For too long, I feel like I’ve been stumbling around in the dark … hobbling pieces of this and that together in a fashion that doesn’t even full make sense to me.
It always leaves me questioning …. Who is the Great Spirit? … Who is Father Sky?
What is this god’s relations to this goddess? … Who is the god or goddess of the moon? What about the sun?
Then throw in the fact that ways to pray with a prayer and sacred Pipe were shared with me a few decades ago … serving as the foundation of how I pray and conduct ceremony.
THEN … There is Nordlys … The spirit of the sacred Pipe I carry.
So after all this time, I’ve decided to FINALLY define my practice.
I’m going to give it shape and definition (as much as is possible considering we’re dealing with things that are often beyond our comprehension) … and figure out the way I go about things spiritually AND how the Pipe wishes it to be done.
This path WILL be a blend of Albion (Gaelic/Pict), Norse and indigenous / animist with a North Sea / European perspective.
Or maybe I should say the perspective of those descended from such and of whom are now leaving in North American where the First Peoples of this land have had their fingers on the pulse of this land for eons.
Now, I can already hear voices out there screaming that one cannot blend the spirits and gods of one pantheon with those of another … or those of a different location.
Ok, let’s look at this logically.
Many of the Gaelic gods are of the Tuatha Dé Danann which made their first appearance in Ireland …
When the Fir Bolg ruled Ireland their King, Eochaid mac Eirc, had a dream foretelling him about the arrival of a group of ships. Led by King Nuada a fleet of 300 ships of the Tuatha Dé Danann arrived in Ireland
Your Irish Culture
They eventually made their way across to Wales / Scotland and the rest of Great Britian.
Now slip across the North Sea towards the east where you have Odin and the rest of the Norse gods.
Viking raiders and settlers invaded / settled various points in the British Isles meaning THEY were not just exposed to the Gaelic (and Celtic) gods, but likewise brought they belief in the Norse pantheon with them.
Fast forward to the new world (North America) where English (and other European countries) settled … that’s how my ancestors arrived in this land which leads to my family and me.
Now, North America was already home to many native tribes who had been here for eons … with their own spirits, their own beliefs and their own way of doing things.
And I was lucky enough to have tribal elders who were nice enough to share some of that wisdom with me. … at least enough that it gave me a foundation and set my feet on the path.
The tribes that were already here? …. Their culture is their culture.
Now, my ancestors also had ties to the natural world … but those ties have been in some cases all but erased and in other cases washed over by Christianity that sought to erase all of them (From North America to those that were Gaelic, Norse and all the others.
If you look back above, you will see where these pantheons have already been exposed to one another and through time and humans being humans … they’ve already at times blended.
Yet there are definite differences just as there are definite similarities.
This is NOT to say that one can necessarily be planted on top of the other.
Of the Norse, what is known about this pantheon is more detailed than many of the others.
Of the Gaelic, we know bits and pieces just as we know those who worship these gods (as is the case with those who worship the Norse) have felt their presence and had moments … and encounters with them enough to believe they exist.
However, the Gaelic seems more pieced together than the Norse.
Now, I’ve had encounters personally with some of the Norse deities AND some of the Gaelic … just as I have with animal spirits, so I believe in all three.
I’m choosing to see it this way.
For decades, I’ve believed in the vastness of creation … that the Norse gods exist … the Gaelic … the Roman … the Greek … all have room to exist without stepping on the toes of the followers of the others.
So for me, I see the Norse pantheon existing just as I see the Tuatha Dé Danann and other Gaelic gods existing.
How do I explain this? …. I except there are things I’m not meant to understand, however, in this case … I see the Tuatha Dé Danann as being simply another tribe … not unlike how in Norse mythology you have the Aesir and the Vanir.
I choose to believe there are more than the nine realms known by the Norse people.
And with both believing in a central World Tree that existence revolves around … the additional unknown realms are offshoots of the great tree just as are the original nine known realms.
That’s an example … a lot still to work out, but I feel in my heart and soul this will work.
It will mix, yes … but also maintain their original stories and separate histories … but blend just as our blood and dna has mixed and blended over the years.
And then mix in the fact that we exist in a different land where the spirits of THIS land have known before colonization only the ways of the First Peoples of this land.
So that’s the foundation.
I’ll share as it develops.