One good practice when not knowing how to approach a god or goddess is to simply… write them a note. The fine folks at HeimdallR’s Home put this notion forward and explained that it is very simple to do.

Take a sheet of paper and a pen/pencil and write a letter to the deity you have an interest in. It may seem silly, or childlike, but if you are not familiar with approaching Brigid or any other deity for that matter, just write a note to them.

It can be as simple as “Hey (insert name), I don’t really know you but you are the god/goddess of my ancestors and I would really like to get to know you…”

The letter can be kept and filed away so you can look back on your journey with the gods, or you can burn it, knowing that they already know what your intentions for the letter were.

This is good practice for bringing the gods into your life and getting to know them better. After all, they are our extended family and what better way to begin the year with getting to know your kin.

One does not need to have a flashy ceremony, sacrifice animals or invoking with fancy words to get to know Brigid or another god for that matter.

You only have to be sincere.

A very cool map with lots of European tribes😎. Just click on the name of the tribe of your choice if you want to learn about them. https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesEurope/Barbarian_Map52BC_max.htm?fbclid=IwAR1BUuwpI7iudcE0vz9n0ghB9Z3EOSxT2FLPJsqWoGCtH9-RHW7EnDaRwt4

If you want to see the nautical side of our history, jump over to: https://t.me/GeeDunkNautica

Apollo Revealing his Divinity to the Shepherdess Isse (1750). Francois Boucher (French, 1703-1770).

The Carnyx is a wind instrument of the Iron Age Celts, used between c. 200 BC and c. AD 200. Thought to be played, several in unison, before a battle, to intimidate the enemy.

The Cave of Pazin & the Giant

In Southern Istria (Croatia), as the story goes, lived a massive giant. He was as big as an enormous mountain and his name was Ban Dragonja.

Unlike many giants in stories of the past, Ban Dragonja was gentle and more than happy to help the tiny humans who lived near him.

They came to him, asking for his help by ploughing the land to develop rivers, thereby irrigating the soil. He proceeded to plow from a lake to the ocean and named the trench Dragonja, then tilled another one, naming it Mirna, after his eloquent wife.

While plowing a third trench in the most demanding part of the area, near the city walls, the commander started to criticize him on how shallow the dig was.
The industrious giant was offended by this and abandoned his work as a result.

Since his work was left unfinished, the water level rose from the river and began to flood the Pazin valley. The local populace panicked when they realized this and begged him to come back to save them from drowning, which he did.

His solution to the problem? He stomped his enormous foot down beside the castle, and created the underground Pazin cave, which swallowed up all of the flooding waters. It still runs through the cave, which you can still tour today.

Here is a neat video of ziplining inside Pazin cave, and a cool overhead shot at the beginning of the video.https://youtu.be/aPr8PxNa1Jg

True to yourself

It has taken me this long to post about Scandanavian culture because I think we have a “Viking” pop fad going on in the world today that is troublesome to say the least.

Nothing is wrong with being proud of your heritage, and I might be stepping on toes here, but I recommend focusing on your own people.

When I say your people, I mean YOUR people. The actual ones whose history YOU are linked to and are descended from.

Whether you are Irish, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Polish, etc… you are intrinsically tied to your people by blood. This is something to be proud of and not to be taken lightly.

I believe it comes natural as you find out more about who you are, who your family is, and where they come from.

Your people’s stories, folklore, myths, beliefs, customs, etc.. allow you to discover your true cultural interests, inclinations and ties when it pertains to spirituality and culture.

From this, you have a compass on self discovery that you would have never thought possible.

To merely say, “I am a Viking” is a fallacy and a delusion. You most certainly are not. The Viking age has been over for quite some time now.

People today need to stop LARPing and find their actual roots.

Not to say that re-enactments are not entertaining but it should honor the past and this is not meant to offend real Scandinavians or their kin.

This current fad will pass, and another one will take its place because such is the way of pop culture. Focus on your own people and don’t waste time obsessing over pretending to be something that you are not.

On that note, here is some appreciation of a beautiful cultural practice called Kulning. It has been historically tied to Sweden. https://youtu.be/KvtT3UyhibQ

Some great Kulning audio here: https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/kulning-swedish-herding-calls