Linda's Northern Tradition Pagan Section

& home base of Lokabrenna Kindred, Montreal, Quebec

Welcome to my Pagan spirituality pages. This section is not about the services I offer. It's about sharing what I've learned from the spirits, from practice and studies, for those who might find that useful. If you want to read about into Ericksonian Hypnosis, NLP or Brief Therapy, any other option on the left menu will get you there.

If you don't know what Paganism is, or want to know what I do and believe, you can read my Intro to The Pagan Section.

Short version: I'm a Northern Tradition Pagan, spiritworker (and fairly inactive member of ADF, though I led a Norse ADF Grove for 9 years). I practice Northern European spirituality. This involves talking to spirits and honoring the Norse Gods and Goddesses. I don't get brownie points for converting people to my faith. Do whatever works for you. This works for me.

If you're a Montreal Pagan, looking for a Montreal Kindred or interested in Northern Tradition Paganism, feel free to get in touch. I am the founder, priestess and contact person for Lokabrenna Kindred. Note that we are not Asatru or Heathen and there are currently no Montreal Asatru kindred or Montreal Heathen groups (other than the occasional pub meet). However, if you don't mind Loki, we're probably close enough. This is not Norse Wicca. Lokabrenna means "Loki's Torch" and was the Norse name for Sirius, the Dog Star. Our banner is a torch with the mask of comedy on the head of the torch.

We celebrate the 8 Pagan seasonal holidays, and hold monthly spirit suppers for Frigga's Handmaidens. This is what our calendar looks like :

• Yule (Winter Solstice): We hold a Yule vigil for the Sun Goddess Sunna, and also honor other fire deities.
• Thorrablot (near February 1st ): We honor gods of winter and frost, namely Thorri (according to the Icelandic custom) and his sister Mjol. Some believe it to be to Thor, but the possessive (genitive declension) of Old Norse Þórr would be Thorsblot. -rr declines to -rs, while -ri declines to -ra. Thus Þórrablót is the blót (sacrifice feast) to Þórri.
• Spring Equinox: Craft day! We make Ukrainian style easter eggs with wax and dyes (pysanka). We also honor craftspeople and Dwarves.
• Walpurgisnacht (May Day): We re-enact in some form the marriage of Frey and Gerda, and make offering to the alfar (elves).
• Midsummer (Summer Solstice): We hold a feast for Sunna.
• Mermaids Rite (near August 1st) : We honor the sea gods, Njord, Aegir & Ran, and their 9 daughters (goddesses of dealing with difficult emotions)
• Autumn Equinox: Craft Day! In honor of Loki, we make and paint leather masks. Last year, we instead combined Loki's celebration with Talk Like a Pirate Day.
• Winternights (early November) : A masked party with a room for communing with our beloved dead. We honor Hela and Mordgud, goddesses of death.

Our Spirits Suppers follow the moons, generally happening on the third or last Saturday of that moon. If there's two full moons in a month, the second one is dedicated to Frigga, Queen of Asgard/Heaven, Goddess of the household and leader of the Goddesses.

1. Var, January's Moon : Goddess of oaths and dedication to a path. Goes with New Year resolutions.
2. Hlin, February's Moon: Goddess of mourning, warning of danger, protection and preparedness (being prepared to handle disasters and danger reduces the need for mourning). When the men were at war, the women trained to defend themselves...
3. Gefjon, March's Moon: Goddess of agriculture, dance and unmarried (independant) women. The "working class girl" who rises to the top through hard work and cleverness. Women who die unmarried serve under her patronage in Asgard.
4. Lofn, April's Moon: Goddess of forbidden loves whose name means "Permission".. Queer and kinky doesn't even begin to describe it...
5. Sjofn, May's Moon: Goddess of affection, friendships and relationships, between women and men but especially between women. These days, also rules social networking.
6. Vor: June's Moon: Goddess of knowledge out of darkness, divination, fasting and purification. The stern grandmother.
7. Gna, July's Moon: Messenger of the goddesses, rider of the flying horse Hoof Tosser. Living life on the road, talking your way out of bad situations and getting the job done.
8. Saga, August's Moon: Goddess of storytelling, as well as the poetry that served as mnemonics for stories. Patron of actors and con artists. The kind grandmother.
9. Eir, September's Moon: Goddess of healing, especially wounds, also listed among Valkyries. Learn First Aid to honor her.
10. Snotra, October's Moon: Goddess of hospitality, wisdom, courtesy and politeness. She teaches how to bring out the most noble part of a person, to elevate them, and also how to elevate the gods through praise and offerings.
11. Syn, November's Moon: Goddess of defense whose name means "Denial." She prevents the unworthy from entering and helps in legal defense. Teaches how to have good boundaries, how to say "No", and keep toxic people out of your life.
12. Fulla, December's Moon: Goddess of managing abundance, Frigga's personal attendant and right hand woman. She takes care of Frigga's box (treasure chest), her shoes, and knows her secrets. Good at finding people's talents, potential, and where they would be most useful. Lofn mentioned that Fulla takes very good care of Frigga's little box and winked repeatedly. Perhaps Odin (Frigga's husband) isn't the only one who regularly enjoys himself outside of marriage...

