Friday night at Sirius Rising, I ran a seidhr for a small number of us.  Throughout the week, many things were weighing on our minds.  We were all still processing the Troth kicking Diana Paxson out over things that happened many decades ago and a more recent series of events nearly a decade ago.  We also were processing the question of "Why can't we worship the 'others'?" which are examplified by Loki's children.  The American Heathens just got to the point that hailing Loki is allowed in most of the inclusive community, but even mentioning his children, or that you may work with or make offerings to any of them, and you're an outsider, shunned, and how we were with Loki 10 years ago.

Now let me be clear in that I'm not saying that the community as a whole should worship or make offerings to these beings.  They are part of the lore, and they are part of the story.  Yes, they are destructive, especially at Ragnarok, but they have their function to bring about the next age of man too.  They are worthy of getting to know, and if possible, learn from, if one was so inclined, but it's obviously not for everyone.  What I am talking about is personal practice, not group practice, and the allowance of that personal practice to exist without being shunned, denied entry to or made to feel unwanted at the group rituals.  The Lokians lived through that until the very recent past.  Those that do any kind of work with the "others" are still living through that.

So, what has come from all these discussions is approval for a god pole like shrine/altar for the "others" on the edges of the Brushwood Runestead.  It will be something that's unobtrusive, not obvious, but a site that will be present for those that know of it and can be a place to focus those offerings.  We decided that the seidhr work we would do would be a two part one.  First part was a magical working to bring this about and sanctify the space where this will be.  The second part would be a more traditional oracular seidhr.  I'm not going to really go into the oracualr part as that's something that's just a common thing within the Heathen communities by this point.  The magical working though, since I'm more of a chaos magician, I want to get down in words so that we have an idea of what happened.  As a disclaimer, this ritual was not run by or for any specific organization, but done by individuals of similar minds.

We started the seidhr with holding hands to separate us from the outside, and then made the typical offerings to the 4 dwarves (hammer rite lite) and the land spirits followed by offerings to the Ancestors, Freyja, and Odin.  I then asked once more if we all agreed to this work, took the seat, and went into the trance using the normal poem.  When I was waiting for the poem to end, I found Ratatoskr and asked him to spread far what we were intending to do.  Then when the poem was done, I announced I was ready.  The Summoning Song was sung and I went to work.

To each being I sought out, I explained what we were doing.  We were trying to make the practice of making offerings and recognizing them a more accepted practice and not for those that do that work to be treated poorly, shunned, forced to hide it, pushed to the outside, etc.  And as a public face of that to sanctify a space in the Runestead dedicated to them.

First I sought out Fenris, and I found him on his island, pacing.  We had someone that worked with him with us all week, so he knew it was coming and was willing to add his help.  Next I went out to sea and found Jörmungandr and he too was willing to help and add in his energy.  Then it was off to find Angrboða.  I didn't really have to search for her, I was just drawn in and got enthusiastic consent.  Then it was off to the Giants.  First I went into the cold and found Utgard-Loki.  What a treat to meet him and explain what we were doing.  He added his magic to what we were doing, and I felt that.  I believe that is when people in the ritual started to feel the magic rising and some started to have difficulty singing.  Then it was down to Muspell to find Surt.  I found him without burning up, and he too added in his energy in, raising his sword in salute back.  

At this point, having gathered the blessings of those I sought out, I went back to Yggdrasil and started directing the energy.  I reached out to the area we planned for the shrine, and directed it to there.  I pulled the energy offered by the ritual participants and directed it there.  I weaved it all with the intention of what we were doing.  As I was doing that I got the message back, Gebo.  Gifts and partnership.  I galdred it in the trance world to close the magic off and then announced that this was done through Gebo, and that this is a partnership, a gift for a gift, and they are pleased.

We then went into the oracular portion and most everyone asked a question and got an answer.  I'm guessing it was about 30-45 min total in the chair, and I was riding high at the end.  Everyone was thanked and the space opened up again per usual practice.  We then debriefed around the fire, and discussed what did and didn't work.  We liked the holding of hands to set us apart from mudania.  We also found that there was a misunderstanding/miscommunication on the magical working.  It was supposed to be during the singing of the summoning song, but alas, people didn't realize that it was happening then.   A suggestion around that was to speak what I was doing while I was doing it. This would have added chaos around the song, but it would also have enhanced it in some ways.  I was speaking what I was doing, but it was not a loud speaking, more of a whisper.  These suggestions will be taken to heart.

In the end, I believe what we did is going to be something good.  I think it will bring about some change, and I know it will take time.  It has made me rethink some of my practice, and I will be expanding what I do.  I may very well be labeled a heretic as this goes against what the mainstream US Heathens are doing.  I'm fine with that.  When I was in ADF, I was one of the first, if not the first, to publicly treat the Outsiders/Outdwellers with respect and form a bargain with them for ritual, much less invite them into our ritual space once a year to celebrate them.  I have worked with Ratatoskr as a gatekeeper with in their ritual structure.  I have done a lot of this work before, working against the grain of the established practice.  Why would that change now?