪ The Virtuous Oath
Our journey around the Wheel of the Year helps us to remain

focused on these “Roads”, as does our observance of the Tidal
Cycles. Each of the “High Days”of the Heidhrinn Year is connected
with specific Gods, Godesses, Their denizens within the Invisible
Population, and the Otherworld realm which They traditionally
inhabit. As we travel through the year in such company, we also
learn the lessons associated with those beings and those places.
Hopefully, this keeps us constantly in reparation with ourselves,
and with Them. What do I mean by that word, reparation? I mean
it quite literally, in the sense of keeping not only your Self, but also
your personal relationship with the Gods and the Invisible
Population, in good repair. This isn't about “fixing” something
that has been “broken”, or about “making amends”, although,
certainly, sometimes that may also be the case in your life. No, this
is about “staying fixed”, so that you spend less time feeling
“broken”. The “High Days” provide us with deeper focus every
month or so, while the Tidal Cycles keep us focused week to week.
There are layers upon layers of meaning and even “wheels
within wheels”, when it comes to this potential “Vendel Vision” of
the Wheel of the Year, but for the purposes of an initial
introduction to Heidhr Craft, it would be best to focus on the
“Freyr/Ullr Cycle”: the Alf Wheel. The main reason for this focus is
17
that this is the “aspect” of the Wheel for which there is the most
evidence in the archaeological record. That is, there is concrete
historical evidence that this view of the Wheel was likely the most
widespread (in Sweden), and the most widely celebrated. The
other reason for this focus is that this “aspect” best teaches the
lessons needed for a deeper understanding of the totality of
Heidhr Craft practice itself.
There is, however, a “secondary” Wheel, the themes of which
are so important that they receive a “nod”, even within the Alf
Wheel: the Troll Wheel. This is the Wheel of the Lessons of the
Kettle-Grove, whereas the Alf Wheel might best be understood as
the Wheel of the Lessons of the Way of the Peaceful Warrior. The
greatest archaeological evidence for the existence of such a
Wheel's existence are the Trolldomr-associated artifacts found at
sites such as Lilla Ullevi, and the later-period use of Kettle-Grove
iconography on the Gotland Picture Stones. Employing Ian
Hodder's method of “material culture as text” to the Gotland
Picture Stones, it becomes apparent that the Kettle-Grove images
are intended to denote a season: Spring. This informs us that in
earlier periods, rather than having been viewed as a punishment,
the binding of Loki was more than likely regarded as a necessary
sacrifice, enacted to end the “fimbulwinter” which began in 535
CE and the aftermath of which lasted well into the 8 th century.
Around this new understanding we may then build new themes for
the observance of the Troll Wheel: Love, Compassion, Endurance,
Strength, Humility, Reciprocity, Altruism/Charity, and Sacrifice as
a Path to Wisdom. The teachings of the Troll Wheel, the
“methods” for its observation, and even the fact of its existence are
all things which have been imparted to me almost solely through
my interactions with my Ancestral Guides, Hjarta and Sikka (and
most especially the latter). (The Troll Wheel will be featured in a
forthcoming PDF in this series.)
Traditionally, when we think of a Wheel of the Year, we think of
something which has a beginning and an end, right? I mean,
almost everyone celebrates a “New Year's” in some capacity,
worldwide. Yet to really understand a “Vendel Vision” of the
Wheel of the Year, we need to understand how the people of the
Iron Age understood time, for they understood it much differently
than we do today. This has led me to coin the phrase: “It's Norse
o'clock somewhere”. The idea of “Norse o'clock” represents a very
specific and distinct understanding of the flow of time, in which
the past, the present, and the future are neither mutually
exclusive, nor entirely linear. In our modern world, we tend to
18
Turning the Wheel
think of time as a linear thing. People are born, live out their lives,
and die. Sunday leads to Monday which leads to Tuesday; week
leads to week; month leads to month, around the circle of the year.
Yet the Norse concept of time is much closer to reality than that
calendar there in your personal planner. Ultimately, Wyrd and
Orlog are patterns to be woven not just by each individual, but
over the vast course of time, as a whole. As explained by Paul
Bauschatz in The Well and The Tree: World and Time in Early
Germanic Culture (1982):
“[Wyrd] governs the working out of the past

into the present (or, more accurately, the working
in of the present into the past).”
Wyrd relates to the cycles of the seasons and one's own actions
during them: as a person lives their life, that life becomes the
“shuttlecock”, interlacing Orlog with Wyrd, thereby weaving the
past into the present, and the present into the past in a pattern of
endlessly cyclical time. Orlog is a tricky word, often mistranslated
as “fate”, yet rather than being connected to one's destiny, which
implies future events, Orlog is instead the sum of a person's own
past actions as well as their ancestral links to the past which form
the “base” of their identity within the course of time. The past
(Urdh) defines the Ancestors in the present moment, and,
therefore, a person's ancestral identity, which is the sum of past
actions, past occurrences, past battles, and cannot be changed; the
layers of that which has become. This is intertwined with Wyrd, in
much the same way as threads on a loom. How one chooses to
honor their Ancestors can help dictate and mold Orlog, and how
one acts and reacts in the present, among the living, can change
the flow and shape of Wyrd.
It is one thing to come to understand this as it relates to each of
our own individual lives, but what does this mean, when it comes
to the vastness of history? According to this understanding of time
(and, indeed, as observed in the mundane world), simply because
it is winter where you live, does not mean it isn't spring
somewhere else. This “Norse o'clock” concept also means that just
as we are attempting to work the past into the present, through the
revival of this ancient faith, we are also, without even realizing it,
working our present into the past of the Ancestors. In short this
means that we are not as far removed from them as most of us
tend to think. It also means that as we are observing these days in
the present, we are doing so not only at the same time as the
19
Ancestors, but also alongside them. Because of this “Norse
o'clock” understanding, we do not “flip the wheel” for the Southern
Hemisphere in Heidhr Craft. After all: the timing of the sunsets
and sunrises over the Thing Mound at Gamla Uppsala (which have
been proven to coincide with some of the known “holidays”,
including Yule, Disablot, and what I have termed “Vanirblot”) do
not change, simply because a modern practitioner happens to live
in New Zealand. So, yes, “it's Norse o'clock somewhere”.
All of this also means that this “Vendel Vision” of the Wheel of
the Year is entirely cyclical: that is, like an actual wheel, it has no
distinctive beginning or end; it simply flows. Naturally, in a
modern world where we do, in fact, mark the ending of one year
and the beginning of a new one (December 31/January 1), this
understanding will become intertwined with the more “ancient”
one of the Heidhrinn Wheel, but insofar as our understanding of
the “High Days” themselves, there is no “real Heidhrinn New
Year”, per se. Instead, we find ourselves focusing on the flow of the
natural world and of the seasons, and the lessons which we may
learn within each. I don't believe it is at all accidental that this
Wheel mirrors, nearly exactly, the understanding of the seasons
among the Swedish Saami:
• Dalvve
◦ “Winter”
◦ December-March
◦ The longest of the 8 seasons
◦ A time to embrace going within, being cozy, and being
grateful.
◦ Darkest season of the year
• Gidadallve
◦ “Spring-Winter”
◦ March/April
◦ The time preceding the calving period; a time of
planning for what will be.
• Gida
◦ “Spring”
◦ April/May
◦ Associated with giving birth and fertility
20
Turning the Wheel
• Gidagiesse & Giesse

◦ “Spring-Summer” & “Summer”
◦ June-July
◦ Focus on bounty and agriculture
◦ Return of the sun
• Tjaktjagiesse
◦ “Autumn-Summer”
◦ August
◦ Harvest
◦ Gratitude for the harvest
◦ Storing the harvest
◦ A return to shorter days and darker nights
• Tjaktja
◦ “Autumn”
◦ September-October
◦ Hunting season
◦ Slaughter season for livestock
◦ Final harvest
I discovered these eight Saami seasons three years after

receiving that first vision of the Heidhrinn Wheel of the Year, on
the exact day that I began to work on this chapter in my new book,
Heidhr Craft, completely by chance. If that doesn't mean
something, I will eat my very expensive “archaeologist's hat”! (And
I really love that hat, so I'm setting some pretty high stakes here!)
Take a moment to compare them to a very simplified overview of
the High Days as observed within Heidhr Craft:
The Alf Wheel
• Yule
◦ November 3-February 1
▪ (As indicated by sunsets over the Thing Mound at
Gamla Uppsala in Sweden)
◦ Vita: The Road North
◦ Ullr, as Lord of Winter, Lord of the Hunt, and Consort
of Hel
21
◦ Hel, as Holda/Hulda/Perchta; Consort of Ullr

◦ The Wild Hunt
◦ Husvaettir
◦ Huldufolk
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Gratitude
▪ Home and Family
▪ Hospitality
▪ Reciprocity
• Disablot
◦ February 1-9
▪ (February 3 marks the height, according to the
sunset over the Thing Mound at Gamla Uppsala in
Sweden)
◦ Thora: The Road East
◦ Sigyn
◦ Angrbodha
◦ Freyja Vanadis
◦ Hel
◦ Disir
◦ Female Ancestors
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Justice
▪ Feminine Empowerment
▪ Sovereignty
▪ Bringing things into being
▪ Preparing for manifestation
• Sigrblot
◦ Mid-March (18-27)
▪ (sourced from Ynglingatal, which states it was
observed at “the beginning of summer”, which
roughly coincides with the Vernal or Spring
Equinox, on or around March 21)
22
Turning the Wheel
◦ Sigyn
◦ Loki
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Gratitude
▪ New Beginnings
▪ Victory
▪ Success
▪ Goal-setting
• Vanirblot
◦ April 29-May 7
▪ (Based on sunrise over the Thing Mound at Gamla
Uppsala and finds at the festival site at Hulje,
Sweden)
◦ Elska: The Road South
◦ Vilja: The Road West
◦ Freyr
◦ Freyja
◦ Njordr
◦ Nerthus
◦ Landvaettir
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Fertility
▪ Rise of Freyr
• Return of Freyr to Midgard and Vanaheim from
Alfheim
▪ Sexuality/Sensuality
• Midsummer
◦ Mid-June
▪ Roughly June 19-24
▪ (As indicated by folklore and modern ethnography,
as well as finds at the festival site at Hulje, Sweden)
◦ Freyr
◦ Ullr
23
◦ Hel
◦ Dyr-Andar
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Union of the Divine Twins
▪ First exchange of rulership between Freyr and Ullr
▪ Height of the Rule of Freyr
▪ Fertility
▪ Bounty
▪ Gratitude
▪ Love
▪ Hospitality
▪ Reciprocity
▪ Return of the sun
• Freyrfaxi/Freyrthing
◦ First Week of August
▪ (As indicated by finds at the festival site in Hulje,
Sweden)
◦ Freyr
◦ Psychopomps
◦ Horses
◦ Keynotes:
▪ First Harvest (Grain Harvest)
▪ The Leaving of Freyr for Alfheim
▪ Gratitude
• Winternights
◦ September 19-27
▪ (As indicated in Ynglingatal, which describes it as
being held at the “beginning of winter”, roughly
marked by the Autumn Equinox in Sweden.)
◦ Freyr
◦ Freyja
◦ Disir
24
Turning the Wheel
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Advent of the Season of the Wild Hunt
▪ Freyr's Passage to Alfheim
▪ Oaths
▪ Honesty
▪ Integrity
▪ Equity/Charity
▪ Second Harvest
▪ Gratitude
• Alfablot
◦ October 28-November 3
▪ (As indicated by Lore sources, as combined with
local folklore and ethnography, as well as sunset
over the Thing Mound at Gamla Uppsala on
November 3)
◦ Freyr
◦ Alfar
◦ Male Ancestors
◦ Ullr
◦ Hel
◦ Trolls
◦ Huldufolk
◦ The Wild Hunt
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Freyr as King of Alfheim
▪ Honoring Male Ancestors
▪ Gratitude for the Final Harvest and the Hunt
The Troll Wheel
• Disablot
◦ February 1-9
Sweden)
◦ Sigyn
25
◦ Angrbodha
◦ Freyja Vanadis
◦ Hel
◦ Disir
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Intro to the Kettle-Grove
▪ Compassionate Endurance
• Sigrblot
◦ Sigyn
◦ Loki
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Return of Spring
▪ Humility in Gratitude
▪ Altruism/Charity
▪ New Beginnings
▪ Victory
▪ Success
▪ Goal-setting
• Vanirblot
◦ April 29-May 7
Sweden)
◦ Idunna
◦ The Dwarves
26
Turning the Wheel
◦ Landvaettir
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Divine Creativity
▪ Divine Creation
▪ Manifestation
▪ Sovereignty
▪ Reciprocity
• Midsummer
◦ Mid-June
as well as finds at the festival site at Hulje, Sweden)
◦ Ran
◦ Aegir
◦ The Nine Waves
◦ Heimdall
◦ Merfolk
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Sacrifice as Path to Wisdom
▪ Bounty
▪ Gratitude
▪ Unconditional Love
▪ Hospitality
▪ Reciprocity
Sweden)
◦ Freyr
◦ Psychopomps
◦ Horses
27
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Gratitude
• Winternights
◦ September 19-27
◦ Angrbodha
◦ Hel
◦ Fenris
◦ Jormungandr
◦ Tyr
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Oaths
▪ Honesty
▪ Integrity
▪ Equity/Charity
▪ Second Harvest
▪ Humility in Gratitude
▪ Sovereignty
▪ Endurance
▪ Strength
• Alfablot
November 3)
◦ Freyr
◦ Alfar
28
Turning the Wheel
◦ Male Ancestors
◦ Ullr
◦ Hel
◦ Trolls
◦ Huldufolk
◦ The Wild Hunt
◦ Keynotes:
• Yule
of Hel
◦ The Wild Hunt
◦ Husvaettir
◦ Huldufolk
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Gratitude
▪ Home and Family
▪ Hospitality
▪ Reciprocity
Either map provides us with a great overview, but when it

comes to daily practice—actually living Heidhr Craft—we need a
bit more, don't we? I mean, navigating our lives and practice solely
by the High Days is rather like trying to use a world map or a globe
to figure out how to get to our local McDonald's! Such a
macrocosmic view can definitely help us to see patterns in things,
and keep us reminded throughout the year of where we are, where
we have been, and where we hope to be going, but for daily living,
we need a microcosmic view as well. Think of it this way: if you are
trying to focus on the most minute of details, do you use a
29
telescope or a magnifying glass? The Tidal Cycles in Heidhr Craft
serve exactly that function: they are the microcosm to the Wheel's
macrocosm.
We know from surviving runestavs, used to calculate time, that
the people of the “Viking Age” and earlier fully understood and
indeed kept time by the lunar cycle. They likely also planted by the
moon, in much the same way as modern followers of the Farmer's
Almanac. Since they were also a largely seafaring people, this
really shouldn't come as a shock to us. Tidal cycles would have
been very important, even to people such as those of Vendel and
Valsgärde, who lived along rivers. Tides are at their highest and
lowest during the Full and New Moons, making these important
periods for setting sail, and also for fishing.
The cycles of the moon provide an obvious progression which
can be readily seen with the naked eye: Waxing, the moon “grows”,
coming to Fullness, and then Waning, the moon “dwindles”, until
it is Dark (New). Given the agricultural base of the Vendel Period,
it is easy to see mirrored in this progression the planting,
gestation, growing, and then final harvest of seeds: Waning
(planting), New (gestation), Waxing (growing), and Full (harvest).
These, then, also coincide readily with the Four Cornerstones:
• Waxing Moon
◦ Cornerstone:
▪ Elska: The Road South
◦ Color:
▪ White
• In Iron Age Scandinavia, the color white held
none of the racial connotations which it holds in
our modern world. Rather, white was associated
with the clear brightness of day, denoting
reflectivity, and was often used to denote
celestial beings, as opposed to chthonic ones.
◦ Lessons:
▪ Community
▪ Definitions of Community
▪ Working with, in, and for the Community
▪ Hearth-Making/Hygge-Craft
▪ Building Relationships
▪ Spousal and People Blots
▪ Healing and Helping
30
Turning the Wheel
▪ Charity
▪ Alms-Giving
▪ The Way of the Peaceful Warrior
▪ The Lessons of the Kettle Grove
▪ Love
▪ Compassion
▪ Blessings
◦ Self-Archetypes:
▪ Believer
▪ Lover
• Full Moon
◦ Cornerstone:
▪ Vilja: The Road West
◦ Color:
▪ Red
• In Norse/Germanic/Teutonic tradition, the
color red was associated with sacrifice, life, and
death, since it was the color of blood. It is also
associated with gold (the element): with riches
and reward on the one hand, and with greed on
the other. For the people of the Iron Age and
after, it was also a color of strong emotions:
anger, passion; love. The color of fire, it
represents the hidden power of the Holy Will
(Heilag-Vilja).
◦ Lessons:
▪ Sovereignty
▪ Ritual Smithcraft
▪ Psychopomps
▪ Manifestation
▪ Magick
▪ Herb-Lore
▪ Ritual Leadership
▪ Community Leadership
▪ The Virtuous Oath
▪ Loyalty
31
▪ Peace
▪ Happiness
▪ Reciprocity
▪ Dreamer
▪ Peacemaker
▪ Lover
▪ Mystic
• Waning Moon
◦ Cornerstone:
▪ Vita: The Road North
◦ Color:
▪ Gold/Yellow
• In Norse Tradition, the color gold or yellow was
most often used to symbolize brightness or
luminance, but it could also denote paleness, as
in the phrase “bleikr sem nár”, which meant
“yellow as a corpse”.
◦ Lessons:
▪ Personal authenticity
▪ Basic elements of practice
• utiseta
• basic ritual form
• blot
▪ Basic Cosmology
▪ Basic Ethics
▪ Ve Creation
▪ Basic Psychic Protection
▪ Basic Pantheon Work
▪ Integrity
▪ Deeds
▪ Honesty
▪ Equity
▪ Seeker
▪ Mystic
32
Turning the Wheel
• New Moon
◦ Cornerstone:
▪ Thora: The Road East
◦ Color:
▪ Blue-Black (Midnight Blue; True Navy)
• The word for this color in Old Norse is blár,
which is often mistranslated as a synonym for
black (svartr), though it obviously was not in-
period. Strongly associated with ravens, coal,
the sea, the moon, death and the Dead, it was
commonly the color of the hoods and capes of
both witches and kings.
◦ Lessons:
▪ Learning to do what we know (put theory into
practice)
▪ Ritual Year
▪ Tidal Cycle
▪ Basic Magickal Practice
▪ Understanding reality maps and astral space
▪ Altar Creation
▪ Emotional and Spiritual Balance
▪ Ritual Objects
▪ Sacred Tools
▪ Gemstones/Crystals
▪ Honor
▪ Wisdom
▪ Courage
▪ Justice
▪ Maker
▪ Peacemaker
▪ Mystic
We “measure a month” in Heidhr Craft in the same manner as

the people of the Vendel Period likely did: from Waxing Moon to
New Moon. Precisely how we honor that measure, through
practice and study, will be explored in greater detail later in this
book.
33
Bibliography
Arrhenius, B. “The Chronology of the Vendel
Graves.” Vendel Period Studies.
Transactions of the Boat-Grave Symposium
in Stockholm, February 2-3, 1981. J.P.
Lamm & H.A. Nordstrom (red.), The
Museum of National Antiquities, Stockholm,
Studies 2, 1983, pp. 39-70.
Bauschatz, Paul C., The Well and The Tree: World

and Time in Early Germanic Culture.
Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press,
1982.
Arwidsson, Greta. Valsgarde 6. Die Gräberfunde

von Valsgärde In. Acta Musei Antiquitatum
Septentrionalium Regiæ Universitatis
Upsaliensis I. Uppsala. 1942.
Arwidsson, Greta. “Valsgarde—Fullero”. Tor 1,

Department of Archaeology, Uppsala
University, Gustavinium, 1948.

von Valsgärde II. Acta Musei Antiquitatum
Upsaliensis IV. Uppsala. 1954.

von Valsgärde III. Acta Musei
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Universitatis Upsaliensis V. Uppsala. 1977.
Brink, Stefan. “Social Order in the Early

Scandinavian Landscape.” Settlement and
Landscape, Aarhus University Press, 1999.
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Broadbent, Noel D. Lapps and Labyrinths: Saami

Prehistory, Colonization, and Cultural
Resilience. Arctic Studies Center,
Department of Anthropology, National
Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C., 2010.
Freyjason, Connla. Norse Witch: Reclaiming the

Heidhrinn Heart. Iaconagraphy Press,
2018.
Freyjason, Connla. Blessings of Fire and Ice: A

Norse Witch Devotional. Iaconagraphy
Press, 2018.
Freyjason, Connla. Heidhr Craft. Iaconagraphy

Press, 2020 (forthcoming).
Graslund, Anne-Sofie. “Some Powerful Women at

Valsgarde.” Valsgarde Studies: The Place
and Its People, Past and Present, Svane
Norr (ed.), Department of Archaeology and
Ancient History, Uppsala University, 2008,
pp. 65-82.
Henriksson, Goran. “The Pagan Great Midwinter

Sacrifice and the 'Royal' Mounds at Old
Uppsala.” Calendars, Symbols, and
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M., Blomberg, P., & Henriksson, G. (eds.),
Uppsala, Sweden, 2013, p. 15.
Jonsson, Ella. “The Eight Seasons”. Stories from

the Swedish Lapland, swedishlapland.com,
2019.
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Ljungkvist, John. “Gamla Uppsala and Valsgarde:

Deconstructing the Vendel-Viking
Transition.” SAA Archaeological Record:
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Mundal, E. “Coexistence of Saami and Norse

Culture—Reflected In and Interpreted by
Old Norse Myths.” Old Norse Myths,
Literature, and Society. Proceedings of the
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Penczak, Christopher. The Temple of High