Gerda (Frey's wife) has a special place in all our rituals. As goddess of enclosed gardens, we call on her to create sacred space and to make it safe from intrusions. Most Heathen groups typically call on Thor with a hammer hallowing for the same purpose.

Look at the bottom for the log of latest updates and for links.

Pagan UPG, Songs and Rituals

Sankofa Lokabrenna Alliance

A poetic text affirming the friendship alliance between House Sankofa and Lokabrenna Kindred.

How to make a stang

How I made my own stang, the Northern Tradition "shaman's ladder", a 3d model of Yggdrasil, the World tree of nine worlds.

Worm Composting Altar to Nidhogg and Jord: Images and explanations. NEW

Wanna save the Earth? Here's how to MAKE some fertile earth for yourself, and reduce your garbage. Just let the worms eat your garbage.

Daughters of Ran and Aegir, meeting the 9 mermaids of the Northern Seas
Week 1, Meeting Blodughadda, Mermaid of Blood and Rivers - Personal Gnosis UPG

While Njord is god of harbors and sailing, the deities of water itself are Jotuns (Giants), as are all the gods of nature (Fire, Earth, Wind, etc.) This is my journey in learning the magic and mysteries of Water with the 9 daughters of the Sea God Aegir and Goddess Ran, by meeting Them and learning from Them directly.

Week 2: Meeting Hronn , Mermaid of Fear and Whirlpools - Personal Gnosis UPG

I thought I would only get a single Sea Goddess as an ally, but Blodughadda thought differently. When you make a deal with one, you make a deal with all 9 of the sisters. Hronn's teaching was quite a surprise! What's the opposite of fear?

Week 3: Meeting Hevring, Mermaid of Sorrow and Surface Currents- Personal Gnosis UPG

Every Sunday, I meet and make offering to a new sister. This one taught me about what to do with sorrow and suffering in my life. It's been quite a blessing. Offerings are necessary. If it didn't cost you anything, then you can be sure you didn't get anything. At best, it's a passing thing. You have to pay for it to be yours. This is true in the world as well as in spirit. Gifts from friends... well, you do nice things for your friends and spend time with them, don't you? Relationships are a constant flow of giving and receiving.

Week 4: Meeting Duva, Mermaid of Mists, Islands and Mysteries - Personal Gnosis UPG

Secrets and mysteries shared between people unite them, just like living on the same island does. Duva is reluctant to share her mysteries... but seems a little more willing with women. She takes sisterhood very seriously. (added 8Oct2010)

Week 4 1/2: Meeting Ran, Goddess of the Northern Seas - Personal Gnosis UPG

Mother dearest to the 9 mermaids, a very scary goddess. Being beloved to Her is almost as dangerous as being on Her bad side. She casts the nets, and can show others how to do so. (added 12Nov2010)

Week 5,6, and 10: Meeting Unn, Mermaid of Tides, Memories and Rhythms - Personal Gnosis UPG

My favorite among the mermaids, and it seems to be mutual, because She visited me three times. I learned very useful drum rhythms from Her. Seagulls are Her animals, and She's a bit of a math geek.

Week 7: Meeting Kolga, Undine of Cold, Ice and Loneliness - Personal Gnosis UPG

A difficult lesson, learning about loneliness.

Week 8: Himinglava, Fair Weather Undine of Joy - Personal Gnosis UPG

Unexpectedly, I had less of a connection with Her than I thought I would.

Week 9: The River, Pic-Nic With The St-Lawrence River Goddess - Sequana - Personal Gnosis UPG . NEW

I really should have honored the river first...

