Working with the gods: Andvari

As you all may know, the Duergar are the race of beings from Svartalfheim, but people know them better today as Dwarves. There is one particular spirit of the Duergar called Andvari, which i want to refer here as an important being. He is a great crafter and Smith so his teachings go directly with craft and money and also the worth of things. Blacksmithing has always been a profession with great value throughout human history, the forging of weapons, armour, tools, and all the things we need by working with fire and metals, so Andvari is the right spirit to work with if you love the art of making something, crafting it, the sound of the flames and the hammer beating the hot metal in the anvil.

There isn't much lore about Andvari, only the stories with Loki and how he stole Andvari's hoard and a cursed ring, or about Andvari being different from other Duergar, a dwarf very fond of humans, also being a traveller, wandering to and fro between realms. But he has many valuable lessons to teach, especially nowadays. We live in a world where most things lost their worth, our societies are filled with wastefulness, we consume everything we can get our hands on, and things seem to be granted, objects you get so easily today, we dont give them the proper worth, things that in ancient times were so valuable, we were careful not to ruin or break those things, even today there are lots of people in need of so many tools for their daily needs but they dont have the chance to get them and most of the times is because of money, and because we take everything for granted, and we lack of consciousness and we are so ignorant when it comes to the worth of things, we spent money in objects we don't really need, in a world of overconsumption. These are the things Andvari teaches us, and we in turn must teach our children, the worth of money, mindful consumption, the importance of things and how we benefit from them, the making of things and crafting them, the value we must give because some one had the work and the trouble to make them, and we must preserve these things, for exemple the tools to help farmers in their hard works, which in turn without those tools they wouldn't have food for themselves, their families and to the people they sell those products, and also those who buy the vegetables and fruits, must have conscious in where to spend their money, in what kind of things, would they rather spend the money in a television than in food for their survival? This is a very trivial exemple, just to make sure you follow the logic of Andvari's teachings. Having an appropriate resource management. never wasting food and other resources, always keeping in mind the worth of things and your money, buying and exchanging what you really need, balancing things, exchanging a pack of cigarettes for fruit, applying your money in the education of your children instead of buying a very expensive boat and so on...

We are all consumers, but most of the time we forget to give the proper value and worth, and we end up spending money on things that we do not really need.

Nott - goddess of the night

Nott is the goddess of the night in the Northern and Germanic pantheon, she is Mani's herald and she rides a black horse called Hrimfaxi. She is the granddaughter of Bergelmir whose son is Norfi, the famous giant who designed Asgard, Thrymheim and the halls of Utgard-Loki. Her first husband was a Jotun called Nagifari and together they had a son called Aud. Her second husband was Annar, a water-giant, and they had a daughter called Jord the mother of Thor. Her third husband is Delling, a red Alfar and their son is Daeg, the god of Day. Nott is a very old giantess, one of the oldest as a matter of fact. There are rumors that she had an affair with the old Vanir god Frodi, and with that union they had Njord, the god of sailors and seas. As her story is told and the many children she had, we can see she is not a maternal goddess, leaving her children to be raised by the fathers. But she is a very wise goddess and can be called by those who are in the dark, seaching for answers.

Daeg - god of day

Daeg is a sky-etin who travels across the sky with his horse Skinfaxi. Daeg is the bringer of days, he is the son of Nott and of Delling and Alfar lord. Actually Daeg is one of the few Jotun-Alfar hybrids that people know of, so he is tall as a giant and beautiful as an elf. However he has no wife, but many were those who succumb to his beauty, from many races, Jotnar, Aesir, Vanir and Alfar. As he is always so busy, he takes lovers instead of taking any wife, but his true love some say, is Sunna.

Sinthgunt

Little is known about Sinthgunt, the surviving lore about the northern gods and goddesses tells us too few about this goddess, sister to Mani and Sunna. Somewhere around the 9th or 10th century, she is refered as a healer or with healing powers. But she is seen more like her father, Mundilfari, possessing magical powers, her field of work is the cosmos, her greatness and the power she wields is terrifying. She is like the chaos forces of the universe, but there is always a balance between chaos and order.

Ardent Passion

Ardent Passion
This my mind can not say
The feeling grows upon my chest
My heart longs for, each passing day
The morning breeze onto her breast

Overwhelmed by this emotion
I felt withered and weak
I gave myself in devotion
I would tell, could i speak

My very soul is dry
Yet i swim in this river
Under the starry sky
Loneliness gave me a shiver

A glimpse of her face
the smell of her hair
this love i would embrace
i was struck by her glare

In hope i dare not trust
but i desire her, in my arms
Shrouded in red flaming lust
i can't resist to her charms

She finally came to me
i was bursting with passion
Under the shade of a tree
we couldn't contain this attraction

Our love seems like fantasy
powerful, magical and faithful
Permanent to all eternity
blissful, natural and graceful


Arith Härger

Cσρуяιgнт © 2013™


I wrote this to my loved one for the Valentine's Day :D

Working with the gods: Mani

Mani is the Moon god of the northern pantheon, he is brother to Sunna, the goddess of the Sun.
Mani has more affection to the humans of midgard than his sister, he often wanders making contact with the mortals, watching over them and giving protection. There are many tales of him, recruiting people and taking them to Asgard, especially children, when these are being abused or mistreated, this is one of the reasons which lead people to pray to him in order to ask protection of a specific child or a group of children. Speaking of children, Mani never travels alone, he has with him two companions called Bil and Hjuki, they are brother and sister and one day Mani saw how these children were mistreated by their cruel father and so Mani took them away and brought them to Asgard and till now, they are always with him in his journeys, helping in what they can. He is also the god of mathematics and other rational thoughts that require counting and numbers. He is also a god of reflection, showing us that we all need to pause sometimes to reflect upon our thoughts, measuring and pondering our deeds or what must be done in certain occasions.

As i have told you, one of his gifts, is giving protection to children and also to the mentally ill people, he also blesses those who travel by night and gives good dreams and good sleep. It seems he likes music in a different way, he has a different precession of music, more delicate, so whenever you see him, if he is willing to work with you for some reason, you better know how to play some musical instrument.

King Frost Day - Curiosity

King Frost Day was celebrated in England, to be more accurate, in London at the 4th of February. The people of London along the River Thames used to celebrate this event between the 15th century to the early years of the 19th century. The temperatures were lower than they are now and the river was much wider, so during this period the river was completely frozen for two months, people would easily walk from one side of the river to the other. This was a day of fun and merriment, all kinds of games where made on top of the frozen River Thames, sliding with skeetes, races with horses or on foot, singing, making all kinds of snow sculptures, people would even cook and mount fairs in the place, well.. you can imagine all kinds of funny things you can make on top of frozen water. People called this day, King frost day in honor to the shadowy sovereign of winter, and this has a much older tradition associated with the trickster spirit of winter who can be a friendly and a fierce enemy at the same time, symbolizing both the beauty of winter and its harsh deadly coldness, a figure often called Jack Forst, a very familiar character portrayed as friendly, but he can also be wrathful when he dislikes something, he can even kill. This figure has its roots in the deep Anglo-Saxon traditions and also the Viking Traditions, telling us about a god called Jokul Frosti or Icicle Frost, commonly known as Old Man Winter in European Paganism, the historical ancesor of Father Christmas or Santa Claus.

Just a tiny curiosity for this day, something most people forgot in time. Another evidencia which shows us that most of our festivities which became so common in our lifes, came from much older pagan traditions.