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Peoples.” The Viking World, Stefan Brink &
Neil Price (eds.), Routledge, 2008, pp. 32-
39
36
Turning the Wheel
Ritual Forms
Connla Freyjason
At face value, the ritual format used in Heidhr Craft may seem
almost accidental, or, otherwise, drawn from the patterns used in
modern Pagan or Witchcraft Circles. However, let me assure you:
neither is the case. As with all facets of the Path of Heidhr Craft,
our ritual format is drawn from what we can discover within the
archaeological record, combined with careful studies of
ethnography and folklore, and constant contact with Connla
Freyjason's Ancestral Guides, Hjarta and Sikka, accompanied by
subsequent appropriate discernment.
Have you ever wondered why nearly every Pagan or Witch
begins their ritual format with laying a circle of protection? I
mean, beyond the obvious, which apparently is not that obvious at
all in the practices of modern American Heathens? There is an
ancient practice in Scandinavia which might prove to be an
explanation: the erection of the viband around ritual sites.
Essentially, the viband was an actual, physical protective fence
which was raised around ritual sites in Scandinavia. The practice
dates at least as far back as the pre-Roman Iron Age, and was still
in use by the dawn of the “Viking Age”. In fact, the Cultural
Ancestors of those periods took the symbology of the viband so
seriously, that the earliest written law code in Scandinavia was
composed concerning “viband laws”. That earliest written law code
is etched in runes upon the Forsa Ring, in Sweden, and explains
the punishments which would be incurred if anyone breached the
sacrality of the area within the viband enclosure.
That covers a potential historical base for laying a circle of
protection, but what about that other part: the part pertaining to
37
potential forces from which we need protection in the first place?
This is the point where I could just simply say “just because you
don't believe in them, doesn't mean they don't believe in you”, but
that's too easy, and generally falls upon deaf ears anyhow. The
existence of the viband informs us that the people of Iron Age
Scandinavia had a distinct and definite understanding of sacred
space versus mundane or unsanctified space. It also suggests that
even they knew that there were “other things out there”, besides
the Gods and kind wights.
What sort of “other things”? The most common word in the
English language for such things would be “demon”, but that
conjures up a host of Christian baggage for many people. In my
own personal—and more extensive than I wish it was—experience
with these things, I have found that using the word “demon” to
describe them is rather like using the word “teddy” to define a
Kodiak Bear. The closest word in Old Norse would be fjandi or
fjanda (plural: fjandar), which means “one who hates or dislikes;
one who is hated or disliked; one who promotes evil and enjoys
inflicting pain”. All of which very much sums up, in one neat little
world, a non-Christian definition of the concept of “demons”.
Ultimately, again, whether you choose to believe in them or not,
that doesn't mean they don't believe in you, and this concept,
coupled with the concept of making an area hlaut (“set apart”;
“holy”) are the reasons for the existence of the viband, and,
therefore, likewise the reason why we begin each rite in Heidhr
Craft with “laying the fence”.
The next step in our ritual format is to hallow the space, as well
as the items being offered, using the hallow-sign. You will
probably immediately notice that this sign is different from the
“Hammer Sign” which has become the tradition in modern
American Heathenry. You will also pretty immediately notice that
this action in Heidhr Craft does not include the “Norse-equivalent”
of a “quarter call”. While “directional awareness” is profoundly
important in our practice (as can be seen in the previous chapter
on the Four Cornerstones), we also understand that one cannot
“conjure” what is, in fact, already there! Instead, the hallow-sign is
designed to do simply and precisely that: to hallow; in other
words, to “make hlaut” (“set apart”; “holy”). It incorporates not
only the sign of the Hammer of Thor (which we know from later
written Lore was used for hallowing), but also the sign of Tyr, God
of Justice (Tiwaz), and the cross of Nerthus (representing the four
directions which are concrete in the mundane world, though not
always in the other realms; hence, representative of Earth).
38
Turning the Wheel
We know that hallowing was traditionally done as part of pre-
Christian rituals from a variety of the later written sources, but
perhaps the most striking description appears in Heimskringla,
which Snorri Sturluson sourced largely from earlier written
materials, including skaldic poetry:
Jarl Sigurd of Hlader was the greatest blot-

man, and so was Hakon, his father. Jarl Sigurd held
blot-feasts, all (led) by the hands of kings in
Throndhjem. That was an ancient custom, (when)
there was to be a blot, that all people should come
where the hof was and live there for a time
(literally: transfer their addresses there), bringing
with them what they needed to stay while the blot
lasted. They knew that all men should bring beer
with them; there was also killing of all sorts of
sheep and horses; but the blood that came from
them, then it was called “hlaut” (literally: “that
which is alotted”, which may be understood as “that
which is set apart”), and hlautbolli (“hlautvessels”;
“hlaut-bowls”), where the blood was kept, and
hlaut-teinar (“hlaut-staves”; “hlaut-teins”) were
used to sprinkle it (literally: that was done to strike
them); with that, together the altars (stallana)
were reddened altogether, and also the walls of
the temple, inside and outside, and so also the
people (those gathered for the blot); but slaughter
should be made for human consumption (implying
that the flesh of the animals was then eaten by all
gathered). (Emphases and translation, Connla
Freyjason, and therefore, my own.)
In our modern world, we no longer see a need for blood

sacrifice, nor would most of us have the stomach for it. (The use of
blood in ritual also sets a dangerous precedent, which most people
honestly haven't thought through to its logical conclusions!)
Therefore, we substitute that action with the hallow-sign and also
with the sprinkling of the liquid (usually juice or an alcoholic
beverage of some sort) within the blot-vessel, which has been
made hlaut by same.
Next, we typically raise our glasses in blot to the God or Gods
being welcomed to the rite. This action is likewise referenced in
the aforementioned section of Heimskringla:
39
First, should Odin be given full (a toast; raising a

glass and drinking to the God as a sign of
reverence), (next) should (come) that drink to
Sigurd and the kings of his kingdom, but after
(literally: since), Njordr's full (as with Odin, see
above), and Freyr's full (again, see Odin), for peace
and good seasons. Then there (were) many men
that eagerly drank thereafter Bragi's full. Men
drank in respect to their family members, their
good ancestors, and past friends (literally: “those
who had been called mine”).
The archaeological record also extensively supports the practice

of blot via full (toasting): virtually every catalogue of grave-goods
includes drinking horns or cups, and sometimes even chalices,
goblets, or bowls.
Many people, perusing or performing these rituals for the first
time, may be honestly surprised by the simplicity of blot. They
may also find themselves wondering how or why people in the
American Heathen community can be so often confused by such a
simple act, or maybe not. Either way, perhaps it is best if we take a
moment here to talk about the historical significance of blot and
the deeper meanings behind it, and perhaps, in the process, equip
ourselves to allay some of that confusion in future.
In your travels, you may have encountered the term blot
(spelled blót in Old Norse) translated as “blood” and, therefore,
associated pretty exclusively with concepts of violence or blood
sacrifice. In reality, the word for “blood” in Old Norse is blóð
(blodh). Meanwhile, the word blót means “offering”, and is
connected to the word blóta, meaning “worship”: in other words, it
has zero to do with blood or violent forms of sacrifice. In fact, we
most often find the term blót used in conjunction with the offering
of food or drink. Both the terms blót and blóta stem from the
proto-Germanic blōtą, meaning “to sacrifice”, but as you likely
already realize, “sacrifice” doesn't always entail violence or blood-
letting.
sacrifice: noun. an act of offering a deity

something precious; destruction or surrender of
something for the sake of something or someone
else; something which is given up.
40
Turning the Wheel
sacrifice: verb. to suffer loss of, give up, renounce,

or destroy especially for an ideal, belief, or end.
The act of blot in Norse Practice is often viewed as “giving to

gain”: we give up, offer, or sacrifice something in an attempt to
gain something from the Gods. That isn't an offering or a sacrifice
at all. We have another word for that: trade. Now, I'm not going to
say that we can't or even shouldn't engage in a sort of “free market
economy” with the Gods, but what I will say is that we shouldn't
do that and then pretend it is actual blot, nor should this be the
entirety of our interaction. When the only relationship we have
with someone is within trade interactions, we call those people
merchants or customers, right? Most of the time, we don't call
them friends, even though such interactions might indeed be
friendly. Hopefully, our relationships with the Gods will become
much deeper than this! At any rate, no matter how “friendly” you
are when participating in such activity, if the only way you view
yourself is as a “God-customer”, and the only way you view the
Gods is as a “God-store” or “God-merchant”, there's a problem.
No, rather than constantly “giving to gain”, the point of blot is to
engage “gift for gift, in gratitude”. That's part of what makes it a
true sacrifice in the first place, for we are not offering it up for our
own sakes, but for Theirs.
Blot is a conscious act of reciprocity:
reciprocity: noun. the quality or state of being

mutually dependent, or of engaging in mutual
action or influence; a mutual exchange of
privileges; a recognition of one entity of the validity
of the licenses or privileges granted by another
entity; a situation or relationship in which two
entities agree to do something similar for each
other, to allow each other to have the same rights,
etc.
Since the term is etymologically connected to the Old Norse

word for worship, blot is also an act of respect:
worship: verb. to honor or show reverence for a

being, as with a divine being or supernatural power;
to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor,
or devotion.
41
worship: noun. reverence offered a divine being

or supernatural power; an act of expressing such
reverence; extravagant respect or admiration for or
devotion to an object of esteem.
respect: noun. an act of giving particular

attention, high or special regard to another being or
thing.
respect: verb. to consider worthy of high regard;

to appreciate and admire.
Following the initial blot in which we give the Gods to whom

the ritual is “aimed” Their full, the actual “work” of the ritual
typically takes place. This “work” may include blot and full to
other individuals within the Invisible Population, including the
Cultural Ancestors, Disir, Alfar, etc., or it may include other
activities, such as blessing the space or the home, ritual
“smithcraft”, oath-taking, or even dancing, offerings of galdr
(song), or prayer. This myriad of other ritual activities is likewise
based heavily on evidence within the archaeological record. Such
evidence at the sites of Hulje and Lilla Ullevi in Sweden likewise
suggests communal participation in ritual feasting, well-offerings,
ritual smitchcraft, ritual drama, and oathing. Finally, when the
“work” of the rite is done, we “raise the fence”, bringing the ritual
space effectively “back to the mundane world”. We then ground
the energy raised during the rite, and empty the offerings outside
at the ve.
As you now hopefully understand, none of this is either purely
accidental, purely experiential, nor based in “modern New Age
practice”, but instead in painstaking research, coupled with a deep
respect and love of the Gods and kind wights. I hope, as you turn
these pages and perhaps even participate in or lead these rites,
your hearts will swell with that same respect and love.
42
Turning the Wheel
Blessing of Ritual Tools

Connla Freyjason
In the Iron Age, most ritual tools would have become hlaut
through the very process of their creation, but in our modern lives,
not many of us practice such things as smithcraft, or the making of
ceramics or glass. The simple fact is: most of us purchase our
ritual tools from local witch shops, antique stores, or elsewhere. A
fact that a lot of people don't seem to realize, here in our modern
world, is that our Cultural Ancestors also appreciated the fine art
of “shopping”, as can be seen from archaeological evidence of glass
offering bowls and beakers, sourced from Italy, found in Boat-
Grave 6 at Valsgärde, or Muslim dirhams hanging from a
seidhrkona's necklace at Birka. They must surely have practiced
their own methods of “making an object hlaut”, though precisely
what those methods might have been are lost to us.
In attempting to reconstruct or reclaim those methods of
“making an object hlaut”, the concept of ritual smithcraft may
serve as a worthy guide. We have copious archaeological evidence
of ritual smithcraft having occurred in the Iron Age and after, from
the crucibles in evidence at Uppakra, to the fire-pits at Lilla Ullevi,
so we know this was definitely “a thing” for the Ancestors. The
Saami tradition of duodji also suggests that the crafting of an item
is an act of blessing or “making sacred”, in and of itself. Using the
practice of smithcraft as a guide, we may develop essentially a
method of “reforging” or “recrafting” an item from its “original
mundance state”, into a new “sacred state”.
43
Before we get into the “nuts and bolts” of actual practice, let's
take a moment to place ritual smithcraft into its proper historical
context. The ultimate smiths in Norse cosmology are, of course,
the Dwarves. Archaeologist Lotte Hedeager describes those first
Dwarf-crafted items as “the objects through which the cosmic
order is sustained”: Gungnir, Draupnir, Skidhbladhnir, Mjollnir,
Brisingamen, and Gullinbursti. The very process of metal-crafting
itself had Otherworldly connotations in the Iron Age, understood
more or less as a form of alchemy. Metallurgy and smithcraft
required very specialized knowledge—knowledge that often
involved what we would today call “trade secrets”--that in those
times was viewed as esoteric. Those who participated in such
crafts were held in very special social and ritual regard, as they
were the masters of very visible and apparently magickal
transformations.
When we bless the tools for our own ritual work, we are
essentially tapping into this esoteric understanding of smithcraft
for, ultimately, we are participating in the same sort of magickal
transformation. We are taking otherwise mundane objects, and
turning them into tools by which we might reshape Wyrd itself.
That is, after all, the grand purpose for magick within the
paradigm of a Norse Path (or any other path, really), and for
ritual, too. In our participations alongside the Gods, Ancestors,
and Invisible Population, we are reaching out from our mundane
world not only to touch Otherworlds and their denizens, but also
the very threads of Wyrd which shape the universe as we know it.
Thus, before we begin the actual process of blessing, we blot the
Dwarves and the Great Smiths, Volundr and Ullr. Volundr's
association with smithcraft is obvious within the Lore; Ullr's, far
less so. Yet we know that He was associated with iron amulet
rings, and the finds at Lilla Ullevi in Sweden conclusively show
that those rings were forged on-site, via ritual smithcraft, so,
clearly, He was likewise a God of the Forge. Once this blot is
complete, we may then go forward with our blessing, via re-
enactment of the forging process. If you wish to also dedicate the
item to a specific purpose, Deity, or wight, I have included
suggested text with which to do so.
Ensoulment of the object is something about which I have
written briefly before, in my first book, Norse Witch: Reclaiming
the Heidhrinn Heart. Based on the principle which we now refer
to as hylozoism, a belief that inanimate objects might come to
possess souls of their own is very common in animistic cultures.
An ensouled object becomes a social agent. That is, while not
44
Turning the Wheel
regarded as being fully “alive” in the human or animal sense, it is
understood that the object itself becomes worthy of respectful
interaction—it becomes as much a “part of us” as we are of it, in
effect becoming almost a sort of non-human “relative”. An
etiquette develops, as to how we are to treat that object, once it has
become ensouled, in the same way that we have an etiquette for
how we are to treat other humans, or animals, or Nature Itself, not
because we have somehow magickally bound a specific spirit to
that object, but because we have, through use and veneration,
awakened the spirit of that object, which already lay within. One of
the primary proofs that our Ancestors believed in the ensoulment
of objects is that they named those objects: Odin's spear was called
Gungnir; Thor's hammer was called Mjollnir, etc. Over time, your
ritual objects may also “tell you” their names, but the keywords in
this sentence are over time. Think of the story of The Velveteen
Rabbit: once you have loved the item long enough, only then
might it “become real”; it isn't a thing that just happens instantly,
or overnight.
Please note: this process of “reforging” is intended specifically
for ritual tools; not as a blessing for each and every object ever to
be used or placed upon one's altar. These tools are the items which
you will be using in future to bless and/or hallow other items, as
well as people and spaces.
Bibliography
Arrhenius, B. “The Chronology of the Vendel
Graves.” Vendel Period Studies.
Transactions of the Boat-Grave Symposium
in Stockholm, February 2-3, 1981. J.P.
Lamm & H.A. Nordstrom (red.), The
Museum of National Antiquities, Stockholm,
Studies 2, 1983, pp. 39-70.

von Valsgärde In. Acta Musei Antiquitatum
Upsaliensis I. Uppsala. 1942.
Arwidsson, Greta. “Valsgarde—Fullero”. Tor 1,

Department of Archaeology, Uppsala
University, Gustavinium, 1948.
45

von Valsgärde II. Acta Musei Antiquitatum
Upsaliensis IV. Uppsala. 1954.

von Valsgärde III. Acta Musei
Antiquitatum Septentrionalium Regiæ
Universitatis Upsaliensis V. Uppsala. 1977.
Eliade, Mircea. The Forge and the Crucible.

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1978.
Freyjason, Connla. Norse Witch: Reclaiming the

Heidhrinn Heart. Iaconagraphy Press,
2018.
Hedeager, Lotte. Iron Age Myth and Materiality:

An Archaeology of Scandinavia 400AD-
1000. Routledge Press, 2011.
46
Turning the Wheel
The Blessing of Ritual Tools
The Blot of Smiths

You Will Need:
Cup or Horn
Bowl
Liquid libation (Beer or dark ale is preferred; non-
alcoholic options would include coffee,
barley tea, or beef broth)
A second cup or horn
Second liquid libation (red wine is preferred; non-
alcoholic options would include red
sparkling cider, elderberry, dragonfruit, or
cran-raspberry)
Bread (a bready item, such as a pretzel, is fine)
A precious stone (Garnet, carnelian, and amber are
particular favorites)
A piece of precious metal (Silver is likely easiest to
procure; avoid pyrite!)
9 small rings (Jump rings, which can be purchased
in any craft store for a very small amount are
excellent to keep on hand for this purpose)
Feathers (These may be found in nature or
purchased at a local craft store; make certain, if
purchased, that they were humanely procured.)
Raise the cup:

I recognize all those who dwell in the Great Below:
Those who ever-forge in the great darkness of
Svartalfheim:
Crafters,
Forgers,
Makers-Bright!
All ye Earthy Wights:
Dwarves,
Long-bearded,
47
Strong of hand;
Quick of thought,
And skilled with brand,
'Round me gather,
Help my cause.
(Give full to the Dwarves via drinking some
of the first libation)
Accept gift for gift,
And song for song;
Offerings given,
Poured and sung;
With gold and gems
Let halls be hung.
Sharp of stone
And heat of steam;
Radiant shine
Of gemstone's gleam:
Gift for gift
Craft for craft
Art for art
Thus art to have!
Crafters,
Forgers,
Makers-Bright!
In these gifts
May you delight!
Sing over the stone(s) and metal, as well as

the bread:
Dagaz-Wunjo-Ansuz-Laguz-Isa-Nauthiz
(Roughly: D-F-G-F-F-D-F-D-G-F-E-D; all whole
notes, with a double hold on Laguz and Nauthiz)
Isa-Wunjo-Ansuz-Laguz-Dagaz-Isa
(Roughly: D-F-G-F-F-D-F-D-G-F-E-D: all whole
notes, with a double hold on Laguz and the last
syllable of the last Isa)
48
Turning the Wheel
Place stone(s), metal, and bread in the

offering bowl, and pour the remainder of
the beer/ale or equivalent over them.
Raise the cup:

Hail Volundr!
Hail to the Dis-Wed
Smith of Vengeance and Peace!
Hail to the Winged Man,
King of the Alfar,
Alongside Freyr and Ullr!
(Give full to Volundr by drinking a portion
of the red wine or its equivalent)
I pass in a circle
Seven times:
(Actually walk in a circle seven times)
One for each year
Shared with your Beloved,
Wise Hervor Alvitr.
I lay rings
In blot to you;
(Place 7 of the rings into the hlaut-bowl with
the previous Dwarven offerings)
Pour red wine
To remember
Blood-spilled reckoning.
(Pour a portion of the red wine or its
equivalent into the hlaut-bowl)
Feathers upon my stalli:
(Place the feathers into the hlaut-bowl)
May you ever
Keep your wings.
Teach me to soar;
To laugh as I fly,
Rising above
Those who would
Deign to bind me
To my Shadow.
49
Raise the cup:

Hail Ullr!
Oath-Forger!
Ring-Binder!
Hunt-Leader!
King of the Alfar,
Alongside Freyr and Volundr!
(Give full to Ullr by drinking a portion of the
red wine or its equivalent)
I lay these rings for You:
One, for the oaths
That bind me;
The other, for oaths
I yet may keep.
(Place the last 2 rings into the hlaut-bowl
with the previous offerings)
With Honor
May my deeds
Be wrought;
In Equity,
All my words
And actions.
Gift for gift
I pour this blot:
(Pour the remainder of the red wine or its
equivalent into the hlaut-bowl)
May my craft
Be sure
As Your aim.
The hlaut-bowl should be left on the altar

overnight. (It is not necessary to wait til the
next day to perform the forging!) The next
day, remove the stone(s), metal, and feather
from the bowl, retaining them on your altar
as a permanent blot to the Smiths. The
remainder should be poured at the ve; the
bread should be buried.
50
Turning the Wheel
The Forging:
Making Tools Hlaut via
Ritual Smithcraft
You Will Need:
Tool to be reforged as hlaut
Incense (Sandalwood or Palo Santo preferred)
Water
Salt
A candle
Light the candle and incense:

By fire I forge
This (name the type of object)
With the intent
To put into action
All those fruitful things
Which I have learned
And am learning still.
(Pass the candle around the object to be
blessed)
In Honorable Wisdom
May it serve to help me
Find the Courage
To bring Justice.
(Make a second pass with the candle)
With loving, earthy blows
I hammer
This Wyrd
Into its shape:
(Sprinkle the object with salt)
May it serve to aid in building
Community;
May it serve to aid in building
Right relationships.
(Sprinkle a second time)
Through Love's Hospitality
May it serve to
Teach Compassion
51
And to bestow Blessings.

