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Walpurgisnacht Blot

 

Hallowing

Godi holds the ceremonial hammer and opens the circle with the traditional blessing:

 

In the Elhaz position standing facing North the Godi speaks:

Hammer to the North, hold and hallow this holy stead.

 

Godi faces East and speaks:

Hammer to the East, hold and hallow this holy stead.

 

Godi faces South and speaks:

Hammer to the South, hold and hallow this holy stead.

 

Godi faces West and speaks:

Hammer to the West, hold and hallow this holy stead.

 

Godi return to the North position and speaks:

In the name of Thor we call to the ancient Gods and Goddesses – all.  May this Hammer, symbol of Mjolnir and symbol of Thor, reaffirm the abundant strength and power of our Gods and of our people.  I consecrate this place of community and frith, banishing from it all impure influences.  May our minds in this consecrated place likewise be sanctified, as is our will to the just services of Odin, ancient god of our people.  As Heimdall guards the Bifrost, may this place be warded against all forces unharmonious to our purpose here this day.   Wights of the land, wherever we may be, give us your blessing this Walpurgisnacht.

Blessing of Odin

The Godi dips evergreen sprig into the horn of mead and sprinkles each individual in the circle in a clockwise progression saying:

 

I give you the blessings of Odin.

 

Raising the horn, the Godi speaks:

 

O Great Odin,

Sky-cloaked Wanderer

From the far ancient lands of our people

Chief of the Shining Ones,

Protectorate of our lands, our people and our families,

We call to thee to be with us here in this sacred circle.

We call to thee across all of time

And all the worlds of the Gods.

Thy people are still here, O Wise One,

Come to us again

And let us drink of thy cauldron of life and of inspiration,

That we may prosper once again.

Come to us now,

And be with us here,

Odin – Allfather!

Wise and mighty in the realm of the Gods!

Hail Odin!

 

All respond:

 

Hail Odin!

Godi passes the horn sunwise around the circle, for each celebrant in turn to sip of the holy mead.

Sacred Fire

The Godi lights candles.  The Godi speaks:

 

Gods of the Aesir and Vanir, we greet you.

We seek your working in all creation,

In the vibrant green growth,

In the wild woods

And the crop filled fields.

In all growing things –

We hear you in the wind

And the roaring thunder,

The laughter of the stream,

And the fall of the rain –

In all elements we see you and hear you.

In all, your presence is known to us,

By your guidance may we be prosperous,

Healthy and strong.

 

First Reading

 

Attendant reads:

 

Walpurgisnacht is the night which we celebrate the ancient Goddess Walburga.  It is the Night of the Wild Hunt.  It is on this night that the witches associated with the cult of Freyr dance in the brocken.   The mysteries of death predominate when we think of the heroic dead.  They are like layers of the past, their powerful lives continuing to shape the present through the acts, reputation and physical offspring they engendered while they were alive.  Just as past events manifest among us, being constantly reborn, so the mound buried dead will eventually be reborn into their clan, to be with us once more.  Seeds under the ground, actions that have not yet borne fruit, and souls waiting between incarnations, all deal with the essential idea of Walburga.

Anointing

 

The Godi anoints each celebrant with scented oil, pressing his thumb to the forehead of each celebrant, walking sunwise around the circle and pronounces with each anointing:

 

May the blessings of Freya be with you.

 

Attendant sounds slow cadence on sejdr drum.  Godi speaks:

 

Phantoms with shifting shapes

Thunder down to ground themselves,

Like fallen Valkyries

Toward a glowering light beyond the trees –

Walpurgisnacht!

If only Freya would ride with me tonight

To hear again the thunder-like roar

Which issues froth from clouds of nameless shadows

And forgotten bones…

Walpurgisnacht!

Would she still recall that special challenge

Offset by a full moon rising

To the bark of the North Wind

Or an amber sunset?

Walpurgisnacht!

And would she, then, stand patiently by

While each spectre waited like a great bird of prey

To swoop upon us, unbidden,

As we rode to clash like armies

Amongst the dirt and leaves of a darkening road

Into that radiant light of May?

Walpurgisnacht!

The wind is wandering wild,

Through this night’s open ways.

 

Drum stops.

Godi speaks:

 

On Walpurgisnacht we commemorate the death of Balder, son of Allfather Odin and Mother Goddess Frigga.  Balder, beloved by every living creature – all animals, birds, trees, plants, mountains, lakes and rivers – sing thy praise today, as they cried bitterly upon the news of thy death.

 

Through Balder we are connected with all beings of this world and beyond, with those now living, those who came before us and those of our clan yet unborn.

 

Oh Balder, bright light of eternal justice and strength, your death informs us that injustice and oppression is part of the realities of this world.  Your death shows us that the united will of every being on this living earth can be oppressed by the greedy acts of a minority.  But your death, also, teaches us that injustice will not rule forever.  As the forces of Walpurgisnacht meet the sun’s rays of the new dawn, we feel the dynamic power inherent in us all build up towards the final victory of life.

Feel the freshness and vitality of Spring!

Breathe in the regenerated cosmic energy,

The essence of Balder,

Feel the growing warmth of Balder.

Breathe in the air of Spring with its promise of change.

Second Reading

 

Attendant speaks:

 

May Day.

