Sigr / Sigerblót - 19th to 26th March

By this time of 19th to 26th of March ( the spring Equinox )there is a celebration called Sigr or Sigerblót or simply Ostara, it is known as the "Victory-Blessing".

When the winter weather passed away and nature's rebirth brings back the natural beauty of the world, we all are aware of it, we can see it in the blossoming of beautiful flowers, the birds singing and all other kind of animals coming back to live and see the day light. Just like the birds that have made their shelter during the winter times, preparing their homes for the coming of spring and to mate, all other animals including ourselfs have this feeling, not just to mate of course, but to welcome the powers of the warm sun, and the soft north brise that whispers gentel words that soothes the heart.

In the Northern Tradition paganism, we ritualize all those feelings and happenings of nature with the festival called Ostara, and as i have told before, it is a celebration to the rebirth of nature and of the world, in other terms, it is the coming of life again.
As i have told in an other post, this is the season to celebrate Easter. The name Easter comes from the germanic goddess Eostre who i have talked about in an other post.

So getting back to the subject, at this time of the year, the is also an other celebrations, which isn't known as much as Ostara it self is.

In the past there was a celebration to the god Odin called Sigrblót/Sigerblot, Sigr means "Victory". This of course, was a celebration to call for Victory in a time of raiding, long journeys, in war, in one's endeavours. This seems a bit contradictory, how can it be the time for nature's rebirth, and also of war and battle? These are two subjects that can be linked both in our lifes and in the natural world, there is always a constant rebirth of the spirit, there is always a battle also, always problems we have to face during our life time that make us grow, there are times we fall into deep sorrow and there is a rebirth when victory is conquered, when victory and glory is earned. We all need the courage to face these problems.

Sigr (victory) is a spiritual quality and, in the northern tradition paganism, people are happy and they accept the natural world as it is, we are happy with it, we say yes to it and to nature, we look all around with the eyes of joy and caring, there is a beauty in the human expirience, we are satisfied with it, unlike others, we do not seek to leave our lifes after death, in other places, nor do we have the problem of salvation or reincarnation in something else, we like it in here in the natural world.

As we are World accepting people, also do we accpet joy, we accept life, and one think that makes life even better, is to have victory, to succeed, it is good to have that in our lifes. it is good to win, it is good to attain everything we with to attain in our lifes, for our personal joy and to others, in anything, at work, social life, studying, love life etc, and this is the true essence of Sigrblót.

Sigr affirms what we are as a single individual, ir affirms our existence, it validates our lifes and our experiences.

What is the source of this victory? How does it come to us?

Over and over again, we see that Sigr / Victory, is connected to the god Odin, we can see that in one of his names, Sigfater, or Father of Victory, this is also connected to the rune tiwaz ( which you can take a look in my blog in the label called Runes ), and this rune is connected to the god Tyr. Tyr is seen as a god of war and of justice, also a god of "assemble" or "gather" in terms of assembling the people to confront and to discuss and resolve their disputes. This kind of victory, is also the victory of the mind, the power and might of the spirit, with a strong mind and will, we are able to confront in a better way, all our problems, to face them and to win.

Sigr is a useful tool to aid in our personal evolution, it can help us to grow, and the more victorys we have, the more we can savour life and enjoy it even more, the victory of the spirit, that comforts us, and so we become more attached to life. There isn't a refusal to enjoy to win, to have victory, there is no withholding of good emotions, that is why we honour victory and that is why we celebrate it, there can't be a denial of our personal growth, our evolution as a human being, sigr works with the spring time, it is linked to it, because it is an affimation of life and joy, it is a rebirth of ourselfs.