(Sprinkle with salt a third time)
With water
I quench
The heat
Of Holy Will:
(Sprinkle the object with water)
May this (name the type of object)
Help me maintain
My Sovereignty,
Even as that Will
Is made manifest.
Through Loyal Reciprocity
May it serve to make Peace
And spread Happiness.
(Make a third pass with the water)
Smoke rises
As this crafting is done!
(Pass the incense over the object)
Help me remain
True to my
Own authenticity;
Tru to the Gods.
(Make a second pass with the incense)
With Honest Integrity
May it serve in the practice of Equity
In all my Deeds.
(Make a third pass with the incense)
Thus forged,
Stand ready
In service
To the Gods,
To the Ancestors,
To all Kind Wights,
And to the greater good of Humanity.
52
Turning the Wheel
Dedication of a Ritual Tool

You Will Need:
Tool to be dedicated
Cup or horn
Hlaut-bowl
Liquid libation (appropriate to the entity to which
the object is to be dedicated)
Note:
The composition of the blot to be offered to
whichever entity you wish to dedicate the ritual
object is left entirely up to the dedicant. I have
included my own ritual dedication, of a scythe, to
Ullr, below, as an example.
Hail Ullr!
My Beloved:
I bear Your name
Upon my flesh;
I hold Your love
Within my heart.
Oath-Binder,
I dare to speak true
In Your presence.
Hunt-Leader,
I listen for the roar
Of hoofbeats
Upon the wind;
Of horn-call
Beneath the moon,
And I know
You are ever-there.
(Drink a portion of the liquid; offer a

portion in the bowl)
53
Dedication of the Tool:
(Holding the item aloft:)

O, (name of entity to which the object is to be
dedicated),
Whom I honor,
Look now upon this
(Insert name of type of object)
And know it not only as my own,
But also as Your own:
I dedicate it to Your service;
(If possible, pour some of the liquid libation
over the object. If this will damage the item,
either touch it briefly with slightly
moistened fingertips, or pour the remainder
of the libation into the hlaut-bowl, and
touch the item to the outside of the bowl)
May it serve us both well:
In Honor and
In Equity;
With Wisdom and
With Courage,
That it might bring
Justice and
Compassion,
Peace and good seasons
To us both,
And to all those who have gone before,
And to all those who will come after.
Empty the contents of the hlaut-bowl

outside at the ve.
54
The Alf Wheel
Turning the Wheel
Disablot
Disablot is a bit of an “odd duck”, in the grand scheme of
“Pagan Wheels of the Year”, for it is a rare bird indeed: a non-
agricultural holiday. We have a concrete date for Disablot, which
is indeed a rare and special thing, when considering the history of
Norse practice in Sweden (or anywhere else, for that matter). We
know that the sun sets in a very specific position over the Thing
Mound at Gamla Uppsala specifically on February 3rd. Rather than
being any sort of agricultural observance, Disablot revolved
around two very specific themes: Justice and Sovereignty. At this
time, we know the Ancestors honored the Disir—Women of Power,
both Ancestral and Divine—who were understood as the
bestowers of Sovereignty, via hierogamy (from “heiros gamos”,
literally: “holy marriage”). It was a time when people met for the
Thing—the sacred assembly of Law and civil discussion and
jurisdiction—as well as the time of year when rulership was either
initially proclaimed, or supported and upheld via recurring ritual
reenactment. In other words: it was the start of the communal
social year. Even by our modern Gregorian Calendar, it is the first
holiday of a new year, which makes it much easier to “wrap our
brains around” than, say, Winternights, as the “start of the year”.
The main themes of Disablot, as I said, are Justice and
Sovereignty: the fullveldi (“full power”; Self-empowerment) which
I have discussed so many times in the past, and which we are all
hopefully working to build and maintain on the daily. Once we've
reached that central, empowered place in our lives, hopefully
Justice is what will ensue: having “closed the distance” between
our mind and heart (hjarta), and gained hjarta-vitr (“heart-
wisdom”), that now becomes our guiding principle in life, in
everything we say and everything we do. Disablot, then, becomes
not only an opportunity to proclaim that “rulership”, but also a
chance to celebrate, support, and uphold it, via ritual reenactment
of that initial claiming. It also becomes an opportunity to take a
good, long look at what we are doing in our lives, have done, and
will do, and decide on the Justice (or not) of those actions, perhaps
even taking active steps to put right those things or areas in which
we are “falling short”. Therefore, a very important part of the
57
observance of this holiday becomes the recognition of our place
within the community. I'm not just talking about the “people you
hang with”, or even the organizations to which you may or may not
belong: I am talking about the ancient, ever-growing community
that is made up not only of humankind, but also the Gods, the
Ancestors, and the Invisible Population. Which is how hierogamy
comes into play. Every single person has a mother: we all came
from somewhere, and that somewhere was inevitably inside a
woman. Paternity may be challenged, and, yes, mothers may walk
away, leave us on doorsteps, or otherwise turn us away or turn us
off, but when all is said and done, we have women to thank for our
being here in these worlds in the first place. We also have a long
and unending line of female Ancestors, Goddesses, and feminine
incarnations within the Invisible Population (from Huldufolk to
troll-wives) to thank as well. Women are the ultimate Creators in
the truest and deepest sense of that word, and Disablot is a time
for the celebration of that fact, particularly as it relates to our own
Self-Sovereignty and Justice-bringing.
• Disablot
◦ February 1-9
Sweden)
◦ Sigyn
◦ Angrbodha
◦ Freyja Vanadis
◦ Hel
◦ Disir
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Justice
▪ Sovereignty
▪ Bringing things into being
58
Turning the Wheel
You Will Need:

Altar/Sacred Space
Dagger, boline, sword, staff, or wand (If you
have none of these, a wooden spoon or
butter knife from your kitchen will totally
work; just bless it first. Otherwise, if you
have fingers—and hopefully you do—use
your right index for raising the fence and
hallowing.)
A cup or horn and a bowl
Liquid libation (red wine, a pink sparkling cider, or
cran/strawberry juice are recommended)
Salt
Bread
Something sweet (pastry; candy; baked goods;
strawberries; chocolate should not be used if
offerings are to be left outdoors)
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Darkness outside the Grove;
Outside there dwell shadows;
Shadows inside us as well.
Inside, outside, everywhere,
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Here is light and all good things!
Light and bright wisdom protect us;
Protect us from those who dwell outside.
Hallow the Space.
59
Place your body in the position of the rune,

Tiwaz. Visualize the energy of the sacred space
which you have just created as golden light, moving
up through the fingertips of your left hand, and
across your body to the fingertips of your right
hand (or to the dagger, wand, or hammer in your
right hand, if you have already procured, blessed,
and ensouled that tool)
Visualize the energy flowing down and releasing

from your right hand (or the tip of a physical foci,
such as a dagger), and draw the Hallow Sign over
your chalice and see it infusing the liquid within.
Raise Your Cup:
Hail Freyja,
Vanadis!
Queen of Cats,
Valfreyja;
Daughter of Njordr;
Sister-Spouse of Freyr,
Who is Lord of the Mound
And Lord of Alfheim;
Queen of the Disir;
Lady of Peace and Good Seasons:
Skal!
Toast Freyja (drink a small sip from your chalice)
Peace and good seasons to You,

And may there ever be frith between us,
And between me and mine,
And those who have come before and who will
come after.
Pour Blot to Freyja (pour a small amount of

liquid from your chalice onto the ground or into
your hlaut-bowl)
60
Turning the Wheel
Blessings and Honor

To You and Your kin,
And to any of my own kin
Who have come to serve You.
Blessings and Honor
To the Disir:
To those who once walked beside us,
As our Ancestors and kin,
And to those who never did,
But are among us, just the same.
Hail Disir! Skal!
Toast the Disir (drink another small sip from

your chalice)
Peace and good seasons to you,

And may there ever be frith between us,
And between me and mine,
And those who have come before and who will
come after.
Pour blot to the Disir (pour a small amount of

liquid from your chalice onto the ground or into
your hlaut-bowl)
Say what is on your heart. (Speak of your

genuine love for your female-identifying Ancestors,
the Disir, and Freyja.)
All Gathered Speak:

Hail Freyja! Hail Disir! Skal!
Toast
If you are observing Disablot with others, pass the

chalice to them, and have them say what is on their
heart. (They should likewise speak of their genuine
love for their female-identifying Ancestors, the
Disir, and Freyja.)
All Gathered Speak:

61
Toast (have them return the chalice to you)
Say what is on your heart. (Address any recent

concerns that you might otherwise have taken to a
mother-figure, to your Ancestors who identified
primarily as female, to the Disir as angelic forces,
and to Freyja.)
All Gathered Speak:

Toast

heart. (Address any recent concerns that they might
otherwise have taken to a mother-figure, to their
Ancestors who identified primarily as female, to the
Disir as angelic forces, and to Freyja)
All Gathered Speak:

Toast (have them return the chalice to you)
Say what is on your heart. (Thank your female-

identifying Ancestors, the Disir, and Freyja for all of
the good things in your life in which you know they
may have been instrumental.)
All Gathered Speak:

Toast

heart. (Thank their female-identifying Ancestors,
the Disir, and Freyja for all of the good things in
their lives as above.)
62
Turning the Wheel
All Gathered Speak:

Toast (have them return the chalice)
For all that you have done for us,

And for all that you will do;
For all that you have meant to us,
And for all that you will mean:
Peace and good seasons;
Love, gratitude, and honor.
Blessed be!
Pour blot
Turning of the Wheel:

The presiding Vitki/Volva prepares an offering of
bread, salt, liquid libation, and sweets:
A season closes
In the dark of
Winter's night:
One last pouring
Of wine and salt;
(Salt and wine are poured into the hlaut-bowl or
offered on the ground)
One last offering
Of bread and sweets.
(Bread is offered into the hlaut-bowl, as is a sample
of the sweets)
What was begun
At Winternights
We now seal;
Another turning
Of the Wheel.
Hail and Farewell,
Bright Disir,
Yet do not
Wander far;
Rather, remain
Ever-close,
63
Reminding us
Who we are,
Who we have been, and
Who we yet will be.
A season closes
In the dark of
Winter's night:
One last pouring
Of wine and salt;
One last offering
Of bread and sweets.
(The hlaut-bowl or the chalice is held aloft for a
period of several moments, as with a
traditional bowl-offering to Sigyn; the
bowl/chalice should only be lowered once
the energy feels correct to do so.)
Hail Disir!
All Gathered Speak:

Hail Disir!
Raise the Fence

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Light and Bright Wisdom protect us;
This circle is open, and yet never broken.
Ground and Center; empty the offering bowl

outside at the ve.
Portions of this material also appear in Blessings of

Fire and Ice and Norse Witch by Connla Freyjason.
64
Turning the Wheel
Sigrblot
“There should be a blot at the beginning of winter
for a [good] year, and at mid-winter a blot for
growth, the third at summer, that was Sigrblot
[“victory blot”].”
--Ynglingatal, Connla Freyjason Translation
Sigrblot, a blot for victory (celebrating the successes of life),

was observed at the beginning of summer. We can deduce based
on a basic understanding of weather patterns in Uppland Sweden
that the beginning of summer (from an agricultural standpoint)
coincides roughly with the beginning of Spring, which we
recognize today as the Spring or Vernal Equinox (mid-March).
Traveling around the Heidhrinn Wheel of the Year, we may come
to understand Sigrblot as a place where we celebrate our victories
in life, as well as the victory of the oncoming Spring and/or
potential new beginnings in our lives (remember: “it's Norse
o'clock somewhere”).
Whether observing the Alf Wheel or the Troll Wheel over the
course of a year, at Sigrblot we honor Loki and His wife, Sigyn.
Why? Because “Kettle-Grove imagery” on period artifacts/features
was likely used to denote the season of Spring. We know of at least
three such depictions of Loki and Sigyn in the Kettle-Grove: two
Gotland Picture Stones (Ardre Kyrka VIII and Klinte Hunninge I,
dating to the 8th and 9th centuries, respectively), and the Gosforth
Cross (early 10th century; Cumbria, England). Since our focus in
Heidhr Craft is on the potential reflection of earlier “Vendel
Themes”, we will be focusing on what the depictions on these two
Gotland Picture Stones might be trying to tell us. Most scholars
agree that these stones were originally headstones, erected over
someone’s grave. We can surmise from this that the iconography
on the stones must have been intended to tell us something about
the original grave’s occupant, in much the same way that we find
images of which the deceased might have been fond coupled with
written names, dates, and sentiments on modern gravestones. But
why tell this story in images on a person’s headstone? Employing
Ian Hodder’s archaeological method of “material culture as text”,
65
we can essentially begin to unlock and “read” the symbols on these
picture stones in a way similar to reading the writing on a modern
gravestone. This might seem arbitrary at first, but take a second
and think about all the times, in your day-to-day modern life, that
you read material culture as text: the shape of a stop sign; the
badge of a policeman; the painting of a wheelchair on the
pavement inside a parking space. With me now? Okay, let’s dive
in!
Certain similarities between the two stones are immediately
apparent: the depictions of horses at the top; the large boats in the
center; the presence of a dog or wolf on both. The “Kettle-Grove”
imagery occurs in the lower right on Ardre Kyrka VIII, and in the
mid-to-lower left on Klinte Hunninge I. Closer inspection reveals
yet another commonality: stylized images of bird-like figures
(upmost panel of AKVIII; bottom left panel of KHI), and
agriculture motifs, most likely associated with funerary activity
(bottom center, AKVIII; bottom right, KHI). The repetition of
images suggests a shared “language” between the two stones,
which at its most basic might be read as: “they died a worthy death
(topmost panels with horses); their souls (the stylized birds) have
crossed over (the boats); there was a feast (the agricultural
motifs)”. But why the images of the Kettle-Grove? These likely tell
us when the stone was erected, in relation to the person’s death
and funeral feast, as they may be understood to represent a
season: Spring. The relationship between the “Kettle-Grove
image” and the “feasting image” may then give us a clue of when
the person died, versus when they were interred, and the stone
erected: in AKVIII, the “feast image” precedes the “Kettle-Grove
image”, while on KHI, the opposite is the case. This suggests that
the interrant in AKVIII probably died during the winter, while the
ground was frozen, which caused his family to have to wait until
the spring, before he could actually be buried (not an uncommon
thing in Iron Age and after Scandinavia).
This potential identification of the “Kettle-Grove image” with
seasonality and dating shines new light on the ongoing debate,
surrounding the reasons for Loki's punishment. Extant Lore
provides us with two possible motives, neither of which is clearly
the culprit, hence the debate: either He was punished for the death
of Baldur, which He helped bring about, or He was punished for
His “outbursts” during the incidence of Lokasenna. Some would
even argue both, and that the “Lokasenna debacle” was just the
“final straw” for the Gods. But this new context for the meaning of
these images provides us with what is likely a far more realistic,
66
Turning the Wheel
cosmological answer: Loki's “punishment” was actually instead a
necessary sacrifice, which served to bring about the victory of
Spring. In other words, perhaps the reason why the motive for
Loki’s punishment remains debatable right up into the modern era
is because in the initial understanding of Loki’s mythology, He
wasn’t punished at all; He was sacrificed. But why Him? Why
sacrifice essentially a Fire-God to end Winter? Why not Thor or
Ullr or Freyr? Because sacrificing Loki would please the Goddess
of Winter–Skadhi–and thereby pacify Her. The subsequent
victory of Spring would then enable Ullr, Freyr, and Thor to “do
Their jobs”: making the wild animals and livestock fertile, as well
as the land, and bringing the life-giving rains, instead of snow.
Living in this modern world, where we understand science and
how seasons change, viewing the coming of Spring as some sort of
colossal victory may seem strange to us. But we have to
understand the worldview of our Cultural Ancestors in the Iron
Age and after. The dawn of the Vendel Period, in 550 CE, marked
the end of one of the largest ecological cataclysms in history,
which scholars have named the Vandal Minimum, Migration Era
Pessimum, Dark Ages Cold Period, or the Late Antique Little Ice
Age. During this period, which began in 535 CE, a “volcanic cloud”
or “dust veil”, caused by extreme volcanic activity in Indonesia, the
Americas, and Iceland, covered most of the northern hemisphere,
including Scandinavia. This created a condition known as
“volcanic winter”, during which the sun was dimmed, causing the
sky to appear as if there were an eclipse, or, otherwise, to appear
reddened. Crops failed and forests receded, and there is evidence
of widespread famine, as well as likely pandemics. Sea levels
lowered, and there were widespread dry conditions, which
probably resulted not only in drought but also in brushfires. These
conditions lasted for over a decade: from 535-550 CE. In
Scandinavia, this is believed to have resulted in the death of over
half the extant population. Basically, it was the “fimbulwinter”
described in the later Lore. The people who essentially “founded”
the Vendel Period in Sweden would have lived through these
conditions: the oldest boat-grave at Valsgärde, Valsgärde Boat-
Grave 8, most likely dates from 595 CE; this means its occupant
was probably born sometime around 535 CE, at the initial onset of
this “fimbulwinter”. Its conditions—dry, arid, and cold, with
widespread famine and disease epidemics—would have existed for
the majority of that man's life! Without a doubt, this shaped those
people's mythology, which provided their cosmology, which
dictated their worldview.
67
The aftermath of this “fimbulwinter” lasted well into the 8 th
century. Tales of wolves breaking into people's homes, widespread
plague, and famine-leading-to-cannibalism may be found
throughout the written records of mainland Europe at this time.
Archaeological evidence broadly suggests that, at least in Sweden,
the people answered these horrible conditions with religious
vehemence, in the form of sacrifices and other attempts to appease
the Gods. In short, the people there did as they had always done,
dating all the way back to the period of the Alvastra Pile Dwelling:
when the going got tough, the people turned to their Gods for help.
In other words: any year when Spring actually happened, was
considered a glorious victory. In these times of global warming
and cataclysmic climate change, we would do well to remember
what befell our Cultural Ancestors, and likewise show our
gratitude for the timely arrival of Spring.
• Sigrblot
◦ Sigyn
◦ Loki
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Gratitude
▪ New Beginnings
▪ Victory
▪ Success
▪ Goal-setting
68
Turning the Wheel
You Will Need:

Altar/Sacred Space
Dagger, boline, sword, staff, or wand
A cup or horn
A bowl
Liquid libation (Sigyn favors absinthe or sweet fruit
juices)
Water
A coin
A singing bowl, bell, or drum
A candle (Use whatever color or scent calls to you;
Sigyn favors sweetgrass and soft green
colors, but when in doubt, use unscented
and white)
A piece of birch bark (If you do not live in an area
where birch is readily accessible, birch
“branches” and other items made of birch
can often be found at local craft stores, or at
your local gardening supplier, such as Lowes
or Home Depot. If you absolutely cannot
find birch, a stick from your yard which you
“intend” as birch is not going to cause a riot
with the Gods)
Acorns (You can likely pick these up in your own
yard, a local park, or woodland. If not, these
can also often be purchased at local craft
stores)
Incense (Sage or Sweetgrass may also be used;
Sigyn seems to be very fond of sweetgrass,
in fact)
69
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Hallow the Space.


70
Turning the Wheel
Raise Your Cup:
Thanks I give
For the victories
Of this year,
And for the victories
Yet to come:
I sing Fehu
For wealth
New-gained;
Jera
For wealth
Maintained.
I sing Kenaz
For those things made
Manifest;
Wunjo
For happiness.
I sing Berkano
For the ways
In which
I've grown;
Inguz
For self-esteem
New-owned.
Thanks I give
For Victories,
Won and yet to come:
Gift for gift,
This offering
Is done.
Pour libation or raise the cup; galdr Fehu.

Place a coin upon the stalli; galdr Jera.
Light the candle; galdr Kenaz.
Start singing bowl, ring bell, or drum; galdr
Wunjo.
Offer birch bark on the stalli; galdr
Berkano.
Offer acorns on the stalli; galdr Inguz.
71
You may then continue to galdr Fehu, Jera,

Kenaz, Wunjo, Berkano, Inguz until you feel
satisfied with the energy.
I pour and offer:

A third at summer;
That was Sigrblot.
At this start of
Summer-season,
This time we
Now call Spring:
Third Great Festival
Of the Wheel.
I blot for Victory: Raise the cup
Let me see
Success
From the seeds
That I have
Planted
In my life.
Let me have
Good seasons. Drink; share in sumbel if
others are present.
I blot for Peace: Raise the cup
Let me find
Comfort
In my time of need;
Solace
In the successes
I have sown. Drink; share in sumbel if others
are present.
Tonight we honor Sigyn, Whose name

means “Victorious Woman”. Loki-bride and
weeping mother, may She teach us compassionate
endurance in the time to come, that we may pursue
the successes of life, and likewise come out
victorious.
72
Turning the Wheel
Bound she saw lying under Kettle-Grove,

Guileful shape of Loki perceived;
There sat Sigyn
Yet not of Her station found joy.
Would you know yet more—or what?
Hold the basin
O'er the fire,
Oh You of Victorious Galdr!
Raise bowl of water first over fire, then
aloft.
What the Volva
Guilefully beheld,
Let us come to finally
Understand:
Offerings given to flame.
Sprinkle some water on the flame; do not
put it out!
Cauldron-Grove
I build for you:
Candles all a-glow;
Cups that catch,
And bowls that sing.
Play singing bowl if one is available.
And I would!
Bless the entire space/entire home with
smoke, repeat the remainder as necessary.
(This involves walking through the entire
habitable space and “smudging” or
“reekaning” or otherwise purifying with
smoke, repeating the verse that follows as
many times as necessary until completed:)
Incense reek this space;
Make it clean.
I call down
Victory:
Hail, Sigyn Loki's-Wife!
Less the burden of His arms,
Than He of Yours.
Hail!
73
When purification of the space is complete,

return to the altar and offer a final blot to
Sigyn:
I ask not much;

I ask You this:
Compassion in my fingertips; (hold out hands)
In my heart and in my head, (touch fingertips to
heart and head)
In each word, (touch fingertips to lips)
Thought or said. (touch fingertips to forehead)
Patience, endurance, and quiet strength,
Yours to give and mine to breathe
Into the world as I pursue
The goals I have set 'neath the Eyes of the Tru.
Hail to You, Sigyn;
Hail to You!
Pass the cup if others are attending; leave

remains on stalli to be poured at ve.
Hold hands over the cup that will later be

poured, infusing it with the energy and
intent of the verse:
Let us be called
Dreamchasers,
Peacespeakers,
Justiceholders,
Goalsetters;
Victorious!
Let this last offering
Of Sigrblot
Be not our last offering
Given,
But a pouring out--
First, and last, and always--
Of gifts for all of the gifts
Made manifest in our lives.
We pour for Sigyn,
Who holds the cup;
74
Turning the Wheel
We pour for Loki,

Who is the fire-offering
Of hogr, and ve, and stalli-shelf.
We pour for Ullr,
Who teaches us;
We pour for Freyr,
Who invigorates.
Let us be revived,
And taught;
Let us set Worlds ablaze
With our shouts of
Victory.
Raise a shout of victory!
Raise the Fence

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Ground and Center
Empty the offering bowl outside at the ve.

Fire and Ice, Heidhr Craft, and Wheel of Fire and
Ice by Connla Freyjason.
75
Vanirblot
Vanirblot, a blot to Freyja, Freyr, and the Vanir, likely observed
at a time coinciding with the modern Beltane, was a feast day and
ritual observance apparently celebrated in Sweden during the Iron
Age. I have dubbed this holiday “Vanirblot”, as that is the most
logical thing to call it. Without benefit of written records from the
time period, the best we can do is develop a name that makes
sense, based on the archaeological evidence. Recent studies of the
sunsets and sunrises over the Thing Mound at Gamla Uppsala
have not only revealed the ancient mound's status as an
intentionally aligned astronomical feature, but also confirmed the
significance of April 29 as a potential ritual date. The
archaeological evidence at Hulje, Sweden, paints a very definitive
picture of a feast/festival day which celebrated Freyr and Freyja
specifically. What was that archaeological evidence? The ritual
deposition of makeshift arrows or spears (definitively associated
with Freyr and Ullr) and offerings of flax (most often associated
with Freyja).
At Vanirblot, we honor the Gods of the Vanir, while petitioning
for Heilag-Vilja, with humility. Heilag-vilja is not only the “power
of action”, but the potential for action. It is the “energy” that
makes things “go”, within a magickal context, but also within the
context of Self-Sovereignty, which is essentially the “high seat” of
your magick. It works in much the same way as gasoline in a car: if
you don't put any gas in the car, you aren't going to get very far,
are you? Without putting heilag-vilja into those things which you
know, dare, and love to do, those things aren't “going to get very
far”, either. When fully engaged, heilag-vilja is the power behind
the action, driven by intent. Visually, one might equate it with
lightning, as it “filters” down a lightning rod. Essentially, it is the
spark which kindles everything else; without it, there can be no
true fire. As with any other fire, it must be wielded responsibly,
hence the very important lessons of the previous roads.
We ask with humility because heilag-vilja is power, and it is
profoundly unwise to wield power from a “non-humble” place.
Humility also shows the Gods that we have done the necessary
Self-work to be able to wield such power in the first place. For it is
76
Turning the Wheel
when we are out of sync with our Self-Sovereignty that we arrive in
places of either a hunger for power and pomposity, or its direct
opposite, which is self-pity. Generally speaking, if we have issues
with performing humble actions, such as kneeling before the
Gods, the problem lies within us, not with Them.
• Vanirblot
◦ April 29-May 7
Sweden)
◦ Freyr
◦ Freyja
◦ Njordr
◦ Nerthus
◦ Landvaettir
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Fertility
▪ Rise of Freyr
▪ Sexuality/Sensuality
77
You Will Need:

Altar/Sacred Space
A cup or horn
A bowl
Liquid libation (Freyja and Freyr tend to prefer red
wine or sweet fruit juices)
A bowl of sand
Pen
Paper
A candle
Twig, stick, small dowel, skewer, or bio-degradable
straw for each participant
Ribbon or twine (preferably in two opposing colors,
like black and white)
One acorn from Sigrblot
Singing bowl or drum (optional)
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
78
Turning the Wheel
Hallow the Space.