The word May itself sings of life, the results of gestation and deeds brought to fruition.  It is a day to celebrate the visible world around us, and especially the life that animates it.  Grim Holda has overseen death and germination, now glorious Freya reigns over nature and souls reborn – a day of rebirth!

 

Linked with the central cult of the sun and growth is the Maypole.  This has a history long indeed, almost as far back as carole dancing itself.  In warmer times and areas when a fire was not acceptable as a dance center, the erection of a pole in lieu of a natural and more awkward tree enabled a special dance to develop at sites considered sacred, for instance, above the fertility-inducing Long Man of Cerne.  The Maypole originally represented the cosmic axis and the phallic power of the sky god.  The pole itself represents the phallus and the streaming ribbons woven around the pole, its fertile seed confirming the inter-connectedness of all life.

 

May Day is the day to draw focus to the generative energy of our lives – the pole symbolizing cosmic order upholding the very laws of the universe.  The Maypole represents Odin in the virile guise of the Green Man, who personifies plant life as well as the powerful symbol of fertility.  It is the embodiment of vegetation and the regenerative seed.  The Maypole is positioned phallus like into the earth womb, the seed is given life, so that all forms of life may continue to flourish.  The old European custom of burning a tree in the May bonfire hints at the sacrificial death of the God.  In districts of Scandinavia, the May fires are still called balefires.

 

Attendant recites:

 

All in this pleasant evening, together – comers we,

For the summer springs so fresh, green and gay,

We’ll tell you of a blossom and buds on every tree,

Drawing near to the merry month of May.

Rise up, the master of his house, put on your chain of gold,

For the summer springs so fresh, green and gay;

We hope you’re not offended,

With you house we make so bold,

Drawing near to the merry month of May.

 

Rise up, the mistress of the house,

With gold along your breast,

For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay;

And if your body be asleep, we hope your soul’s at rest,

Drawing near to the merry month of May.

So now we’re going to leave you, in pace and plenty here,

For the summer springs so fresh, green and gay,

We shall not sing you May again, until another year,

For to draw you these cold winters away.

 

Drum beats rhythm (boom-tah-dah-boom) three times.

Godi raises sword and speaks:

 

I give honor to the lands of my Gods,

Ancient and good –

And the power that is within them.

(boom-tah-dah-boom)

 

I give honor to the winds of my Gods,

Ever fresh and new –

And the power that is within them.

(boom-tah-dah-boom)

I give honor to the warm sun of my Gods,

Ever giving of new life –

And the power that is within them.

(boom-tah-dah-boom)

 

I give honor to the seas and lakes

And rivers of my Gods –

And the power that is within them.

(boom-tah-dah-boom)

 

O Great Ones of high Valhalla,

I give honor to thee –

For being with us here on Midgard.

(boom-tah-dah-boom)

 

May some of thy sacred spirits remain within us

As we leave…

And be ever near us,

As well as with those who we call our people

To thee do we hail.

 

Drum roll…

Stop drum.

 

Godi makes sign of the hammer with sword and speaks:

 

Let flame be quickened by flame,

That through the darkness we may come to the light,

And may the holy flame of our faith

Which ever burns,

Grow again,

To bathe Midgard in its sacred radiance.

Hail Odin!

 

All respond:

 

Hail Odin!

 

Godi passes around packets of seeds and speaks:

 

Freya is the female counterpart to Frey and his sister.  She is a goddess of fertility, like her father and brother.  She is, also, a death goddess, and half of the souls of warriors who are slain in battle are carried to her estate Folkvang in Asgard.  Here, too, go the women of Asatru whither they are lodged in her Castle of Sessrumnir.

Freya flies through the air with the feathered wings of a falcon, or as a Valkyrie.  Most of the stories of Freya relate to the efforts of the Giants to carry her off.  She is a goddess of fecundity, regeneration, sex and love.  Her cult lasted into the Middle Ages in remote areas of the North.

 

Cauldron is passed sunwise around the circle.  Celebrants pour their seeds into the cauldron, each saying:

 

Hail Freya!

 

Godi speaks:

We all hold hands.

 

Ancient Goddess of the Vanir,

Magical Freya,

Valkyrie,

Rifer of the Wind,

Use the power of generation

That we have invested in this cauldron.

May no danger threaten

And no harm be done

Through this vehicle of birth and re-birth.

 

Strong winds and high clouds,

Soft breezes and raging storms,

Harken well

To what is said here,

And cast these seeds to fertile fortune.

Light now the flame of nature’s wisdom

In life and triumph

Of thine ancient ways

 

Lady Freya,

Goddess of Desire,

Stir the winds of Midgard,

Sow the seeds we cast,

In thy protection

And thy knowing

On this Walpurgisnacht.

 

Godi pours the seeds of the cauldron on the ground.

 

 

Closing

 

Godi places the cauldron on the altar and rings bell three times in five second intervals.

 

Godi speaks:

 

Spirits of Asgard we thank you for your presence here in this circle.  We ask for your blessing and while you depart to your noble realm, we bid you hail and fair well.  I hereby release any Spirits that may have been imprisoned by this ceremony.  Depart now in peace to your abodes and habitations. The blót is now ended, let the sumbel begin.

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