I sing for Freyr's Messenger,

Skirnir:
Ansuz Ansuz Ansuz. Pour libation or raise cup
while galdring.
I sing for the Lovers of the Vanir,
Odhr and Gerdh:
Gebo Wunjo Gebo. Pour libation or raise cup
while galdring.
I sing for the Mother,
Nerthus:
Othala. Pour libation or raise cup while
galdring.
I sing for the Warrior,
Freyr with antler raised:
79
Algiz Inguz Algiz. Pour libation or raise cup

while galdring.
I sing for Njordr,
Sage of Peace:
Laguz Laguz Jera. Pour libation or raise cup
while galdring.
I sing for Ullr,
Son of Sif:
Eihwaz Othala Eihwaz. Pour libation or raise
cup while galdring.
And I sing for The Lady:
Perdhro Fehu Kenaz Pour libation or raise cup
while galdring.
Kenaz Fehu Perdhro
Kenaz.
Let there ever be peace
Between me and Thee,
And good seasons in my life,
And in the lives of those
That I hold dear.
End with a passing of the cup to drink.
Participants then continue to galdr the

runes in the following order, until the ritual
leader feels satisfied with the energy.
Singing bowl and/or drum may be used to
assist in raising the energy. Repeat as many
times as necessary, but end with Kenaz.
Ansuz Gebo Wunjo

Othala
Algiz Inguz Laguz
Jera
Eihwaz
Othala
Perdhro Fehu Kenaz
Kenaz
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Turning the Wheel
Ask me to pour for You;

Pour an offering into the bowl.
Ask me to kneel. Kneel.
Ask me to sing to You;
Ask me to heal.
Ask me to draw runes
Upon my arms Draw Fehu upon each
participant's hand with liquid
libation.
And hammers in the sky. Draw the hallow
(above) in the air.
Ask me to hallow;
Ask me to cry.
Ask me to bury
Secrets in the sand;
To honor the Ancestors,
My fellow Humans;
The Land.
Write your gratitude on paper and place in
bowl of sand.
Ask and I'll give You,
Yet ask me not this:
Please never ask me
My Gods to forget.
I'll pour til I'm empty;
Pour another libation in the bowl.
I'll kneel til I'm tired.
I'll sing til my voice breaks;
I'll heal what's inside.
I'll draw runes
On my arms, no matter who judges;
Retrace Fehu.
Throw hammer-sign to hallow
Without apology.
Throw the hallow again.
I'll set apart sacred space;
I'll never hide my tear-stained face.
Others need never understand
Why I honor my Ancestors,
My Gods and the Land;
My fellow Humans:
81
Each Woman and Man.

My faith is my everything:
My Gods are my shield.
And no one can take from me
The Power They yield:
The Love and the Wisdom,
The Trust and the Troth.
I am fulltrui of One,
Yet bound to the lot.
Ask me to pour for You;
Pour another libation in the bowl.
Ask me to kneel.
Ask me to sing to You;
Ask me to heal.
Ask me to draw runes
Upon my arms
Retrace Fehu.
And hammers in the sky.
Throw the hallow.
Ask me to hallow;
Ask me to cry.
Ask me to bury
Secrets in the sand;
To honor the Ancestors,
My fellow Humans;
The Land.
Ask and I'll give You,
Yet ask me not this:
Please never ask me
My Gods to forget.
The ritual leader will bury the offerings of

gratitude at the ve afterwards.
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Turning the Wheel
Kindle the flame of Will:

Light the candle
Heilag-Vilja,
To make magick
And move storms.
Skjalf,
Set me to shake;
Begin shaking the fingers and the hands.
To tremble with
Heilag-Vilja:
The Holy Will
That sparks
And ignites.
Holy Freyja,
Odin's Third Teacher:
Teach me,
Likewise.
Set me alight
With the fire
Of Kenaz!
Galdr Kenaz over the candle.
Make of me
A Wyrd-Weaver;
Wyrd-Shaper;
Wyrd-Seer,
As the Sacred Norns.
Kindle the flame of Will:
Galdr Kenaz over the candle.
Heilag-Vilja,
To make magick
And move storms.
Gefn
Gift me
Wisdom;
Touch trembling hands to forehead.
Skjalf
Set me
Ablaze:
Reach trembling hands over candle.
Heilag-Vilja
Fill me,
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To wield
And bring forth
Change.
Galdr Kenaz.
Valfreyja
Guide my
Choices;
Touch trembling hands to heart.
Syr
Bestow
Rebirth:
Open trembling hands skyward.
Grant that
I should
Wield
Your Power
Upon this
Middle-Earth.
Draw energy from the candle toward and
into your heart.
Raise the cup and blot Freyja:
You call,
And I come to you;
I dream,
And You are there:
Red-Gold Woman
Of ecstatic tears,
You chase my fears
Away
And teach me
To see
Inside myself.
Hail Freyja!
Drink.
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Turning the Wheel
Raise the cup and blot Freyr:
I call,
And You come to me;
I dream,
And You are there:
Fruitful Learned Man
Of mound and field,
You increase my yield
In all ways
And teach me
To see
Inside myself.
Hail Freyr!
Drink.
I stand at the cusp

Of Darkness and Light,
Seeking ever
A balance to find.
Raise stick/skewer in offering to Freyr.
Lord of the Mound
Who is
Lord of Alfheim,
Help me the
Spiral Stairway to climb.
Raise the light ribbon or twine in offering to
Freyr.
Show me the midpoint
Between Life and Death,
Raise the dark ribbon or twine in offering to
Freyr.
And teach me that Living
Means doing my best.
Guide me towards Passion
That promotes only Peace;
Tie both ribbons to the top of the stick in
opposing directions.
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Help me tame my emotions

Begin winding the ribbons, like a maypole,
down the stick.
To find serenity.
Show me the order
Within the chaos;
Continue winding the ribbons down the
stick, infusing them with the power of
the words.
Make of me a Justice-wielder
Who restores the balance.
Tie the ribbons at the end, so that streamers
remain.
Hail Holy Frodhi:
Fruitful in Knowledge!
Raise the bound stick aloft, in offering.
I offer this gift to Thee,
In solemn homage.
I stand at the cusp
Of Darkness and Light,
Seeking ever
A balance to find.
Maintain the bound stick on your altar as a

focus for working with Freyr.
Innovation breeds
Transformation breeds
Regeneration to
Free me from
Stagnation.
(Galdr)
Isa Tiwaz Raidho
Ing!
Kenaz Jera Wunjo
Ing!
Mighty galdr now I sing;
Pouring every
Ounce of Will
Into this offering.
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Turning the Wheel
Freyja to fill me;

Pour a libation into the bowl.
Freyr to heal,
Place acorns from Sigrblot in the bowl.
And teach me
Every drop of skill
That might be
Learned in
Alfheim's heights,
Or gained
By Fjadhrhamr-flight!
For change and rebirth,
Now I sing:
(galdr)
Isa Tiwaz Raidho
Ing!
Kenaz Jera Wunjo
Ing!
Bow heads in prayer:
Empower me
To love
The person
That I am;
Empower me
To change
The world
In which I live.
Empower me
To know
My limits
And my strengths;
Empower me
To will
Myself to
Go to greater lengths.
Empower me
To dream
When others say
All hope is lost;
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Empower me
To believe
No matter how great
The cost.
Raise the Fence

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Ground and Center
Empty libations and make burial offering

outside at the ve. If at all possible, eat,
drink, and be merry!

Fire and Ice, Wheel of Fire and Ice, and Heidhr
Craft by Connla Freyjason.
88
Turning the Wheel
Midsummer
Midsummer was a High Day most definitely celebrated by our
Iron Age Scandinavian Ancestors (of Kith, Kin, or Path), as
evidenced by artifacts and features at Hulje, Sweden, and also at
Lilla Ullevi (just outside Stockholm, also in Sweden). In fact, it is a
holiday that has continued to be celebrated throughout modern
Scandinavia into the modern era, and we can come to understand
much of what it must have meant to the Ancestors via modern
ethnography. Folklore and folkloric traditions, as you may or may
not know, are often valuable evidence of a deeper past. This has
been proven by ethnomusicologists, especially in rural Southern
Appalachia, where it has been proven that many songs from
Scotland and Ireland, long thought lost, have actually been
recovered in virtually pristine form on American shores. The same
is almost certainly the case with the lasting folkloric traditions
surrounding Midsummer in Scandinavia, and particularly in
Sweden, since that is the main focus within Heidhr Craft.
In Sweden, the Maypole is traditional at Midsummer. In
Sweden, rather than a Maypole, it is called a midsommarstång.
The placing of greenery around homes and barns is also
traditional, to celebrate the fertility of the land at this time of year.
To decorate with greens was traditionally called “att maja” (“to
May”). All of this imagery links the observance with Freyja and
Freyr, as do the finds at Hulje, including offerings of flax within
the well there.
However, there is also another side to Midsummer, which we
find suggested by the artifact record at Lilla Ullevi. Evidence of
ritual smithcraft at Lilla Ullevi, which can be determined as
having happened in the summer, indicates that the amulet rings
associated with oaths to and by Ullr (which were the most prolific
artifact found on-site) were actually forged here in the summer
and then apparently taken home by celebrants, to be “oathed
upon” and then returned and offered at Yule. This means that the
rites here were concerned not only with the “frivolity” of summer
fertility, but had another, deeper aspect: the continued theme of
Sovereignty.
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That artifacts and ecofacts associated with Freyr, Freyja, Ullr,
and Hel have all been found at Lilla Ullevi also informs us that
both Midsummer and Yule, but especially the former, were times
of celebrating not only the divine twinning of Freyr and Ullr, but
also Their consortship with each other and with Freyja and Hel.
In pre-Odinic Vendel Sweden, Freyr was lord, not only over the
harvest of earthly bounty (from fertility of the crops to fertility of
the animals and people), but also of Alfheim. We can track His
journey around the Vendel Swedish Wheel of the Year (because,
yes, given that everyone was a farmer, clearly they had one,
necessarily following the agrarian cycle) quite clearly from various
ritual sites scattered across Uppland Sweden, including Hulje,
Gamla Uppsala, and Lilla Ullevi. He was clearly bound as a sort of
"twin deity", not only with Freyja, but also with Ullr, in very much
the same sense as the Holly King and Oak King of modern Pagan
practice. The "rise to power" of the "Holly King" (more properly:
the Alder King), Ullr, would have been marked at Midsummer,
essentially the time of the "last hurrah" of Summer. Freyrfaxi or
Freyrthing (literally: "Freyr's Assembly"; an alternative name of
this day with which I've lately been experimenting) would have
been more or less a "going away party", before Freyr departed
"under the mound and up the 'stair'", to re-take His place as King
of Alfheim at Alfablot. Yule would have served the same purpose
as Freyrfaxi, only for Ullr, marking the "rise to power" of the Oak
King (oak was definitely sacred to Freyr), Freyr, as well as serving
as a "going away party" for Ullr. Yule would have served as a time
of oathing by Ullr ("under His watchful eye", as it were), to Freyr
(as evidenced by the primacy of horses in connection with amulet
rings at Lilla Ullevi). Then, at Vanirblot, Freyr would sit alongside
Freyja, as Lord of Peace and Good Seasons, as the farmers set to
planting (and breeding their animals), before Freyr's journey
began again, at Midsummer. The short version of all of this is that,
because of the twinning and consortship of Freyr and Ullr, the
themes of observances at Yule and Midsummer necessarily mirror
each other.
Archaeological evidence of this relationship has apparently
been scattered throughout Scandinavia since the Vendel Period in
the form of a motif commonly called “The Weapon Dancers”:
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Turning the Wheel
Scholars have gone to great lengths in the past, in their

attempts to explain these images, like many others, as images of
Odin. However, clearly, this depicts a distinct pair of figures,
neither of whom is one-eyed, nor possesses any other
distinguishing characteristics generally attributed as “Odinic” in
nature, apart from perhaps their spears, which are also paired. In
fact, only one vaguely “Odinic version” of this motif has ever been
recovered: the depiction on the Sutton Hoo helmet had one of its
eyes intentionally struck out after the initial casting of the
pressblech. In an identical pressblech on the Valsgärde Boat-Grave
7 helmet (likely struck from the same plate, found at Torslunda),
both dancers (as shown above) clearly have both eyes. In other
words, somewhere along the way, the depiction at Sutton Hoo was
effectively “turned into” Odin: a fate which closely mirrors the
depiction of Ullr as “relief ruler” for Odin in Gesta Danorum, only
in reverse. Further archaeological evidence at Lilla Ullevi in
Sweden informs us that Ullr was likely also the consort of Hel,
providing a far greater complexity to our understanding of a
Goddess who has too-long been demoted to merely a
personification of Death.
Freyr and Ullr's relationship as consorts is also heavily implied
by these images, via their intentional and willing self-laming with
their spears. Laming, whether of the feet, legs, or hamstrings, was
a common euphemism in the later written Lore for “effeminacy”.
Yet, as with all things implied in the later written Lore, we must
place this into the historical context of the Vendel Period. During
the Vendel Period, when Saami “influence” was at its height in
Uppland Sweden, to be third-gendered was to be deeply in touch
91
with one's own liminality. Since both Freyr and Ullr are
psychopomp figures, it therefore makes perfect sense for both of
them to have been third-gendered. Third-gendered deities are
identified as both male and female and at the same time neither.
The easiest way for most moderns in the West to understand such
a concept is through the lens of “gender queer”:
gender queer: a person who does not subscribe to

conventional gender distinctions but identifies with
neither, both, or a combination of male and female
genders. Personal pronouns: they, them, their.
Within shamanic societies (which Vendel Period Society most

definitely was), especially in the circumpolar regions, it was
common for shamans to also be identified as third-gendered.
There is a liminality to third-genderedness which is particularly
important to our understanding of how such a “thing” fits into
modern practice, especially outside of those indigenous cultures.
As the societal figure who effectively “bridged the worlds” for their
community, the shaman was essentially “their own being”--neither
wholly “a regular man” nor “a regular woman”, but instead an
individual set apart, as with the later Norse concept of hlaut. In
essence, their inherent “Otherworldliness” was directly reflected
within their gender (or lack thereof). In other words, the laming of
the feet within these images is a visual cue of the third-
genderedness of Freyr and Ullr; it “marks them out” or “sets them
apart” as shaman-figures; as psychopomps.
Therefore, Midsummer in Heidhr Craft becomes not only a
celebration of the fertility of the fields, when observing the Alf
Wheel, but also of the Divine Romance of Freyr and Ullr as
representative of the power to bridge the Worlds. As such, it is also
a time for celebrating and participating in the divine alchemy of
smithcraft: forging new unions and even reunions which reinforce
and prepare us for the oaths which we will swear, beginning at
Winternights.
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Turning the Wheel
• Midsummer
◦ Mid-June
as well as finds at the festival sites at Hulje, Sweden
and Lilla Ullevi, Sweden)
◦ Freyr
◦ Ullr
◦ Hel
◦ Dyr-Andar
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Union of the Divine Twins
▪ First exchange of rulership between Freyr and Ullr
▪ Height of the Rule of Freyr
▪ Fertility
▪ Bounty
▪ Gratitude
▪ Love
▪ Hospitality
▪ Reciprocity
▪ Return of the sun
93
You Will Need:

Altar/Sacred Space
An empty cup, to represent Ullr
A full cup, to represent Freyr
Liquid libation (Mead, a sweet ale, or a clear
sparkling cider would be best)
A bowl (hlaut-bowl or blot-bowl)
“Freyr stick” from Vanirblot
Bowl of sand in which to raise the “Freyr stick”
Ritual jewelry (oathpiece)
Incense (Alder/Willow preferred; Sandalwood or
Palo Santo may be substituted)
Water
Salt
A candle
Staff (if you do not have a staff, a broom or long,
sturdy stick will also suffice)
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
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Turning the Wheel
Hallow the Space.


Raise the full cup:
Hail Lord Freyr!

I call,
And You come to me;
I dream,
And You are there:
Of mound and field,
In all ways
And teach me
To see
Inside myself.
Hail Freyr!
95
Drink.
Raise the empty cup:
Hail Lord Ullr!

I call,
And You come to me;
I dream,
And You are there;
Great Horned Lord
Of the Hunt,
You give us the bounty
Of the animals;
Keep us faithful
To our word,
And teach us
To travel
To Otherworlds.
Hail Ullr!
Lo,
His cup is empty;
It seeks to be fulfilled!
Pour a small amount of liquid from the

Freyr-cup into the Ullr-cup:
Oh Gods my Gods,
The winter was long;
Drink a small amount from the Ullr-cup.
Oh Gods my Gods,
The winter was hard;
Drink a small amount from the Ullr-cup.
Oh Gods my Gods,
I find myself emptied.
Drink the rest of the amount in the Ullr-cup.
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Lo,
My cup is empty,
And I seek to be fulfilled!
Pour a larger amount of liquid from the

Oh Gods my Gods,
You come together;
Place both cups on the altar, equi-distant

from each other:
Oh Gods my Gods,
You stand apart:
Two Lords of Bounty
Who guide our goals
To meet their mark!
Pour the remainder of the liquid from the

Our cups runneth over,

Filled to fill and to fulfill:
Oh Gods my Gods,
We celebrate today
Divine Romance:
May it teach us
Likewise to love:
Ourselves,
Our fellow humans,
Our Ancestors,
The Invisible Population,
This world around us,
And You.
Drink heartily from the cup; share with

those gathered.
Hold both cups aloft:
97
Freyr climbs
To Alfheim-height;
Freyr climbs
Beneath the earth.
Hail the Lord of
Light and Shadow;
Hail the Lord of
Height and Harrow!
Those gathered repeat:

Hail the Lord of
Light and Shadow;
Hail the Lord of
Height and Harrow!
Ullr rises
To lead the Hunt;
Ullr rises
To bring new birth.
Hail the Lord of
Oath and Shadow;
Hail the Lord of
Bone and Marrow!

Hail the Lord of
Oath and Shadow;
Hail the Lord of
Bone and Marrow!
Climbing together,
Our Lords rise:
One to Power,
The Other to
Alfheim-height!
Praise to the Gods
Of the Sun:
May They meet
Each other and
Become as One!
Blessed be!
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Turning the Wheel

Blessed be!
Pour a portion of the liquid from the Ullr-

cup into the blot-bowl.
According to my Ancestral Guide, Hjarta,

who helped me in composing the rituals for the Alf
Wheel, “Traditionally, this is the part of the ritual
when the vitki would dance”. My answer to him?
“No effing way, Old Man! Even if an emulation of
the Weapon Dancers was traditionally what
happened at this point in the rite, nobody besides
my wife and drunk people ever should be subjected
to the sight of Connla Freyjason dancing!” But then
Hjarta showed me the dance, which to modern eyes
might seem like one part Vendel Period line dance,
and one part “Viking Time Warp”. It seemed simple
enough; I wouldn't look too stupid doing that, I
thought. But then it got faster. And faster. And
faster. I found myself constantly banging my staff
down on top of my foot. Apparently, that was the
point...So was the enormous amount of energy that
doing the dance raised. By the time we were
finished with our first “practice session”, my fingers
were numb, my whole body felt jello-ish, and I
found that I desperately needed to ground out the
energy. So, against my better judgment, we are now
going to do that dance, and then ground out the
energy into our “Freyr-sticks” from Vanirblot,
thereby sending it to Freyr as a blot for His
upcoming journey to Alfheim:
Dance:
Staff in right hand, begin slow count of 1-2-3-4 by

banging the staff beside you on the floor. Next,
begin bouncing the staff in front of you on the 1,
and bringing it back to bounce beside you on the 2.
Next, go forward on the 1, beside on the 2, forward
on the 3, beside on the 4. Repeat this for 2 counts
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of 4. On the third count, step left on the 2, bringing

the staff down beside your right foot as your feet
come back together, out to the right on the three,
and then back beside you on the 4. Bounce out on
the 1; beside on the 2; out on the 3; beside on the 4,
to the right, for 2 counts of 4. Next, bounce out on
the 1, and step back to your original position on the
2, bringing the staff beside as your feet come back
together. Bounce forward on the 3, and beside you
on the 4. Repeat the first pattern, forward and back,
for 2 counts of 4. Bounce 1 and 2 with your right
hand, then switch hands mid-bounce, so that three
comes down in front with the staff in your left
hand. Repeat pattern 1 for 2 counts of 4. Next, step
right on the 2, bringing the staff down beside your
left foot as your feet come back together, out on the
3, back beside on the 4. Bounce out on the 1; beside
on the 2; out on the 3; beside on the 4, to the left,
for 2 counts of 4. Then bounce out on the 1, and
step back to your original position on the 2,
bringing the staff beside as feet come together.
Bounce forward on the 3 and beside you on the 4.
Repeat the first pattern, now with your left hand,
forward and back, for 2 counts of 4. Bounce 1 and 2
with your left hand, then switch hands mid-bounce,
so that three comes down in front with the staff in
your right hand. Repeat pattern 1 for 1 count of 4.
On the next 2, step to the left. Repeat pattern 2 for 1
count. Step to original position on the following 2,
bouncing forward on the 3, and back beside on the
4. Repeat pattern 1 for 1 count. On the next 3,
switch hands with the staff. Repeat pattern 1 for 1
count of 4 with the left hand. On the next 2, step to
the right. Repeat pattern 2 for 1 count. Step to
original position on the following 2, bouncing
forward on the 3, and beside on the 4. Bounce
forward on the 1, back on the 2, switch staff to right
hand on the 3, and back beside the right foot on the
4. Bounce out on the 1, step left on the 2, out on the
3, beside on the 4. Bounce out on the 1, step right
on the 2, forward on the 3, beside on the 4. Bounce
forward on the 1, back on the 2, switch to left hand
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Turning the Wheel
on the 3, bringing the staff down beside the left foot

on the 4. Bounce forward on the 1, step right on the
2, out to the left on the 3, beside on the 4. Bounce
out on the 1, step back to original position on the 2,
forward on the 3, back beside on the 4. Forward on
the 1, beside on the 2, switch hands on the 3, beside
the right foot on the 4. Repeat this pattern until the
song ends, you have raised enough energy, or you
collapse from exhaustion.
Erect the “Freyr-stick” from Vanirblot in a

bowl of sand and ground the energy raised
from the dance into it. Take a (much-
needed) sip from the blot-cup:
Hail Freyr!
May this energy
Serve You well
On Your journey!
May this time,
Shared with us and
In the arms of Ullr
Fortify You
For the voyage
To come!
Hail Freyr!

Hail Freyr!
“Dress” the “Freyr-stick” with the piece of

ritual jewelry (the oathpiece):
At Vanirblot,
We sought balance;
The midpoint
Between Life and Death:
To do our best;
To employ Passion
To bring Peace;
To tame our emotions
101
And find serenity;

To find order
Within chaos,
That we might
Become Justice-Wielders.
Now we forge
Our oathpieces
Upon the pyre of
Freyr and Ullr's Passion:
By fire we forge
Our intent
To practice
What we preach;
(Pass the candle around the jewelry on the
stick)
To put into action
All those fruitful things
Which we have learned
And are learning still.
(Make a second pass with the candle)
In Honorable Wisdom
May we find Courage
To bring Justice.
In Honorable Wisdom
May we find Courage
To bring Justice.
(Make a third pass with the candle)
With loving, earthy blows
We hammer
This Wyrd
Into its shape:
(Sprinkle the jewelry with salt)
May we build
Community;
May we build
Right relationships.
May we learn Compassion
To bestow Blessings.
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Turning the Wheel

May we learn Compassion
To bestow Blessings.
(Make a third pass with the salt)
With water
We quench
The heat
Of Holy Will:
(Sprinkle the jewelry with water)
May we maintain
Our Sovereignty,
Even as that Will
Is made manifest.
May we make Peace
May we make Peace
(Make a third pass with the water)
Smoke rises
As Our Lord Freyr
To Alfheim-height;
Our crafting is done!
(Pass the incense over the jewelry)
May we remain
True to our
Own authenticity;
Tru to the Gods.
(Make a second pass with the incense)
May we practice Equity
In all our Deeds.
May we practice Equity
In all our Deeds.
(Make a third pass with the incense)
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Thus forged,
May this oathpiece
Stand ready
To bind our oaths
To Freyr by Ullr
At Yuletide's height!
Bow heads for final prayer:

We stand in gratitude
For the journey:
That which has gone before;
That which is yet to come.
For the love given,
To us and to Each Other:
For the lessons of our Ancestors:
Those which have gone before;
Those which are yet to come.
For peace and good seasons:
We stand in gratitude.
Raise the Fence

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
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Turning the Wheel

Ground and Center
Empty libations outside at the ve. If at all

possible, eat, drink, and be merry!
Portions of this material also appear in Wheel of

Fire and Ice and Heidhr Craft by Connla Freyjason.
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Freyrfaxi/Freyrthing
Freyrfaxi, a festival which served as something of a “going
away party” for Freyr, occurred at the end of summer, which
coincides with the beginning of August in Uppland Sweden. I have
dubbed this holiday “Freyrfaxi”, not due to any influence from
Stephen McNallen or the AFA (*soft sounds of gagging*), but due
to its distinct association with horses and horse-sports, apparent
in the archaeological record at Hulje, Sweden, a site which would
have been active during the Vendel Period, from which this Path of
Heidhr Craft is sourced. Without benefit of written records from
the time period, the best we can do is develop a name that makes
sense, based on the archaeological evidence. As with most festivals
observed in-period, Freyrfaxi was likely more than a day-long
observance, probably lasting several days. We can know this based
on two things: 1) simple common sense: people in-period
travelled, often great distances, to attend these festival sites; that
travel would have been difficult, as there were no paved roads
during this time period in Uppland Sweden; one generally did not
saddle up the horse, load up the wagon, and carry one's entire
family to a site, which likely required a day or more of travel, for
one day's observance. And 2) archaeological evidence at festival
sites reveals that people participated in a variety of other
communal activities—such as feasting—clearly over the course of
short periods of time, rather than “one and done”, as we think of
these things today.
Evidence of both horse fights and horse races exist at the
festival site of Hulje, Sweden. Davidson (1993) has postulated that
these competitions were held to determine which horses would be
sacrificed (common sense dictates it would have been the loser; I
am basing this on modern practices in Iceland, wherein horses
deemed unsuitable for riding are slaughtered for their meat
around this same time of year. Reasons for unsuitability include
bad temperament, deformity, or injury). So why at this specific
time of year?
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The foaling season in Vendel Period Sweden would have been
autumn. The "cusp of autumn" in Scandinavia is the beginning of
August. Without "weeding out" the "lesser" stock, come
September, there would have been an overabundance of horses.
While it has been proven that most farmers practiced a "free-
range" method of horse maintenance (wandering herds) during
that period in Sweden, horses still eat quite a lot. The "free-range"
method also requires farmers to spend a lot of time out in the
snow, looking after the horses, over the winter. So, just as the
grains were harvested in the fields at this time of year, it was also
necessary to "harvest" the horses.
This time of year also precedes two of the largest festivals
dedicated specifically to Freyr in Vendel Sweden: Winternights
and Alfablot. Most modern scholars have focused on horses as
sacred to Odin and possibly Hel(a), but in Vendel Period Sweden,
Odin took a definite "back seat" to Freyr. Freyr was the "virile one"
(obviously, given the very large penises depicted on many
artifacts); hopefully the connotations for being associated with
horses are self-evident, without my needing to be crass. Horses
were also considered to be one of four types of psychopomp
animals (the other three being pigs, dogs, and certain types of
birds). Again, when it comes to psychopomps, and the Gods with
whom they might be associated, most modern scholars tend to
maintain a myopic focus on Odin and Hel(a), which has led to an
overshadowing of the role played by Freyr in the religious minds of
those living in pre-Odinic Vendel Sweden. Journeying and/or
Travelling Gods are almost unanimously associated with
psychopomp animals. In Freyr's case, there are associations with
three out of the four: the boar (pig), horse, and bird (probably the
sparrow, or its equivalent). We find this likewise with Freyja: the
boar (pig) and falcon/hawk. Obviously, Hel(a) is associated with
the horse, the hound, and apparently the goose and swan, while
Odin is associated with horse and raven.
So, inasmuch as this festival season is a time of celebration of
the harvest--one last "send off" for Freyr as Lord of Peace and
Good Seasons--it is also a time to celebrate the animal which will
take Him on His upcoming journey: the horse. In between your
loaves of bread, your berries and your beer, I invite you all to take
a moment, and ponder the power, beauty, and wonder of the
horse. Say a soft thank you for all of those horses, over centuries,
who have served as companions, mounts, fellow soldiers,
sacrifices, and, yes, food. Perhaps offer a blot by making donations
to an equine charity of your choice, or by volunteering at a local
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stable. Say a prayer for horses in need--whether the Mustangs of
the American West, which are suffering horribly under the present
administration, or the Corolla Horses of the Carolinas, or even a
horse that you personally know, with health issues or whatever.
Hail Bright Freyr!

May Your upcoming journey be swift and peaceful
as the season just past!
Hail the Horse!
Thank you for all that you have given, and all that
you have yet to give!
Sweden)
◦ Freyr
◦ Psychopomps
◦ Horses
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Gratitude
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Turning the Wheel
You Will Need:

Altar/Sacred Space
A cup or horn
A bowl
Liquid libation (Freyja and Freyr tend to prefer red
wine or sweet fruit juices)
A bowl of oats (a packet of instant oatmeal can
totally be used in a pinch! Wheatberries are
likewise acceptable.)
An image of a horse (may be a photograph or a statue)
A candle
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Hallow the Space.
109


Light the Candle:
We light the fire

One last time and yet
One first:
To illuminate
The Journey of
Our Lord Freyr:
Thank You for the
Peace of this good season!
Alongside Ullr and Freyja,
We raise our glasses
In Full to You and in praise:
Raise the Blot-Cup:
Hail Holy Freyr!

The light is dimming
At end of day;
Scattered birds
Beweep the sun,
Setting on the horizon.
Soon is winter come;
Soon the Mound Your dwelling.
You climb the Spiral Stair
To Alfheim's height,
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Turning the Wheel
To once more leave behind

Vanaheim's fields of plenty.
We thank You for
The harvest now at hand;
The gleaning of the fruits
From field, by Woman and Man.
In gratitude with
Bended knees we pour (kneel, pouring a
small amount of the liquid into the
hlaut-bowl, which should be placed
upon the floor.)
One last offering,
Yet again one first.
Hail Holy Freyr!
At the dimming of the day,
Yet shines Your Light.
Hail Ingvi-Freyr!
Peace and good seasons to You,
And to us, and to all those
Whom we hold dear.
(Drink and rise; if observing outdoors, pour now at

the base of the vartrad of your ve. Otherwise,
reserve the liquid in the cup and empty outside
afterwards.)
Raise the Bowl of Oats before the Image of

the Horse:
Ears pricked low;

Listening:
Was there ever
So loyal a creature
As the horse?
Velvet-muzzled
Nuzzles soothe;
Remind us
How breath
Unites us all.
Your air is mine;
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Mine is yours.
Each exhalation
An inhalation
Of connectedness.
We are all
Companions
On a shared road;
Though our journeys
Be quite different.
Let my ears
Be likewise pricked low;
Listening.
Was there ever
So loyal a creature
As am I?
I offer this
Humble food
For the grar-horse:
Let it be the will of Freyr
That I grab tight the mane
Of the horse that is Heilag-Vilja;
That I may ride across the Worlds,
Faring-forth on behalf
Of Justice and a fair Wyrd
For myself, and for those
Whom I hold dear,
As well as for all those in need
Of freedom from oppression
And racist, nationalist tyranny,
Whomever and wherever
They may be.
Let me come to love
Both horse and rider,
For it is always worse
For the one being ridden.
Set the grar-hest beneath me:
That I may ride the course with Freyr
From Summer's Light,
Into the Mound of Winter.
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Bow Heads in Prayer:
Freyr we thank,
For oat and barley;
For bread upon our plates;
For the fruits of the fields,
Now come to harvest,
And for the births
Of the animals,
Which are soon to follow.
Ullr we praise,
As Lord of Winter:
May Your heart be kind,
As You look toward us,
Here upon its cusp.
Let us harvest
Only hope:
Hope for Equity and Justice,
For those most in need of it;
Hope for plenty,
Even in the time yet to come.
Let us cull
All that needs culling:
All the rank -isms
Of the world,
From racism to genderism;
Thoughts, words, and deeds
Motivated by hate.
May we journey
Into Wisdom's height,
Alongside Freyr:
Empower me
To love
The person
That I am;
Empower me
To change
The world
In which I live.
Empower me
To know
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My limits
And my strengths;
Empower me
To will
Myself to
Go to greater lengths.
Empower me
To dream
When others say
All hope is lost;
Empower me
To believe
No matter how great
The cost.
Raise head and hands:
Hail Bright Freyr!

May Your upcoming journey
Be as swift and peaceful
As the season just past!
Hail the Horse!
Thank you
For all that you have given,
And all that you have yet to give!
Raise the Fence

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
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Turning the Wheel

Ground and Center
Empty libations and oats outside at the ve. If

at all possible, eat, drink, and be merry!

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Winternights
Winternights is a “festival period”, observed from September
19-27 in Heidhr Craft, as it is listed in the Lore as one of the three
“requisite” or “High” festivals:
“Þá skyldi blóta í móti vetri til árs, en at

miðjum vetri blóta til gróðrar, hit þriðja at sumri,
þat var sigrblót.”
“There should be a blot at the beginning of

winter for a [good] year, and at mid-winter a blot
for growth, the third at summer, that was Sigrblot
[“victory blot”].”
—Ynglingatal, Connla Freyjason
Translation
Here we have Winternights, Yule, and Sigrblot. We can deduce

that the beginning of winter basically occurred in Uppland Sweden
at a point near the Autumn Equinox (mid-September), giving us a
date for the observance of Winternights. The themes celebrated at
Winternights are largely drawn from the archaeological record and
folkloric and ethnographic evidence. These themes include:
The second harvest (after which the fields would

have been set ablaze; this also would have been the
time of the first slaughter of livestock for the winter
stores, and the primary hunting season, especially for
geese)
The official beginning of Freyr’s journey into

the Mound and up to Alfheim (following His
“send-off” at Freyrfaxi)
Restoration, regaining, or first-gaining of

Sovereignty (especially as this concept pertains to
the tale of Idunna, as this is also the traditional time
of the apple harvest)
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Turning the Wheel
Gratitude for the year just passed, and prayers

and planning for the year-to-come.
Winternights marks the beginning of the season of going

within: a prime time for sitting utiseta, and generally “getting your
shit together”, whether mentally, psychically, physically, by
balancing the soul-parts, or whatever needs doing. As such, it’s
also a traditional time for Fall Cleaning (like Spring Cleaning,
only, you know, in the Autumn).
When I think of Autumn, my mind and heart always travel back
in time to those days when we would sit, as a family, around our
fire pit outside by the wetlands. The sweet smell of burning wood
would inundate our clothes, but the warmth was more than skin
deep. As the last crickets of summer sang their hearts out,
sometimes an owl might join their chorus, and we would tell each
other stories of happy memories and times past. In that vein, to
celebrate the beginning of one of our three largest festival seasons,
I invite you now to imagine a fire crackling in the night, and I hope
you will permit me to share a tale with you:
Peace and good seasons to you, and to yours, and to

all those who have come before, and to all those who
shall come after! The sun sets over the mounds, yet
the Light climbs to Alfheim! Hail to Yngvi-Freyr,
Who some of us here still call Grandfather!
This tale I shall tell you, you have not heard before,
for it has not been told before. Parts of it, you may
remember, and those parts best you know as true,
but other parts I kenned as the moon turned new,
fourteen nights ago:
You have heard it said: “Freyr received Alfheim as a

tooth-gift”. And you have likewise heard it said:
“Freyr is Lord under the mound”. I ken that both of
these are true, and now I teach that kenning to all of
you.
I sat—utiseta—through the long night, as the

darkness inched towards day, a cat upon my lap,
and my head bare. The earth was cold beneath my
rump, and I could hear wolves crying in the south—
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crying up from the direction of where we now sit.

And the wind rose, as though it were the ebb and
flow of the ocean, and a bird called, and all of this in
the middle of the night.
I looked up, and that bird came down, on the tree

beside me. It was a woodpecker, one of the little kind.
It took food from the side of the tree, and then it
looked at me, and I knew it was a sign from our
Lord, Freyr, and then it was Freyr, and He said to
me:
“I have kept your bodies fed this summer-long, but

now I must climb to Alfheim, to feed the better parts
of you. I go underground, that I might climb the
Winding Stair.”
And I asked Freyr, I asked:
“How is it that You do both: go underground, and at

the same time climb?”
Freyr answered:
“You are only human, so I know this is hard for you

to understand. You may only do one or the other—go
below or reach above—yet I may do both at the same
time. For I am not constrained by your human laws,
though you be bound by Ours. Gods do not require
things to be this or that; We may have both this and
that. That is the way of things.”
“But why must you leave us the winter-long?”
Freyr answered:
“Climb with me the Winding Stair, and I will teach

you these kennings that you seek.”
So I got up from there, and climbed the Stair, with
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Ingvi. And at the top, the glistening white halls of

Salarsular, and I knew I stood in Alfheim. Then
Freyr said:
“I leave you in winter that I might feed more than

your bodies; that I might also feed your minds and
hearts, for those are the better parts of Mankind. In
winter, Skadhi’s snow is deep; you are forced inside,
around your hearths, for warmth and safety. But as
you go inside, you must also turn within. You climb
the Stair, often without knowing it. Your bodies may
be cold, in winter; it is important that your hearts
and minds not grow cold as well. That is the peace
that I climb to gift you in winter.”
“Teach me this peace of which You speak.”
Freyr answered:
“These are the things I shall teach you, Hundr

Hjartasson: words to take back to your world:
Hospitality begins in the home. The hearth that is not

warm with love can never spare a stranger. Instead,
the loveless hearth may only serve to make that
newcomer colder.
Charity, likewise, must begin in the home. If you

cannot give to each other—to your own—how can
you learn to give freely to others? Greed is bred by
contempt of those we should be loving.
Gentleness is the mark of the valiant person. It takes

more bravery by far to show mercy than to swing a
sword.
Good seasons are measured by the richness of one’s

heart, not one’s grave-goods! Live a rich life, while
there is life to be lived. Richness of life does not
always mean a bounteous life. No, it means a certain
119
manner of fullness. That fullness is measured by how

many times the smallest of things make you smile;
by the warmth of arms wrapped round in embrace,
whether by beloved or child. Every breath that is
repaid with gratitude for its taking is a good season,
and you would do well to be mindful of that.”
Then He showed me Gullinbursti, the Gleaming

Boar:
“I have not gone at Yuletide; I am still there. I have

not gone at Alfablot, and you mark that well enough.
This is not the last and first, but the first and last.
When you raise your horn in blot at Alfablot,
remember it is not only I you honor, but my own
people, as Visi-Alfar, and recall: I am not the only
one! Remember it is not only your Ancestors-of-Kin
whom you honor, but also those of Kith, and Path,
and Milk. It is those who built the place in which you
are living, and those who made a place for you in
your world: the Landholders and Trailblazers.
Honor all of them, and all of Us, and leave no one
out! And when Yule comes, remember me again,
when you raise your horn, and remember the light of
this boar as you enjoy your feast: for it is my light
that shines through this pig, and it is my light that
must likewise shine through you: the light of peace
and good seasons; the light of all that you have
kenned here.”
And then He passed His hand over my eyes, and I

felt as though I were falling, down and down and
down, and back to earth. I closed them tight, for I
knew Alfheim was high, and I feared my landing, but
when I opened them again, I found myself just as I
had been: out-sitting, a cat in my lap, my head bare.
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Turning the Wheel
• Winternights
◦ September 19-27
◦ Freyr
◦ Freyja
◦ Disir
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Freyr's Passage to Alfheim
▪ Oaths
▪ Honesty
▪ Integrity
▪ Equity/Charity
▪ Second Harvest
▪ Gratitude
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You Will Need:

Altar/Sacred Space
A cup or horn
A bowl
Liquid libation (apple cider is particularly
appropriate for this blot)
Something with which to sprinkle/asperge (If you
do not have a hlaut-teinn, fingertips work
just fine!)
The oath-piece “forged” at Midsummer
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Hallow the Space.
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Raise Your Cup:
Þá skyldi blóta í móti vetri til árs:

(Tha skilldee blohta ee mohtee vet-ree til ahrs)
There should be a blot towards
The setting in of winter
For a good year.
That time has come.
Let it be a gift to us,
Filled with harvests
Of gratitude.
Let us sing:
Gebo.
(Galdr Gebo nine times)
May we be gifted with goodly things
Equally in the year to come
As we have been gifted with goodly things
In the year soon-gone.
We raise a glass for Freyr:
(Turn to the west, cup raised in toast)
Peace and good seasons to us,
And to those who come after,
And to all those whom we hold dear.
Skal!
(Take a drink from your cup; if there are
other participants, let them likewise drink)
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Blot Pour:
Pour the contents of the cup into the offering bowl

(hlaut-bowl). Pick it up, as well as your hlaut-tein,
saying:
This is the first and last;

The last and first.
We stand at the doorway
Of another Wheel-turn;
Everything ends
And begins Again.
The last and first.
Our bowls are filled
To quench Gods-thirst;
Offerings are laid
Upon bare earth,
At ve and at harrow.
We find ourselves,
Hammer-thrown
And hallowed.
The last and first.
Freyr climbs
To Alfheim-height;
Freyr climbs
Beneath the earth.
Hail the Lord of
Light and Shadow;
Hail the Lord of
Height and Harrow!
The last and first.
Sprinkle your altar, yourself, any other

participants, and your ve (where applicable and
possible), using the hlaut-tein.
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Turning the Wheel
Oathing
(Ideally, the oathpiece “forged” at Midsummer

should be used to oath upon. Otherwise, you may
oath using your altar, dagger, wand, cup, cauldron,
etc. as your oathpiece.)
As winter creeps,
Let me be hospitable,
To those near and dear,
And to the stranger, too.
As it says in the Havamal:
“Fire, the need of the man who has come,

On frozen knees.
Meat and clothes this man needs,
This one who has travelled over the mountains.”
(Swear the oath as you place your hand on

your chosen oathpiece:)
I oath to Freyr:
Warmth will I bring to hearth and home,
To those I love and those not yet known;
Food will I give to those in need of it,
And clothes for the backs of those who freeze.
Those gathered repeat the oath, swearing on

their own oathpieces in kind:
I oath to Freyr:
Warmth will I bring to hearth and home,
To those I love and those not yet known;
Food will I give to those in need of it,
And clothes for the backs of those who freeze.
The presiding vitki/volva continues:
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As winter creeps,
Let me be charitable,
To those near and dear,
And to those in most need.
“A friend shall himself prove a friend

And repay gift with gift;
Laughter with laughing takes hold of a house
But falseness with lies.”

I oath to Freyr:
Friend shall I prove,
Gift for gift;
Laughter shall take told of my house,
And my heart shall not prove false.

I oath to Freyr:
Friend shall I prove,
Gift for gift;
Laughter shall take told of my house,
And my heart shall not prove false.
As winter creeps,
Let me be gentle-hearted,
For that is the mark of the true warrior;
Mercy is often more difficult than swinging a
sword.
“Gently, the best-loved men live,

(and) seldom sorrow foster;
But the cowardly man fears everything,
Grumbling, always stingy with gifts.”
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I oath to Freyr:
I will be gentle-hearted,
Seeking not to bring sorrow to others;
I will not be the coward
Who grumbles, stingy with their gifts.

I oath to Freyr:
I will be gentle-hearted,
Seeking not to bring sorrow to others;
I will not be the coward
Who grumbles, stingy with their gifts.
As winter creeps,
Let me remember:
“Good seasons” are measured
By the richness of the heart and fullness of life.
“Washed and fed

the man rides to the Thing (assembly),
despite his not being well-dressed;
he should not be ashamed of his shoes or pants
nor his horse, despite it not being a good one.”

I oath to Freyr:
Though I be poor of coin,
I will not be ashamed,
For my soul is rich.
The truest treasures are stored within my heart.
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I oath to Freyr:
Though I be poor of coin,
I will not be ashamed,
For my soul is rich.
The truest treasures are stored within my heart.
(All participants tap three times upon their

oathpieces; with each tap, speaking these
words:)
Enda er, ok enda skal vera!

(End-ah air, ok end-ah skall vair-ah)

(So it is, and so it shall be!)
Raise the Fence:
Outside the fire,

Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Ground and Center

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Alfablot
Alfablot is the fifth and last of the “Freyr Festivals” in the
Heidhrinn Wheel of the Year, marking His final arrival in Alfheim,
and His regaining of His crown as Visi-Alfar (“King of the
Elves/Alfar”). It is observed roughly between October 30th and
November 1st; Yule Season begins on November 3rd, based on the
sunset over the Thing Mound at Gamla Uppsala. In Vendel Period
Uppland Sweden, Freyr's importance in the Norse Pantheon
superseded that of Odin until at least the mid-7 th century CE. We
know this based not only on extant remnants of the oral culture
within the Lore, but also from archaeological evidence (contrary to
popular belief, one really doesn't find any “Odinic imagery” in the
archaeological record in Sweden until after first-contact with
Christians in the mid-7th century CE, which also coincides with the
rise of “city culture”).
We know from contemporary sources, including Ynglingatal
and Beowulf (insofar as they might be considered remnants of the
oral culture of the period), as well as from the archaeological
record that Freyr was considered the “prime ancestor” of the Svear
(the Saami/Norse-blended people living in Uppland Sweden
during the Vendel Period). This tradition likely predates our
period of focus by a few thousand years, dating all the way back to
the Battle Axe Culture (proto-Indo-Europeans) of 2800 BCE; a
tradition which they adopted and adapted from the people they
found already in Sweden when they arrived--the Funnelbeaker
and Pitted Ware (ancestors of the modern Saami)--whose
traditions of the “Farmer God” date even further back in the
tapestry of time, to at least 3300 BCE.
Since “Vanirblot”, we have traced Freyr's rise to power via
observance of the agricultural cycle: rising (coming down from
Alfheim, and up from the Mound at the same time) in the Spring,
in His coming together with both Freyja and Gerdha, as the fields
were planted; coming together with the Lord of Winter, Ullr, at
Midsummer, as the “Weapons Dancers”, as the days once more
began to grow short at the Summer Solstice; honored as Lord of
Horses, and, therefore, of Faring-Forth, at Freyrfaxi, when we
celebrated the First Harvest (of three) and began to give Him His
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“big send-off”; Oathed to as Lord of Balance (Lord of Height and
Harrow) at Winternights, as we marked the beginning of the Long
Night and celebrated the Second Harvest. Now, here at Alfablot,
we say one final good-bye, as we mark the Third (and final)
Harvest. Except it is not entirely a “good-bye”; it is also a “hello”,
as Freyr shifts from “Farmer God” to “God of Light”, and,
therefore, “Lord of Knowledge”.
Alfablot is attested in the Lore, within the skaldic poem
Austrfararvisur, by Sigvat Thordharson, which dates from the
10th-11th century. The poem details a diplomatic mission to
Vastergotland, undertaken by Sigvat and his companions at the
behest of King Olaf II of Norway to seek a reconciliation with King
Olof Skotkonung of Sweden. En route, Sigvat's company requires
lodging for the night, only to discover that they are profoundly
unwelcome, because the locals are all apparently observing
Alfablot. This provides for us an excellent medieval ethnography of
religious observances in “Viking Age” Sweden: among a people
who upheld hospitality and reciprocity as cornerstones of their
faith, we see that neither were afforded Sigvat's company during
the observance of Alfablot. Which leaves us with an interesting
and important question: Why?
Many have cited the fact that Sigvat's company was composed
of Christians as the reason why they were turned away, yet Sigvat's
curse upon those who turned them away calls that theory highly
into question: “May the trolls take you,” he said; hopefully I don't
have to go into great detail explaining how and why that isn't a
terribly in-period Christian thing to have said! One has to also
keep in mind that Sigvat was a skald, and in medieval Scandinavia,
skalds held a very similar status to bards in the Celtic world:
Christian or not, one would have typically been welcomed with
open arms. Finally, attitudes concerning Christians in medieval
Sweden patently did not mirror the views of modern Heathens
against modern Christians: grave-goods at Birka and elsewhere
inform us that Christianity was practiced alongside Norse faith, in
some cases even by confirmed Norse ritual specialists. Christianity
during that period was “en vogue” among the elite, so rather than
being a reason for farmers to turn away a company of travellers, it
more than likely would've been more like “oh, hey, they're rich-
folk; we should welcome them, so that we can hang out with the
'cool kids'”, in much the same manner that a modern person
would welcome a celebrity.
Clearly, there was some other motivation for the turning away
of Sigvat and his company, but what? The onset of winter marks a
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period of time when the veils are thin: trolls, huldufolk, and the
Dead are officially on the move. A group of strangers showing up
suddenly at someone's door could just as easily not be who or even
what they claimed they were; in the interest of safety, it was better
to encourage them, in Star Wars Stormtrooper fashion, to “move
along; move along”! That this high day is called “Alfablot” in the
first place informs us of this, as clearly it was a time when
offerings were made to the Elves and the other members of the
Invisible Population to effectively pacify them and keep them at
bay. It makes sense that part of this “free rein” suddenly bestowed
upon the Invisible Population is connected to Freyr's movement
from “Farmer God” to “Lord of Light and Knowledge”, as He
moves from the fresh-harvested fields and Vanaheim to the
heights of Alfheim, going under the Mound and up the Winding
Stair at the same time, as observed at Winternights. In His wake,
these Others are likewise on the move.
At the same time that Freyr's position is shifting, likewise so are
those of Hel(a) and Ullr. We saw our first glimpses of this back at
Midsummer, but now, at the same time as Freyr goes into the
Mound, we find Hel(a) and Ullr coming out of it. The Wild Hunt
rides forth from beneath the hills, led by Ullr and Hel(a)--is it any
wonder, really, that those medieval Swedes were afraid of
strangers suddenly appearing on their doorsteps? While we will
witness the fullness of Their power at Yule, here at Alfablot we
make Them welcome; in the immortal words of W.B. Yeats, we
chant “Horsemen, pass by!”
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• Alfablot
November 3)
◦ Freyr
◦ Alfar
◦ Male Ancestors
◦ Ullr
◦ Hel
◦ Trolls
◦ Huldufolk
◦ The Wild Hunt
◦ Keynotes:
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Turning the Wheel
You Will Need:

Altar/Sacred Space
A cup or horn
A bowl
Liquid libation (apple cider is particularly
appropriate for this blot)
Honey (as an offering)
A crown of antlers (if such cannot be procured, a
crown or branch of holly, alder, or cedar
may be substituted)
A skull or other animal remnant
An offering of sweetened milk (milk with vanilla
and sugar, in a secondary cup; for Hel)
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Hallow the Space.
133


Raise Your Cup:
Hail Holy Freyr!

Lord of the Mound,
Light the path for us
'Neath harrow
And hill:
Whisper words from us
To our beloved ones
In the hereafter;
Be they ever-living,
In Hela's sweet embrace,
Or riding forth
From Folkvangr.
Whether sailing
On the Summer-Sea
Above the Halls of Ran and Aegir,
Or become
Winged-wise
Atop the Winding Stair,
Take them love from us,
Respect and honor,
Til we meet
Again.
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Turning the Wheel

Raise Your Cup:
Beside the Great Tree,

See me stand,
Heart full of honor;
Cup in hand:
I raise the chalice
To the Lost Ones Found,
All ye Alfar,
Gather 'round!
Blot I pour
(pour some of the liquid into your offering
bowl)
To Men of Kin:
All those Fathers
Gone before me.
Blood and bone,
You wove my skin;
Known and unknown,
I am your living story.
Blot I pour
bowl)
To those of Path:
All those Vitki
Who paved this many-colored road.
Staff and rune,
You wove my skill;
First sung the tunes
I galdr still.
Blot I pour
bowl)
To the Born-Not-Born:
All you Bright Ones
Of Wing and Morn.
Guide me to the Winding Stair,
And upwards,
Into Alfheim fair.
135

We pass the cup now, to speak what is on

our hearts: of our genuine love for our male-
identifying Ancestors, the Alfar, and Freyr; of any
concerns which we presently have in our lives
which They might best answer; of our gratitude for
all that They have done for us, and all that They will
do.
(Each holder of the cup speaks their heart,

offers a toast, and then drinks and passes it
on. As the cup returns to the Vivil
[vitki/volva]:)
Hail Freyr! Hail Alfar! Skal!

Hail Freyr! Hail Alfar! Skal!
(the Vivil drinks this toast:)

For all that you have done for us,
And for all that you will do;
For all that you have meant to us,
And for all that you will mean:
Peace and good seasons;
Love, gratitude, and honor.
Blessed be!
Blessed be!
(Pour the remaining liquid into the offering

bowl)
Behold!
The tide of the year
Now turns!
(Raise crown of antlers or acceptable
substitution)
We welcome our new-crowned king from
Midsummer,
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Turning the Wheel
Behold, the crown of Ullr!

Wild rides the Hunt!
(Place the crown in a place of honor at the

center of the altar)
Blot pour:
(While pouring honey into the offering

bowl:)
Here I lay this honey sweet,

For those of Mound, Sky, and Wild;
With the Huntsmen, sword and bond to ride,
For this world is full of dangers, and we need you
on our side!
Raise the dagger:
Huntsmen, hear my call!

I sound the horn of my heart,
For it beats pure:
(Touch the dagger's point to the skull)
Look now, I give you prey,
And I pray you will defend us;
Look here, upon these bones,
And know us as Hunters, too.
Among you, let us stand,
To chase away that which assails us;
That in the year yet-to-come
We may find peace.
(Let the Hunt come.)
Blot Hel(a):
(Raise the cup of sweetened milk)

Hail Hela, full of grace!
The Dead are with Thee;
Blessed are You to those who are Lost.
Holy Hela, Queen of Helheim,
Care for us Outcasts,
Now, and at the hour of our death.
137

(Drink the toast)
Hail, Holy Queen,
Mother of Mercy,
Our peace,
Our sweetness,
And our hope,
To You do we cry,
Poor banished children
Of Middle-Earth;
To You do we send down
Our sighs, mourning, and
Weeping in this vale of tears;
Turn then,
Sweet, sweet Hela,
Your eyes of mercy towards us,
And after this,
Our exile,
Show us the hospitality of Helheim.
O compassionate,
O loving,
O sweet Queen Hela!
Pray for us,
O Holy Queen of the Dead,
That we may be
Comforted in our hour
Of greatest need.
(Pour the remainder of the milk into the

offering bowl.)
The year is passing;

(Response: The year has passed.)
The king is dying;
(Response: Long live the king!)
Hail Freyr!
(Response: Hail Freyr!)
Lord of Light and Shadow;
(Reponse: Lord of Height and Harrow!)
The Hunt now rides;
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Turning the Wheel
Hail Ullr!
(Response: Hail Ullr!)
(The crown is raised once more)
Lord of Mound and Harrow;
(Response: Lord of Oath and Shadow!)
Long live the king!
(The crown is replaced in its place of honor
on the altar)
Beside Him, Hela rides!
(Response: Long live the queen!)
Hail Hela!
(Response: Hail Hela!)
The year is dawning;
(Response: The year has dawned.)
In it, may we find new peace;
(Response: Peace and good seasons to us,
And to You, and to all that have come before,
And to all that will come after!)
(Response: Enda er, ok enda skal vera!)
Raise the Fence
Outside the fire,

Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Ground and Center
139
Portions of this material also appear in Norse

Witch, Blessings of Fire and Ice, Wheel of Fire and
Ice, and Heidhr Craft by Connla Freyjason.
The Hel-blot appears in Raising Hel by Michelle

Iacona.
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Turning the Wheel
Yuletide
As you may have noticed by now, all of the holidays of the
Heidhrinn Wheel are rather like “mini-seasons” of celebration,
lasting for several days each, even though in the modern world our
main ritual observances may be “one night affairs”. This is
particularly true of Yule, which I have always thought of as
“Yuletide”: in every respect, Yule is essentially a season unto itself.
This is a thing which I have sensed since childhood, only to finally
have it confirmed while doing research concerning the mounds at
Gamla Uppsala as intentional astronomical features. The sunset
over the Thing Mound there actually marks the beginning of Yule,
on November 3rd, and the season of Yule lasts until Disablot on
February 3rd.
Yuletide is distinctive among the other “seasons” of the Wheel,
because it actually contains a few other “mini-holidays”, in
addition to “High Yule”: Krampusnacht and the Feast of Hel as
Holda. We have included all three rites herein, with full
background information on each.
• Yule
of Hel
◦ The Wild Hunt
◦ Husvaettir
◦ Huldufolk
◦ Keynotes:
▪ Gratitude
▪ Home and Family
▪ Hospitality
▪ Reciprocity
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Krampusnacht
Traditionally, since at least the Middle Ages, Krampusnacht has
been observed on December 5th, on the eve of the Feast of St.
Nicholas on December 6th. In the modern era, many tend to think
of Krampus as the “bad cop” to Santa's “good cop”, and many
believe that these traditions only date from the 16 th century
forward. The truth, however, is that these traditions definitely
trace from the pre-Christian era, and not just from the German
Alps.
The modern tradition of the “Krampus Run”, more properly
known as the “Krampuslauf”, includes “parades” of participants
costumed as Krampus and sometimes also as
Perchta/Holda/Hulda/Hel. These Krampus costumes typically
include horned masks, hairy suits, chains, and cowbells, which are
worn around the hips or ankles. Many carry switches of birch, with
which they will playfully “whip” members of the gathered crowd.
But who or what is this horned figure, and how does it fit into the
modern Yule observance of a Norse Witch?
The name “Krampus” is most often said to come from the
German word for claw, except that word is klaue, kralle, krallen,
schere, kratzen, or zange, none of which remotely sound like
“Krampus”. The closest German word to Krampus is krampe or
krampen, meaning a staple or clamp (more on this in a moment).
Insofar as Perchta/Holda/Hulda/Hel's inclusion in modern
parades, some sources actually cite Hel as the mother of Krampus.
However, this is not actually a part of the traditional folklore;
rather, it is sourced from the 2012 novel Krampus the Yule Lord
by Gerald Brom.
Krampus became paired with St. Nicholas (Santa) around the
11th century, when Nicholas Plays (Nikolausspiel) became popular
in the Alpine regions. These plays centered around the theme of
the competition between God and the Devil for human souls. In
them, St. Nicholas would reward children for their good behavior,
while the Devil would punish them for bad behavior. These came
to be combined with the pre-existing Alpine tradition of the
Perchtenlauf (Perchten run), and the Perchten (a Krampus figure)
became subject to the will of St. Nicholas, which is why we now see
the two paired in the iconography, and how Krampus essentially
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became “the Christmas Devil”. That these Perchtenlauf already
existed in the Alpine regions by the 11 th century is our first
important clue that Krampus is actually a pre-Christian figure.
An artifact discovered during a salvage archaeology operation
in 2010 in Sweden sheds even more light on the pre-Christian
origin of Krampus, and upon His place in modern practice. This
site, called Lilla Ullevi, is the only site precisely of its kind ever to
be excavated in Scandinavia, and especially in Sweden, and
includes the only seidhrjallr thus far ever found. The site dates
largely from the Vendel Period, but has been in semi-continuous
use since the pre-Roman Iron Age. It consists of a ve—an outdoor
religious area—with its surrounding viband (a fence which
demarcated an area as officially and legally sacred), as well as a
mound, a hagnad (a communal feasting and ritual staging area
within the viband), and a harg (the rocky area where sacrifices
were actually made). As the name suggests (“Ullr's Little Ve”), it
was a site sacred to the Norse God Ullr, about whom we have been
able to glean little from Lore sources.
An artifact discovered at this site depicts the figure of a “hairy
man”, not dissimilar from modern depictions of Krampus. The
artifact in question is a gold-plated copper-alloy “fitting”, likely
once part of a belt or a fastening for a shawl or drape of some kind.
It depicts the dancing figure of a “hairy acrobat”, surrounded by
depictions of birds and possibly hounds in Arwidsson Style D,
which typologically dates the artifact to 700-750 CE (late Vendel
Period). It was found in the silt layer which was used to ritually
close the harg, in context with 4 iron amulet rings, at least one of
which had attached staples (krampa), as well as a meatfork
(kottegaffel), strike-a-light, iron knives, copper clippings
(consistent with Saami “religious money”), crampons, 3 iron
hooks, an iron scythe, a pig jawbone, and a lancetip. This artifact
was found in ritual context with clamps: krampa in Swedish.
Compare that to the word krampen in German.
But that is not the only potential connection between Ullr and
Krampus. One of the by-names of Krampus is Wubartl, “The
Hairy Devil”. The “wu” in Wubartl etymologically links to the
proto-Germanic root *wullo: the same root word from which we
gain the name of Ullr. Further evidence still of this connection
may be found upon artifacts which are conclusively linked to Ullr:
iron amulet rings, over 60 of which were recovered from Lilla
Ullevi over the course of its excavation. On some of these rings,
and specifically on those found in-context with the “hairy man”
artifact, were found small, dangling “charms”, which bear a
143
striking resemblence to staples or clamps (again: krampen).
Archaeologists were boggled by what these could mean, or their
potential usage. Yet etymology, as we have discussed herein, likely
solves the mystery: they are symbols of Ullr, in His aspect as the
“hairy man”--Krampus--also known in modern Paganism as “The
Horned God”.
But why staples or clamps? Because they bind things together.
Ullr is a God of oathing. What do oaths do? They likewise bind.
Ullr was most likely not only a God by whom oaths were sworn,
but also a punisher of broken oaths. In an entirely oral culture,
such oaths would have been understood as binding contracts and
breaking them would have been detrimental to societal order. This
likely explains the modern depictions of Krampus as “punisher”.
Ullr is also widely understood as a God of the Hunt, and, as
with the other guises of “The Horned God”, this makes Him the
natural leader of the Wild Hunt. When one considers the imagery
of the Perchtenlauf, in particular, this likewise potentially links
Krampus with the Wild Hunt. In France, this Wild Hunt is called
the Mesnie Hellequin, and is led by a figure variously called
Hellequin or Harlequin (yes, that Harlequin; this figure is the
source of that archetypal character in later Italian Carnevale
plays). Hellequin's companion is Frau Holda: another
guise/byname of Perchta.The name Hellequin most likely comes
from the Germanic Erlking: “Alder King”. The “Alder Tree Man”,
called Leaibealmmai among the Saami, is most definitely the
“source” and, therefore, a direct cognate of Ullr. Therefore, we
may come to best understand the Wild Hunt as being led by Hel
(Perchta/Holda) and Ullr (Krampus). In Heidhr Craft, the Wild
Hunt is a destructive/protective group of beings which ride forth
especially in Winter, but may come to our aid in our times of
greatest need, bringing with them peace and good seasons and
chasing away negative forces in our lives.
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Turning the Wheel
You Will Need:

A scythe, bolline, or staff
A cup or horn
A bowl
Peppermint schnapps (suitable non-alcoholic
substitutes include peppermint tea, egg nog,
hot cocoa, hazelnut milk, or a peppermint
spritzer)
Julbocken (should be small enough to place on your
Yule tree)
Honey
Taufr (skull, duck foot; other animal remnant)
Sweetened milk (milk with vanilla and sugar, in a
secondary cup; for Hel)
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Hallow the Space.
145


Raise Your Cup:
Hail Ullr!
Hail Hel!
Wind blow
Sky darken
Krampus hear;
Hel harken:
Praise to the Gods
Of the Hunt!
Raise the glass
And join the chorus
Of storm-whipped
Icy trees:
Praise to the Gods
Of the Hunt!
Wind blow
Sky darken
Krampus hear;
Hel harken:
Praise to the Gods
Of the Hunt!
Drink from the glass. Pass to others, if there

is a gathering.
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Turning the Wheel
Pour the remains into the hlaut-bowl.
Raise the glass of milk:
Lady of Solace,
Lady of Night;
Lady of Refuge,
Lady in White;
Lady Who Dances,
Bright Lady Bright;
Lady Who Comforts,
Lady in White:
Lady in White, please grace this space,
With gentle hand and smiling face.
Drink from the glass. Pass to others, if there

is a gathering.
Pour the remains into the hlaut-bowl.
Offer the Honey:

For this world is full of dangers, and we need You on our
side!
Call the Hunt:

For it beats pure:
(Touch the dagger's point to the taufr, or hold it
aloft)
Look here, upon this foot/feather'etc.,
147

We may find peace.
Let Them Come....
Blessing and Placing of the Julbocken:
I place the goat

Upon my altar;
(Place the goat upon the altar)
Hammer-sign,
To honor Thor.
(Hallow the goat with the hallow-sign)
Julbocken
Made of straw,
Bedecked with red.
I place the goat
Upon my altar;
Kiss its horns,
To honor Ullr.
(Kiss the horns of the goat. If others are
gathered, pass it around for kisses.)
Julbocken
Made of straw,
Bedecked with red.
I place the goat
Upon my altar;
Kick its heels,
To remember what's restored.
(Kick the heels of the goat by tipping it
forward on its front feet; pass it around for
kicks)
Julbocken
Made of straw,
Bedecked with red.
I place the goat
Upon my Yule tree;
(Place the goat upon the tree)
Three taps upon its little head:
Bless the year past;
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Turning the Wheel
Bless this moment;

Bless the year ahead.
(Tap the head three times, repeating the
blessing; allow those gathered to do
likewise)
Hail the Yule Goat:
“Lille Krampus”;
“Lille Ullr”
On our tree!
(Those gathered repeat)
Guard home and hearth
Throughout this season;
Between your horns:
Health, hope, and hospitality!
Raise the Fence

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Ground and Center


Craft by Connla Freyjason. The Hel-blot appears in
Raising Hel by Michelle Iacona.
149
The Feast of Hel as Holda

The modern view of Hel is one of a Goddess of Death and
apparently that alone: some scholars have even previously
suggested that She was not venerated ritually in the Iron Age, but
merely a personification of Death, in much the same way most of
us view the Grim Reaper today. Of course, the scholar in question
(Hilda Ellis Davidson) wrote that supposition down sometime
circa 1968, and a lot of new archaeological discoveries have been
made since then which definitely overturn it. Yet, her work
continues to be treated as “the gospel”, while a Goddess Who was
once viewed as a Helper of Humanity languishes in the shadows,
reduced to being the Wednesday Addams of the Norse Pantheon.
Even those who rely (usually far too heavily) on the written
sources ignore their implications, for in Gylfaginning Snorri
writes:
Hel He cast into Niflheim, and gave Her

authority over the Nine Worlds, that She should
allot homes to all to stay with Her, who to Her
were sent, and that are sick-dead (dead from
sickness) men and dead of old age. She has there
many houses (literally: abodes; farms), and Her
walls are exceedingly high and Her gate is large.
—Gylfaginning 34, Connla Freyjason Translation
Clearly, by the time of the “Viking Age”, when Odin had risen to
prominence as the default leader of the Gods (at least in Norway
and Iceland), the understanding was that Hel had been given
authority over the Nine Worlds as a Provider. In other words, She
was not only a Goddess of Death, but also a Goddess of
Hospitality.
This “Hel Who Cares” is remembered in European Folklore as
Frau Holda (Holle) and/or Hulda, except again, most moderns get
it wrong, insisting that Holda/Holle/Hulda is an incarnation of
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Frigga. I’m still trying to figure out: on what grounds? Elementary
etymology informs us clearly that the names Holda, Holle, Hulda,
and Hel all stem from the same proto-Indo-European root: *kel-,
meaning “to conceal; hidden”. From this root, we gain proto-
Germanic *hulþaz (“inclined, gracious, favorable, devoted, loyal,
faithful”) and *huljana (“to cover, veil”). The meanings of words–
especially when they might have multiple meanings–were very
important to the Scandinavians of the Iron Age and after. This fact
is vividly portrayed for us in their use of kennings in their poetry
and writing. The basic meaning of the name Frigga has absolutely
zero in common with that of Holda/Holle/Hulda/Hel: it simply
means “freedom” and “love”. The people of that time would have
known that, trust me, even though we obviously do not. This isn’t
about “hard polytheism” versus “soft polytheism” (both of which
are totally modern constructs thoroughly divorced from anything
remotely resembling genuine religious scholarship anyway); this is
about basic common sense of the “you don’t call a stove a
refrigerator” variety!
Christmas/Yuletide has been regarded as the “Season of
Holda/Hulda/Holle/Hel” since at least the Middle Ages. So
muchso, in fact, that in Hesse the Thursday before Christmas is
still honored as Hollenabend, “Holle's Eve”. It was traditional that
all spinning must be finished by Christmas (Hel does not look
kindly upon laziness), and that distaffs should be put on display
for Her inspection. On Christmas Day, a bowl of milk would be left
as an offering to Her, with spoons crossed over it; when the
members of a family returned from their Christmas Day outing
(usually to Church), the position of the spoons would be divined to
foretell the family's future in the coming year. On Her feast day,
special foods were eaten, including cakes called zemmede, made of
milk and flour, and a thick porridge called polse, which was made
of flour and water (similar to modern instant oatmeal). Fish and
dumplings similar to pierogies were also traditional. It was said
that She rode forth during the Yuletide Season, alongside Her
consort, variously named as The Erlking or Krampus, and who we
now understand as Ullr, as co-leader of the Wild Hunt.
December 24th is the Feast of Frau Holda, which honors
this “Hel Who Cares”: a Goddess of Service, as illustrated in the
stories of Her which have come down to us via folklore. True
service is seeing something, saying something, and then following
through. That follow-through may be as simple as actively
representing, upholding, and holding space with the person or
people in need, or it may be as difficult as actively standing beside
151
them in whatever fight for right may be oncoming. Yet that is also
the heart and soul of reciprocity, an overriding theme within
Norse Practice, and one of the few things on which all seem to
agree. Those within our closest kinship circle—our nearest and
dearest—we should treat with altruism. In other words, we repay
them with ferocious equality as our nearest and dearest, precisely
because they have and consistently do likewise for us. That’s what
makes them nearest and dearest in the first place! Our next
kinship circle—those we know within specific social contexts—we
repay with fairness and equity. Chances are great that you already
know precisely what those within your closest kinship circle need,
whereas those in that next, outer circle of familiarity are going to
require a little more work, on your part. This means that you may
have to actively ask questions; you may have to “walk a mile in
their shoes”, in order to effectively provide the proper amounts of
reciprocity. It also means that they may have to meet you halfway
by doing likewise in return. Arriving at the next outward circle—
that of strangers—we arrive in the strange no-man’s land that is
negative reciprocity. Here, we must be careful that we not only
seek the right kind of profit, but also that we seek to profit in the
first place for the right reasons. What is the right kind of profit, in
such a case? One which is mutually beneficial, benefiting both
parties involved as well as possibly the world-at-large. That same
sense of potentially bettering a situation lies at the heart of
negative reciprocity, when it comes to humans interacting with
other humans, inspiring us to actively ask even strangers “how can
I help?” We owe these people nothing, nor do they owe us, for we
are strangers. But by striving to make things better, we may
inevitably find mutual benefit. The right kind of profit, therefore,
would be the knowledge that we have, in fact, somehow made
things better in the first place, and the right reasons would be
dictated by our will to improve: other people’s lives; the world as a
whole, and, as a bonus, our own lives and world in the process.
This active reciprocity ultimately leads to hospitality. The true
definition of hospitality is to make things hospitable: to offer a
pleasant and sustaining environment. The utter lack of a will to
make things hospitable—to make things pleasant, as well as
sustainable—has led to many of our world’s greatest ills, from
homelessness to climate change. In fact, it might surprise many of
us to realize that the direct opposite of hospitality is hostility–
resistance and opposition which lead to conflict—just as the
opposite of refuge is to expose—to deprive of care, shelter, or
protection, thereby making someone or something subject to risk
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Turning the Wheel
or harm. True hospitality is seeking to satisfy, based on empathy
which leads to equity. Certainly, one might give a person in need
the coat off their own back, and such a thing should well be
applauded, but our acts of hospitality need not always be so
ostentatious. A true act of hospitality can be as simple as smiling
at a passerby on the street, who may have had a bad day, or as
intensely deep as opening one’s home to a person who desperately
needs a roof and a bed for the night. Once again, we find that the
previously discussed levels of reciprocity can provide an important
guideline for the actions we should take.
Such service is perhaps the most beautiful and profound blot
we could ever offer Hel, but also know this: when you are at the
end of your rope, and cannot possibly carry anymore weight
because you can barely carry your own, She will understand that,
too. She will be there, in the darkness, to lay a hand upon your
shoulder in solace, as She has on mine. She knows and
understands pain and fear, for She is “Hel Who Cares”, and it is
time that we remembered and honored Her.
153
You Will Need:

Altar/Sacred Space
A cup or horn and a bowl
Liquid libation (sweetened milk is preferred for this
blot)
1 White Candle
1 Red Candle
A distaff (If you do not have one, a popsicle stick,
pencil, wand, or twig will suffice)
A length of yarn (to wrap around the distaff)
A duck's foot (If you cannot procure one humanely,
a white feather may be substituted)
Runes or Tarot cards
Honey (as an offering to the Wild Hunt)
Sweetened Milk: 1 cup milk, 3 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp

vanilla; mix well
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Hallow the Space.
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Turning the Wheel


Raise Your Cup:
Lady of Solace,
Lady of Night;
Lady of Refuge,
Lady in White;
Lady Who Dances,
Bright Lady Bright;
Lady Who Comforts,
Lady in White:
O, Sweet Hela,
Find those who are lost.
Save them from their wandering;
Lead all souls to where they belong,
Especially those in most need of mercy.
You will not leave us without aid.
We have been given such confidence,
And with it, we fly to You,
O Queen of Helheim;
O Compassionate Sister and Mother.
To You, I come;
Before You, I stand:
I have need.
155
O Queen of the Underworld,

Hear me now,
And remind me of Sweet Mercy and Hospitality.
Pour the Blot.
Light the White Candle:
Holda, Hulda, Holle, Perchta:

We call to Hel the White!
Spare the scythe, Your arms encircle
All those gathered here tonight!
Light the Red Candle:
Perchta, Holle, Hulda, Holda:

We call to Hel the Red!
In Your caring arms enfold us
As we prepare for the year ahead.
Offer the Honey:

For this world is full of dangers, and we need You
on our side!
Call the Hunt:

For it beats pure:
(Touch the dagger's point to the duck
foot/feather, or hold it aloft)
Look here, upon this foot/feather,
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Turning the Wheel

We may find peace.
Let Them Come....
Candle-Scry:
We peer into the flame; see how it flickers.

Our breath matches its slow heartbeat. Ebb and
flow and ebb and flow, we count our breaths as they
pass through us, letting them carry us into a deeper
state of knowing. Thirteen. Hoofbeats sounding in
the distance; they match our breath. Twelve. An owl
calls, and it, too, becomes one with our breathing
and the flame. Eleven. Ebb. Ten. Flow. Nine. There
is the distant sound of clanging bells. Eight. The
world radiates with the light of the candleflame and
with the colors of the Northern Lights. Seven. Ebb.
Six. Flow. Five. Our eyes begin to dim until there is
only the flame and any visions which might be
illuminated within. Four. Ebb. Three. Flow. Two.
Another long deep breath. One. Concentrate on the
heart of the flame. The Hunt surrounds you; you
can smell the musk of their horses—that sweet
horse-scent which is like none other and nothing
else. A horned figure rides at its head, and beside
Him a woman, dressed all in white. She is beautiful;
Her face glows in the heart of the flame:
Lady of Solace,
Lady of Night;
Lady of Refuge,
Lady in White;
Lady Who Dances,
Bright Lady Bright;
Lady Who Comforts,
Lady in White.
Does she have a message for you? Words to guide

you toward peace in the coming year? Ask Her,
then listen.
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Lady of Solace,
Lady of Night;
Lady of Refuge,
Lady in White;
Lady Who Dances,
Bright Lady Bright;
Lady Who Comforts,
Lady in White.
(Repeat as needed)
You hear the sounding of the horn, and the Hunt

must ride forth once more. Give Her your gratitude
before She departs and then concentrate once more
on the heart of the flame. Focus on your breath: the
way it moves in and out of your body. Focus on
your body, the way it moves to make your breath.
One. Take a deep breath. Two. The sounds of the
Otherworld begin to fade. Three. The light of the
surrounding room returns to focus. Four. You
wiggle your fingers and toes. Five. You become
steadily more aware of your physical surroundings.
Six. You stretch your arms and legs as you return
fully to this world, holding in your heart the words
of the White Lady.
The Omen
Hold the words of Hel in your heart and mind with

the intention of pulling a rune/card which will
serve to tell you how to put those words of peace
into action in your life and in the world in the
coming year. (The Volva will pull two runes:
one for the Hall Community as a whole, and
one personally for herself; those gathered
should likewise pull a rune/lay a card
individually for themselves.)
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Turning the Wheel
The Working
We live in a time of shattered peace, when the

reciprocity, hospitality, and kindess of Hel as Holda
is not the only love and light that has been
forgotten. Tonight, in Her name, we work to weave
a new Wyrd: a better one, not only for ourselves
and for this community, but for the world.
Hold up your yarn or fiber and focus your Will

upon it. Infuse it with Light, Love, and Peace; with
Charity and Kindness. Muster every beautiful
thought; every compassionate notion. When you
feel that it has become full of that energy, you may
begin to wind it about your distaff:
With Light I bind the Darkness;

The Shadows of this world:
I bind against anger that is not righteous;
I bind against hatred that harms.
I bind against holier-than-thou attitudes
Which tear our world apart.
I bind against hopelessness;
I bind against unjust war.
I bind against greed
And mistreatment of the poor.
I bind the Shadows
To free the Shadow:
That one that lies within;
That one that makes us search our hearts
That we may become better humans.
And as this yarn does fall away,
I send that Light into the world:
Peace and good seasons to us,
And to all those who will come after,
As with all those gone before.
Allow the wrapped distaff to remain on your altar,

that it might “gather the charge” of all with which it
has been infused. On New Year's Day, pull the yarn
159
away, and actively send that Light into the world by

repeating the latter portion of the spell.
Hel's Embrace
It is said that Hel as Hulda/Holda/Holle takes the

unwanted and the unbaptized as Her own; the
smallest infants, lost too soon. She is the Goddess
of the Outcast, and we are all of us that, at one time
or another. As you go out into the world from this
place, take that with you: wrap your arms around
someone, even if that someone is yourself, who has
languished in that outcast space. Feel Her arms
around you, and around them, if there is, in fact, a
“them”. Ultimately, that is the best way in which we
can ever hope to reclaim Hel.
Raise the Fence
Outside the fire,

Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Ground and Center
Portions of this material also appear in Raising Hel

by Michelle Iacona. The Hunt-Blot and Hunt-Call
appear in Norse Witch by Connla Freyjason.
160
Turning the Wheel
High Yule
“High Yule” would have traditionally been observed on the
Solstice itself, as with Midsummer, and, as such, would've been
understood as the direct mirror of Midsummer. We can know this,
based on the seasonality of finds at Lilla Ullevi. The excavation at
Lilla Ullevi revealed a site where Ullr and Hel were clearly
honored, alongside Freyr and likely Freyja at the height of summer
(Midsummer) and at mid-winter (Yule). The summer observances
clearly centered around the smithing of amulet rings, which were
apparently returned and “sacrificed” at mid-winter. Ecofacts at the
site suggest burned offerings to Ullr and Hel at both festivals, with
animal offerings to Freyr peaking at mid-summer, and, at mid-
winter, animal offerings consistent with Ullr and Hel. From all of
this, we can surmise that Yule was the height of Ullr's power, in
the same way as Midsummer for Freyr.
At Midsummer, we celebrated the love of Freyr and Ullr, and
Their coming together, as it empowered Freyr for His journey to
Alfheim. Through that union, Freyr “bequeathed” His earthly
power to Ullr, in preparation for the journey to Alfheim. Now, at
Yule, Ullr “restores” that earthly power to Freyr, in preparation for
the end of winter and the coming of spring. We also worked to
“forge” our oathpiece at Midsummer, on which we took our first
oaths at Winternights, and upon which we shall now take the Oath
of Oaths—a shortened version of the Virtuous Oath (as published
in Norse Witch: Reclaiming the Heidhrinn Heart).
Yet the love story of Freyr and Ullr is not the only one which we
celebrate at High Yule: we also celebrate the consortship of Hel, as
Ullr prepares to go below, into Helheim, to sit upon the öndugi, as
did Baldur in the Lore. The taking of the Oath of Oaths serves as
our own way of “taking the ultimate high seat”. In modern
American Heathenry, the öndugi has “taken a back seat” to
Hliðskjálf, allegedly the “high seat of Odin”. The traditional
etymology of Hliðskjálf has been given as “opening in a steep
slope”, however, further research reveals the more apt etymology
of “covering or gate that shivers”. Why does that matter? Because
the hlið prefix sources from the same proto-Indo-European root as
the name of Hel Herself, *kel-, which suggests that originally,
Hliðskjálf and the öndugi were either understood as the same
thing, or as direct mirrors of each other, neither of which
161
originally belonged to Odin. The only seidhrjallr ever excavated
was found at this site sacred to Ullr and Hel, Freyr and Freyja:
might it have likewise been associated with the öndugi/Hliðskjálf
and ritual observances which echoed its symbolism? We certainly
think it might have.
So, what, then, is the place of the öndugi in Heidhr Craft? What
does it represent, and why do we honor it at High Yule? Why do
we seek now, at this time of year, to “take” that seat ourselves? The
word öndugi literally translates as “breath seat” or “soul seat”.
Given the understanding of the multi-partite soul in Heidhr Craft,
we may then come to best understand the öndugi as that place
where all parts of the soul come into alignment. In other words, it
is the Seat of Sovereignty. To “sit” in this “seat” means to have
power over all of the parts of one's Self; to be in complete
alignment and/or balance. We represent our Will to attain this by
taking the Oath of Oaths, for such Self-Sovereignty will indeed be
required to maintain this Oath.
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Turning the Wheel
You Will Need:

Altar/Sacred Space
Scythe, dagger, boline, sword, staff, or wand
An empty cup, to represent Freyr
A full cup, to represent Ullr
Liquid libation (Peppermint schnapps, peppermint
tea, egg nog, peppermint spritzer, or
hazelnut milk)
A bowl (hlaut-boll or blot-bowl)
“Freyr stick” from Vanirblot
Bowl of sand in which to raise the “Freyr stick”
Oathpiece from Midsummer/Winternights
Crown of antlers from Alfablot (or its acceptable
substitute)
Offering of sweetened milk (in a separate cup)
Honey
Taufr (skull, duck foot, or other animal remnant)
Lay the Fence.

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Hallow the Space.
163


Raise the full cup:
Hail Lord Ullr!

I call,
And You come to me;
I dream,
And You are there;
Great Horned Lord
Of the Hunt,
You give us the bounty
Of the animals;
Keep us faithful
To our word,
And teach us
To travel
To Otherworlds.
Hail Ullr!
Drink.
Raise the empty cup:
Hail Lord Freyr!

I call,
And You come to me;
I dream,
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Turning the Wheel
And You are there:

Of mound and field,
In all ways
And teach me
To see
Inside myself.
Hail Freyr!
Lo,
His cup is empty;
It seeks to be fulfilled!
Pour a small amount of liquid from the Ullr-

cup into the Freyr-cup:
Oh Gods my Gods,
The journey was long;
Drink a small amount from the Freyr-cup.
Oh Gods my Gods,
The journey was hard;
Drink a small amount from the Freyr-cup.
Oh Gods my Gods,
I find myself emptied.
Drink the rest of the amount in the Freyr-

cup.
Lo,
My cup is empty,
And I seek to be fulfilled!
Pour a larger amount of liquid from the

Ullr-cup into the Freyr-cup:
165
Oh Gods my Gods,
You come together;
Place both cups on the altar, equi-distant

from each other:
Oh Gods my Gods,
You stand apart:
Two Lords of Bounty
Who guide our goals
To meet their mark!
Pour the remainder of the liquid from the

Ullr-cup into the Freyr-cup:
Our cups runneth over,

Filled to fill and to fulfill:
Oh Gods my Gods,
We celebrate today
Divine Romance:
May it teach us
Likewise to love:
Ourselves,
Our fellow humans,
Our Ancestors,
The Invisible Population,
This world around us,
And You.
Drink heartily from the cup; share with

those gathered.
Hold both cups aloft:
Freyr climbs
Down from Alfheim-height;
Freyr climbs
Up from 'neath the earth.
Hail the Lord of
Light and Shadow;
Hail the Lord of
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Turning the Wheel
Height and Harrow!

Hail the Lord of
Light and Shadow;
Hail the Lord of
Height and Harrow!
Ullr has
Led well the Hunt;
Ullr now
Goes to take His seat.
Hail the Lord of
Oath and Shadow;
Hail the Lord of
Bone and Marrow!

Hail the Lord of
Oath and Shadow;
Hail the Lord of
Bone and Marrow!
Climbing together,
Our Lords align:
One to bring earthly bounty,
The Other to
Sit upon the Öndugi!
Praise to the Gods
Of Will and Wisdom:
May They meet
Each other and
Become as One!
Blessed be!

Blessed be!
Pour a portion of the liquid from the Freyr-

cup into the blot-bowl.
167
The bowl of sand should now be placed

within the antler crown, and the “Freyr-
stick” from Vanirblot and Midsummer
should be erected within it.
Raise the cup of sweetened milk:
I call as witness
She Who is called
Hidden,
Concealed,
Gracious,
Friendly,
Dedicated,
Loyal,
Faithful,
Fair,
Kindly,
Secret:
Hail Hela, full of grace!
The Dead are with Thee;
Blessed are You to those who are Lost.
(Drink from the cup)
Lady of Solace,
Lady of Night;
Lady of Refuge,
Lady in White;
Lady Who Dances,
Bright Lady Bright;
Lady Who Comforts,
Lady in White:
Pour the rest of the milk into the blot-bowl

as an offering.
As the volvas
Did of old,
We dress this
In the sight of Hel:
168
Turning the Wheel
With the oathpiece

Forged in the fires
Of Ullr and Freyr
At last Midsummer.
The “Freyr-Stick” should now be “dressed”

with the oathpiece.
Likewise,
We call The Hunt,
That They might
Bear witness:
Offer the Honey:

For this world is full of dangers, and we need You
on our side!
Call the Hunt:

For it beats pure:
(Touch the dagger's point to the taufr, or
hold it aloft)
Look here, upon this foot/feather,
We may find peace.
Let Them Come....
169
Lay hands upon the oathpiece, where it

hangs upon the “Freyr-stick”:
Before the eyes

Of the Great Lovers,
Freyr and Ullr;
Beneath the watchful gaze
Of Hel, Holy Queen;
By the witness of
The Wild Hunt's retinue,
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To treat everyone
With equity and fairness,
Including ourselves.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To treat everyone
With equity and fairness,
Including ourselves.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
Never to lie,
And to always strive
To keep our promises
And commitments.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
Never to lie,
And to always strive
To keep our promises
And commitments.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
Never to practice
170
Turning the Wheel
Bigotry nor prejudice,

Nor to stand idly by
As others do.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
Never to practice
Bigotry nor prejudice,
Nor to stand idly by
As others do.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
Ever to seek to be
Middling-Wise,
Acting upon
The morality of hjarta-vitr.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
Ever to seek to be
Middling-Wise,
Acting upon
The morality of hjarta-vitr.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
Never to strike out
Purely from a place
Of anger, hatred, or violence,
And never to tolerate
Those who do.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
Never to strike out
Purely from a place
Of anger, hatred, or violence,
171
And never to tolerate

Those who do.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To defend and uphold
The innocent, the outcast, and the good:
We will not keep our silence,
When wrong has been done.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To defend and uphold
The innocent, the outcast, and the good:
We will not keep our silence,
When wrong has been done.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To always seek
To treat guests as
We ourselves would
Wish to be treated,
And to be ever-ready
To help those in need.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To always seek
To treat guests as
We ourselves would
Wish to be treated,
And to be ever-ready
To help those in need.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To be gracious
With our gifts
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Turning the Wheel
As well as grateful,
And to answer,
Gift-for-gift,
In charity, hope, and love.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To be gracious
With our gifts
As well as grateful,
And to answer,
Gift-for-gift,
In charity, hope, and love.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To bless more often
Than we curse,
And to curse
Only as measured
Against hjarta-vitr.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To bless more often
Than we curse,
And to curse
Only as measured
Against hjarta-vitr.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To be loyal
Not only to our Gods,
But to our Kith,
Our Kin,
And all
Those kind wights
Who have proven worthy.
173

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To be loyal
Not only to our Gods,
But to our Kith,
Our Kin,
And all
Those kind wights
Who have proven worthy.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To practice reciprocity,
Repaying
Gift-for-gift
As we are given,
By right of Love and Will.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To practice reciprocity,
Repaying
Gift-for-gift
As we are given,
By right of Love and Will.
We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To seek peace
Whenever possible,
And to make peace
Where there is none.

We do swear
By Ullr unto Freyr:
To seek peace
Whenever possible,
And to make peace
Where there is none.
174
Turning the Wheel
By the name of Ullr,

This oath is bound;
(Put on the oathpiece)
My solemn words
Tied fast,
To the heart of Freyr.
(Place hands solemnly over heart)

By the name of Ullr,
This oath is bound;
(Put on the oathpiece)
My solemn words
Tied fast,
To the heart of Freyr.
(Place hands solemnly over heart)
Bow heads for final prayer:

For the journey:
For the love given,
To us and to Each Other:
For the lessons of our Ancestors:
For peace and good seasons:
We stand in gratitude.
175
Raise the Fence

Outside the fire,
Darkness;
Where'er you dwell,
Dwell not here:
Ground and Center


Fire and Ice, Wheel of Fire and Ice, Norse Witch,
and Heidhr Craft by Connla Freyjason. The Hel-
blot is derived from Raising Hel by Michelle
Iacona.
176
Turning the Wheel
The Tidal Cycle

Michelle Iacona
A fact about altars which seems to go largely ignored (in my
opinion) in most modern “how-to” books on building a spiritual
practice is that altars must be routinely fed. Otherwise, they are
simply bookcases or tables holding a variety of religious
paraphernalia; little more than mini-museums of faith, scattered
throughout one’s house. I’m sure we’re all familiar with this
scenario: a person sets up their altar, blesses it, and then only
returns to it when they need/want to “do something”. In the
meantime, the altar (and everything on it) gathers dust, just as
things in a museum might, without proper curation. But your altar
isn’t something you curate: it is a living space within your home,
to “house” the Gods.
I will confess that I have been lax about “altar-feedings” myself
in the past. Life is a busy thing, if we’re really living it, after all. I
have the same tendency as practically anyone to set it up, bless it,
and then only “go there” when I need/want to “do something”.
That doesn’t make either of us “bad witches”; it just means we
both have room for improvement!
Feeding the altar should be at least a monthly activity, if not a
bi-weekly to weekly one. A lot will depend on your own “magickal
rhythms”, as well as your work/spiritual life balance. The actual
process can take as little time as five minutes out of your day, or as
long as you feel necessary. In Heidhr Craft, we honor the phases of
the moon as they reflect the tidal cycle, which was of great
177
importance to our Cultural Ancestors in Iron Age Scandinavia.
This also helps us become better attuned to our intrinsically
animistic universe. Altar feedings may therefore serve as a very
effective way of marking that cycle while also developing our focus
on the Four Cornerstones:
• Waning Moon:
• New Moon:
• Waxing Moon:
• Full Moon:
So how does one “perform” an altar feeding? You may begin by

simply lighting one white candle, to signify “entering” sacred
space. On a Norse Witch’s altar, this will typically be located in the
area designated as the viband. Over time, you may find it
beneficial to procure a different colored candle for each phase of
the moon, which you will light in addition to your initial white one.
If you choose to do this, I would recommend the following
correspondences:
• Waning Moon
◦ Gold or Yellow
◦ Symbolism: The colors gold and/or yellow in Norse
Tradition were most often employed to symbolize
brightness or luminance, yet they could also denote
paleness, as in the phrase “bleikr sem nár”, “yellow as a
corpse”. Given all of this, reasons to use gold or yellow
to symbolize the waning moon is hopefully fairly
obvious, for the moon at this stage is fading in its
luminance towards the Dark of the New.
• New Moon
◦ Blue-Black (Midnight Blue; True Navy)
◦ Symbolism: The word for blue-black in Old Norse is
blár, which is often mistranslated in modern times as
synonymous with black (svartr), though it clearly
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Turning the Wheel
wasn’t. The color of the hoods and capes of both

witches and kings, it is strongly associated with ravens,
coal, the sea, and the moon, as well as death and The
Dead.
• Waxing Moon
◦ White
◦ Symbolism: Given the not-so-happy history of racism
in Norse/Germanic Tradition, let’s pause for a moment
and discuss precisely what the color white meant to
people of Iron Age Scandinavia, because it most
certainly had nothing to do with skin-color or ethnicity.
Instead, white was associated with the clear brightness
of day, as we find in references to Heimdall as the
“White God”. Heimdall, literally translated, means
“bright-home”, or “the one who illuminates the world”.
The primary reference to Heimdall as “Whitest of the
Gods” appears in Thrymskvidha 15 as “hvítastr ása”;
the color term used here for white, hvítr, almost
without exception denotes a measure of reflectivity.
Such brightness or reflectivity has, throughout myriad
world cultures, come to denote beings of the celestial
realms, as opposed to the chthonic relams.
• Full Moon
◦ Red
◦ Symbolism: In Norse/Germanic Tradition, the color
red is obviously associated with blood, and therefore
with sacrifice, life, and death. It is also (some might
think curiously) associated with the element of gold;
with riches and reward on the one hand, and with
greed on the other. For the ancient Norse, red was a
color of strong emotions, ranging from anger to passion
to love. The color of fire, it represents the hidden power
of the Holy Will (heilag-vilja).
These candles may be either votive or chime in style, and

should likewise be placed within the viband area of the altar. In
Heidhr Craft, the “measure of a month” (the “measure of the
moon”) begins at the Waxing Moon, and completes at the New
179
Moon. Therefore, at the beginning of a lunar month, only the
white candle would be lit. Then, as the moon moves to Full, both
the white and the red candles would be lit, and so on, until all four
burn brightly with the arrival of the New Moon.
The primary purpose of an altar feeding, of course, is to actively
feed your altar energy. This process may be elaborate or simple,
depending on both your current level of practice, as well as what
most authentically befits who you truly are as a practitioner. The
basic “method” is to light the initial white viband candle and
visualize a column of pure white light streaming down from the
heavens, through the ceiling of your home, and encompassing the
area where you sit or stand, as if it is a spotlight and you are
standing at center stage. Understand that this light is a barrier of
protection as well as an infusion of sacrality (the state or quality
of being holy or sacred; the Old Norse term would be hlaut: “set
apart”). Feel this light enter your body, penetrating your mind,
your third eye, your heart, and your gut, and then making its way
down through the soles of your feet and into the floor. So long as
you are seated within this spotlight, nothing that you see may
harm you. Firmly implant that intention into the light itself and
then send it into the burning candle. This signals that you are
“entering” sacred space.
If lighting the specific-colored candles for the current phase of
the moon, you would then light these in the proper succession,
coming to focus on the one which symbolizes the current moon
phase. You are now going to draw down the moon, not in the
traditional Wiccan sense of those words, but in a very literal sense:
as with the white light visualization above, you are going to
visualize the moon in its appropriate phase and then pull that
energy down from the heavens, through the ceiling of your home,
and into the burning candle on your altar, so that the candle’s
flame essentially becomes the moon in microcosm. If you prefer to
keep things more simple, the same visualization and energetic
infusion may be done using your primary white viband candle
instead.
Of course, when we feed something or someone, whether
ourselves, an animal, or a friend or loved one, this implies that
something has been offered in the first place that they may
consume. The same is true in an altar feeding. Personally, I have
found that in times when I must be “quick and dirty” with an altar-
feeding, the easiest type of offering is a fire offering, via the
burning of incense: simply do the above energy exchange, burn a
bit of incense, and then walk away and leave the incense burning
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Turning the Wheel
(keep it checked, of course, and extinguish the candle as described
below before walking away!). Potential incense choices are as
follows, though certainly you may burn whatever feels most right
for your authentic personal practice:
• Waxing Moon
◦ Rose: good luck, protection, healing
◦ Jasmine: calming, healing, grace, kindness, prophecy,
divination, empowerment, protection
◦ Gardenia: peace, serenity, healing, comfort, protection
◦ Willow: healing, solace, divination, wish-fulfillment,
lunar magicks, love, protection
◦ Absinthe/Wormwood/Licorice: calming, healing,
clairvoyance, protection, divination, spirit-
communication
• Full Moon
◦ Rose: good luck, protection, healing, passion, respect,
love, psychic ability, dreamwork, divination
(specifically: red roses)
◦ Dragon’s Blood: healing, protection, sexuality,
sensuality, love, prosperity
◦ Cinnamon: passion, love, sex, sensuality, protection,
prosperity
◦ Frankincense: cleansing, sanctification, protection,
positivity, vitalized energy, meditation, visualization,
centering, connection to Spirit, divinity, royalty,
Sovereignty, life, birth
◦ Clove: love, sensuality, sexuality, passion, prosperity,
luck, loyalty, healing
• Waning Moon
◦ Sandalwood: protection, healing, devotion, calming,
meditation, purification, consecration, relaxation,
peace
◦ Chamomile: cleansing, purifying, relaxation, healing,
peace, prosperity, associated with Ullr (as a Horned
God), luck, protection, release, banishing
181
◦ Amber: healing, transformative energy, release,

opening, balance, purification, cleansing, healing,
protection, sexuality, sensuality, self-esteem,
Sovereignty, peace, clarity
◦ Lemongrass: clarity, focus, intelligence, psychic
awareness, vision-seeking, protection, cleansing,
purification, luck, sexuality, sensuality, release
◦ Sage: protection, cleansing, purification, consecration,
peace, release, healing, wisdom, strength, clarity, luck,
prosperity, lunar magicks, manifestation
◦ Apple: spirit-communication, The Dead, mediumship,
divination, prophecy, healing, love, trust, the Fae and
the Invisible Population, prosperity, illumination,
wisdom, faith, generosity, gratitude
◦ Ginger: prosperity, energy-raising, sexuality, healing,
passion, consecration, purification, release, protection,
vitality, energetic catalyst
• New Moon
◦ Lavender: mood-lifting, joy, happiness, optimism, self-
esteem, love, prosperity, fertility, calming, relaxation,
dreamwork, psychic skill, cleansing, purification,
protection, wisdom, intelligence (do not use around
cats or pregnant women!)
◦ Myrrh: healing, self-esteem, calming, meditation,
purification, cleansing, ritual preparation,
consecration, protection, The Dead, the Underworld,
mediumship, spirit-communication, tranquility,
serenity, peace, coping with loss or grief
◦ Patchouli: love, prosperity, passion, sexuality, spiritual
growth, fertility, relaxation, meditation, spiritual
grounding, purification, cleansing, release,
regeneration, restoration, protection
◦ Verbena/Vervain: healing, enhances action, protection,
much-needed assistance, purification, consecration,
release, love, abundance, prosperity, relaxation, stress
relief
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Turning the Wheel
◦ Cedar: protection, healing, purification, cleansing,

sanctification, consecration, divination, self-esteem,
virility, love, sexuality, spirit-communication,
mediumship, Fae and the Invisible Population,
Ancestors, The Dead, illumination, focus
Once the candle(s) has (have) been lit, with its accompanying
energy exchange, and the altar has been fed via both energy
exchange and a suitable offering, it is time to take a moment to
send your own energy into the space, via words of gratitude or
affection, or even entreaty if you are in need (which should also be
followed-up with gratitude/affection!). Most would refer to this
activity as prayer. Below you will find a few suggested prayers, in
order to give you a bit of a “jump-off point” for composing or
extemporizing your own. It is hoped that these will give you a
more clear idea of potential themes and lessons to explore in the
course of your altar feedings.
Waxing Moon
The moon is waxing

As am I:
I seek the solace of the night.
May I find compassion there;
Sweet blessings
From the Ancestors
And the Blessed Dead;
From the Huldufolk,
The Husvaettir,
And all of Hela's Children.
May they warm my hearth and my heart:
Hygge-craft-becoming-art.
In community,
May I find peace.
May I help, heal, and give,
As I am healed, helped, and provided for.
183
Full Moon
The moon is full

As am I:
I seek the power of the night.
May I find magick there;
Loyalty and peace
From the Vanir,
And the Fae;
From the Psychopomps
Who would lead me through the Otherworlds,
The Dyr-Andar,
And all those Beloved Dead Animals
Who have gone on before me.
May they teach me Heilag-vilja:
Holy Will to shape the things-to-come.
In community,
May I find my place of leadership.
Gift-for-gift
May I both give and be given.
Waning Moon
The moon is waning

As am I:
I seek the wisdom of the night.
May I find honesty and authenticity there;
Equity
From the Ancestors and the Alfar;
From the Landvaettir,
And the Wild Hunt.
May they teach me ethics
In both my words and deeds;
Integrity in all my actions.
At the foot of Yggdrasil,
May I learn the basics of my Craft,
That I might come to climb
The Winding Stair
To Alfheim-height.
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New Moon
The moon is new

As am I:
I seek the mystery of the night.
May I find courage there;
Wisdom and justice
From the Trolls and Jotnar;
All those members of the Invisible Population
Who are kind wights,
Yet hide in shadow.
May they help me find balance,
Both emotional and spiritual,
That I might enact the magick I have learned
For the good of all.
When you feel that your time is done, extinguish the candle(s),
sending its (their) bright energy out into the universe by blowing it
(them) out, saying: “I extinguish this (these) candle(s), and yet its
(their) light remains”. You may also wish to “greet the moon” by
saying “Gods bless the moon that's passed”, while extinguishing
the candles of previous moons and “Gods bless the moon that's
now”, while extinguishing the candle for the current moon.
185
Altar Creation
Michelle Iacona & Connla Freyjason
The basic altar “set-up” in Heidhr Craft is based on the
stratigraphic evidence of Iron Age archaeological sites, such as
Lilla Ullevi in Bro, outside Stockholm, Sweden. In archaeology,
artifacts are relatively dated by their vertical location in the matrix
—the ground out of which they have been excavated. Items which
are located in lower layers are automatically understood (with a
few exceptions) to be older than items located in higher layers. By
looking at this, archaeologists can determine very important
things about the development and evolution of a site, including
potential outside influencers (and when they might have happened
in the chronological scheme of things), such as the influx of other
cultures or even catastrophic geological or meteorological events
(such as storms, fires, earthquakes, and volcanic activity).
If you consider the average home altar, it likewise has its own
stratigraphy. When a person first begins down a spiritual path,
they will generally first attain those tools which are absolutely
necessary for that path. For example, in modern Wicca, the
“beginner altar” might have as its first “layer” a cup, an athame,
and perhaps a candle or three. As time moves forward, and the
person's practice and experience deepens, new layers will be added
to the altar, perhaps including a wand, representations of Deity,
etc.
In the Iron Age, the first “layer” of a ritual site was the
landscape itself. Most often, ritual sites were “erected” in areas
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Turning the Wheel
which were already considered to be sacred in one way or another
and for various reasons. The people of Iron Age Sweden were
highly animistic in their beliefs, just as the Saami continue to be in
the modern era. In terms of your home altar, this means that
(optimally) it will be located in a place which already holds a
certain sense of sacredness to you. If you can't think of such a
place right off the top of your head, you may wish to base your
altar's location on the Iron Age practice of orienting ritual sites,
cemeteries, and even settlements in a northeast-southwest
orientation, choosing to situate your altar on a north or
northeasterly facing wall.
This sense of a “sacred landscape” may also help you determine
your altar surface. For example, Michelle is an author and
publisher, who has been positively obsessed with books since she
was a toddler, so, naturally, her altar is a very large bookcase.
Meanwhile, as a reflection of the term stalli (which translates
literally as “stall”) in the extant literature, Connla has opted for a
smaller, stall-like bookshelf. Perhaps you are a kitchen witch,
associating tables or cupboards with the heart of your practice. In
this case, you might opt for a small table, kitchen-cart or island, or
even a china cabinet or corner of your pantry. The options are
endless, and should be uniquely tailored to your own authentic
practice.
At the time of the “erection” of an Iron Age ritual site, certain
steps would be taken to demarcate the site as such, including the
building of the viband: a ritual “fence” which at least partially
enclosed a site, marking it as hlaut (“set apart”; “sacred”). A
seidhrjallr might also be built, as well as ritual posts which served
other sacred functions, the harg (area where the sacrifices were
actually performed), and hearths for communal feasting and ritual
smithcraft. Before any of the posts were erected or any of the
stones were laid, however, offerings were made within the
postholes or pits. This is where your altar cloth, if you choose to
use one, comes into the picture. Your choice of altar cloth should
symbolize the over-all energy which you wish to bring into your
altar, inclusive of any Deities on Whom your practice will focus,
and/or members of the Invisible Population. For example,
Michelle chose a long white table-runner, crafted by her husband's
grandmother, as her altar cloth. It represents the energies of
Hel(a) as the White Lady (Hel, Ever-Kind), while also calling in
the energies of the Waxing Moon (Elska) and the Ancestral
energies of her husband's grandmother. As fulltrua of Hel, this is
the perfect choice for her. Meanwhile, everyone's favorite Kitchen
187
Witch, Suzanne Hersey, has as her altar cloth a burgundy and gold
brocade table-runner with an almost East-Indian aesthetic. Its
fiery tones very much represent the energies of her Fulltrui, Tyr, as
well as calling in the warm energies of the homey spices, such as
cinnamon and ginger, which she most often uses in her cooking
and hygge-craft. Without saying a single word, the altar cloth
infuses intent into the altar, in the same way as the offerings
initially laid in those Iron Age postholes. (Note: even though a
specific blessing or incantation is absolutely not necessary for the
installment of an altar cloth, the cloth should be cleansed before
installation. Where possible, blessed saltwater and smoke are both
encouraged. What “smoke-source” you use depends largely on the
energies with which you choose to infuse your altar. Please see the
list of incense correspondences in the previous chapter on the
Tidal Cycles as a guide.)
Yet what if you choose not to install an altar cloth at all? In this
case, the altar surface itself essentially “becomes the posthole”.
When he first began the maintenance of his altar, Connla did not
maintain anything even vaguely resembling an altar cloth, apart
from a small green mat which he placed beneath his candles, to
prevent slippage. He thus composed a short blessing for the stalli
itself, which originally appeared in his book Norse Witch:
Reclaiming the Heidhrinn Heart and was also included in his
book Blessings of Fire and Ice: A Norse Witch Devotional. A more
“Heidhr-Craft-oriented” adaptation of that original blessing
appears below.
(Top shelf or primary work surface should be wiped

down either with liquid from a blot to your patron,
or with blessed saltwater:)
In the names of the Gods,
And of the Ancestors,
And of the Invisible Population,
I call a blessing on this space,
That it be a place beyond places,
Standing in a time beyond time.
(Second shelf, secondary work surface, or base

should likewise be wiped down:)
I call a blessing on this space:
188
Turning the Wheel
Gift me Wisdom as I work here;

Honor and Justice;
Grant this space both Simplicity and Power.
(Left side should likewise be wiped down:)

Grant that my work here bear fruit;
Help me stand Between and see;
Bring peace to my heart when here I stand.
(Right side should likewise be wiped down:)

Help me work here with Humility;
Gift me with Compassionate Will;
Teach me the Strength of my own Duality,
As I work here in this place beyond places,
Standing in a time beyond time.
(The space should then be hallowed with smoke

using the Hallow Sign featured in the rituals
throughout this book. Again, you may use the
correspondences in the Tidal Cycles chapter as a
guide for which smoke-source to use.)
Over time, if you are using a multi-surface altar structure (such

as a bookcase), you may find that certain shelves become
consigned to specific types of work. This has certainly been the
case for Connla, whose primary work surface (the top of the stalli)
serves precisely that function, as sort of a “catch-all”, “general
purpose” area, whereas his second and third shelves have basically
become his Trolldomr altar. These two lower shelves now sport
altar cloths, according to their purposes. In the case of the second
shelf, said “altar cloth” is a pair of rabbit pelts, as befits his work
with the Lord of the Hunt, Ullr, with Whom Connla is also fulltrui
(in addition to Freyja, Who dominates the top shelf's primary
189
work surface). Meanwhile, the third shelf is draped with a small
cloth depicting a pentacle, goddess image, spiral, and the moon
phases, drawing in the energies of Angrbodha and Hel, with
Whom he also works in his Trolldomr practices. This is a great
example of how your altar set-up may change, over the course of
building a personal practice that is authentic to you.
In Heidhr Craft, the “structure” of the primary work surface
mirrors that of the Iron Age ritual site of Lilla Ullevi, with a
viband in the “east”, the primary harg (area for offerings) in the
“north”, the “hearth” (area for fire or burned offerings) in the
“south”, and ritual “well” (area for blot cup/hlaut-boll) in the
“west”. All of these cardinal directions are in quotation marks
because, depending on the orientation of your altar in your actual
home, they may be “virtual” rather than authentic. In other words,
you may be representing the directions of north, east, south, and
west, but those areas may not actually be physically oriented to
those directions, as in the diagram below:
If you maintain a vardhmadhr on your altar, it may be placed

either in the “north”, along with your God-image, or it may be
placed in the “east”, corresponding to the lesson of psychic
protection within the Cornerstone, Thora. As you've likely already
surmised, the Four Cornerstones may become a very handy guide,
when choosing where to place things on your altar as it continues
to grow and change through practice. For example: the “western”
portion of Michelle's altar also serves as her primary place to do
magickal workings, because of its association with Heilag-Vilja
(Holy Will), while the “eastern” area, near the viband, is used for
workings which involve making contact and building relationship
190
Turning the Wheel
with the Helhest and other specific denizens of the Invisible
Population (such as the Fae).
Connla's stalli: view of all three shelves.
Connla's primary work surface (top shelf)
191
Connla's primary Trolldomr altar (second shelf)
Connla's secondary Trolldomr altar (third shelf)
192
Turning the Wheel
Michelle's Altar
The placement of your primary God image(s) at the “top center”

of your altar designates that area as “north”. We may then begin to
build the viband in the “east” (to the right of the central altar
image). While it would be wonderful if your initial “altar
installation” occurs at the Waxing Moon, this is not absolutely
necessary. Regardless of the current phase, the white Waxing
Moon candle should be placed first. As stated previously, the
purpose of the viband is to seal the sacredness of your altar; to
make it hlaut (“set apart”; “sacred”). We know that this was the
purpose of the original vibands of the Iron Age and prior, courtesy
of the oldest written law code in Scandinavia, which is written in
runes on the Forsa Ring, excavated in Sweden. This law code
states the penalties, if someone should breach the sacrality of the
viband or the area designated as within it: obviously, that sacred
nature was taken very seriously! With an equal measure of
sincerity, we will now light the first candle of our altar's viband,
visualizing a column of pure white light streaming down from the
heavens, through the ceiling of your home, and encompassing the
area of your altar, as if it is a spotlight and you and your altar are
standing at center stage. Understand that this light is a barrier of
protection. Feel it enter your body, penetrating your mind, your
third eye, your heart, and your gut, and then making its way down
through the soles of your feet and into the floor. So long as you
and your altar are standing within this spotlight, nothing that you
see or experience may harm you. Firmly implant that intention
193
into the light itself. Open your eyes, and “push” that energy
directly into the white candle of your viband, with the
understanding that each and every time it is lit, it will reinstill this
protective energy into the space around it. We may now use the
following invocation (or a personal derivation, based upon it) to
bless the space, making it hlaut, likewise with the understanding
that each time this candle is lit, it will reinstill this sacrality:
Harg of home with viband beside,

I bless this space and invite all kind wights:
To this place beyond Places,
Standing in time outside Time.
May our work together bring
Peace and good seasons in all things.
You may then place the remainder of the candles in the viband,
as well as all other blessed objects which you require for your
practice. As you work through the Tidal Cycles, conducting the
altar-feedings described therein, your altar will become
“seasoned”: a living, breathing, growing “entity”, which will
hopefully serve as the heart of your practice for years to come.
194

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About The Authors

Connla Freyjason prefers to think outside the

Michelle Iacona is an author, ordained

Author Photos: S. Hersey

SPECIAL PDF EBOOK EDITION

Portions of this volume also appear in the following titles

Norse Witch by Connla Freyjason

Heidhr Craft by Connla Freyjason

The Wheel of the Year 7

Blessing of Ritual Tools 43

The Blot of Smiths 47

Dedication of a Ritual Tool 53

The Alf Wheel 55

The Feast of Hel as Holda 150

High Yule 161

The Tidal Cycle 177

Altar Creation 186

I would like to extend my most humble gratitude to all those

This entire ebook series is an acknowledgment of all those

A brand kindles a brand, until it burns with flames,

The Four Cornerstones

Vita, for you would seek the wisdom of

Hjarta turned, facing the East, and

Thora, for you would dare to do the work, based

Hjarta turned again, facing the South, staff

Elska, for now that you know and dare,

Finally, he faced the West, and Hundr did

Vilja, for now that we know and dare and

Hjarta lowered his staff, closed his eyes,

Vita, Thora, Elska, Vilja:

And I am the cattle;

“Enda er, ok enda skal vera,” Hundr whispered,

In Heidhr Craft, the Wheel of the Year is understood as a map:

Originally, these Cornerstones were given to me as Vita, Thora,

• Vita: To Know: The Road North

• Thora: To Dare: The Road East

▪ Emotional and Spiritual Balance

• Elska: To Love: The Road South

• Vilja: To Will: The Road West

Our journey around the Wheel of the Year helps us to remain

“[Wyrd] governs the working out of the past

• Gidagiesse & Giesse

I discovered these eight Saami seasons three years after

The Alf Wheel

◦ Hel, as Holda/Hulda/Perchta; Consort of Ullr

The Troll Wheel

Either map provides us with a great overview, but when it

We “measure a month” in Heidhr Craft in the same manner as

Bauschatz, Paul C., The Well and The Tree: World

Arwidsson, Greta. Valsgarde 6. Die Gräberfunde

Arwidsson, Greta. “Valsgarde—Fullero”. Tor 1,

Arwidsson, Greta. Valsgarde 8. Die Gräberfunde

Arwidsson, Greta. Valsgarde 7. Die Gräberfunde

Brink, Stefan. “Social Order in the Early

Broadbent, Noel D. Lapps and Labyrinths: Saami

Freyjason, Connla. Norse Witch: Reclaiming the

Freyjason, Connla. Blessings of Fire and Ice: A

Freyjason, Connla. Heidhr Craft. Iaconagraphy

Graslund, Anne-Sofie. “Some Powerful Women at

Henriksson, Goran. “The Pagan Great Midwinter

Jonsson, Ella. “The Eight Seasons”. Stories from

Ljungkvist, John. “Gamla Uppsala and Valsgarde:

Mundal, E. “Coexistence of Saami and Norse