Week 11: Bylgja, Undine of the White Crested Waves – Mermaid of Obsession and Austerities - Personal Gnosis UPG . NEW

Where I learn about payment and pain...

Week 12: Bara. NEW

That is one VERY BIG Mermaid!!

Sigyn's Patience Ordeal, a new story about this little known goddess and wife of Loki.

You can treat it as Pagan fiction, or as Unverified Personal Gnosis (UPG). Up to you.

Gerda's Garden Visit , Goddess of Enclosed Gardens - Personal Gnosis UPG

I'm lousy at growing plants, but I'm making an effort, to improve my relations with the spirits of the 9 sacred herbs. Each has its use, each has a verse of an Anglo-Saxon spell song, the Song of the Nine Sacred Herbs.

Well, Gerda paid my balcony garden a visit, gave some advice, and taught me a song that can be used for circle casting, seeing as Her name means "enclosure", and She is the goddess of Walled Gardens. The song was given because I asked Her if She had anything She wanted me to tell people about Her at the Pagan festival where I was presenting workshops. It's not exactly a circle casting, but it can certainly be used as such.

Dumb Supper with Vár, Northern Goddess of Oaths - Personal Gnosis UPG

In my personal devotional calendar, I honor Vár during the January moon. This is my experience with her.

Pagan Chants, Songs, Spells: My Songbook

Words and mp3's, some are gifts from Spirit, some are my creations, some are from others.

Genealogy Tree of Norse Deities- Norse Mythology

I was constantly trying to remember who was related to whom in what way. Like, which one is Grid's son, is it Vali or Vidar? I could never remember. So I built a genealogy tree of the Norse gods for myself, so I could consult it. Almost all of these relationships are attested in the lore. Some of them are UPG from various Northern Tradition books, but they're generally indicated with a question mark.

In any case, the lore sometimes contradicts itself, so there's no way to make a simple tree without tons of footnotes. I made this for my own use. Maybe it'll be useful to you too. Or maybe you'll want to research each of these to make your own tree. I really like seeing how all the gods are related, and you'll notice it's very hard to distinguish the various tribes. Humans are all related, and so are the gods.

Online Shrine to Fjolvar, brothel keeper of the Nine Worlds in Norse Mythology (Aug2010)

I have the greatest respect for sex-workers, and support their struggle to have decent working conditions, free from harassment by officers of the law. I support the legalizing of prostitution. If you can't stop people from doing it, you might as well legalize it so you can control how it's done, and of course tax it. It's funny how those who try condemn sex the loudest keep getting exposed by the media as being clients of such.

Mainstream religions often consider sex sinful. Pagan religions generally consider sex to be holy, and are also welcoming to queers and other GLBT people. I am very very queer. And so I offer this online shrine for the benefit of Heathen, Asatru, Wicca, Pagan and especially Northern Tradition Pagan sex-workers, as well as to honor Fjolvar and his 7 daughters. And hey, if sex is part of your spirituality, you'll probably like this too.

The lore tells us that Odin spent 5 years seducing seven sisters on Fjolvar's island Allgron. The rest of the details come from various people's UPG (unverified personal gnosis). Click here for my unverified personal gnosis notes on Fjolvar, and in part 2, my journey to meet him.

How to Pronounce and Use the First and Second Merseburg Charms An Injury Healing Spell - In Old High German (Jul2010)

A charm for sprains, though should be useful for speeding the healing of most types of injuries. Many sites have the text of it, but none tell you how to pronounce it in Old High German, and they give no hint about how it's supposed to be performed. I've provided mp3 guides on pronunciation. I've also researched the later Christian variants of it, which do have the usage instructions, and put together spell instructions for the original version. Then I describe what I've learned from trying out the spell on an injury.

Spinning wool with a viking style drop spindle (last update Aug2010)

To use knot spells like the Second Merseburg Charm, you ideally need to know how to spin yarn. Here's how it's done, with some notes about how handspun yarn is useful for magic.

Pagan Ritual in Old Norse - with mp3's for pronunciation (ADF Style) - In Icelandic (Jun2010)

I've been learning Icelandic to use in Pagan rituals. It's fricking hard, but with the help of many books, CDs and a few Icelanders doing translations, I've put together a ritual phrasebook so you can do Norse rituals in something very close to Old Norse.

The rite is geared towards ADF style, cause that's what I use for group rituals, but you can certainly use this liturgical Icelandic for Heathen, Asatru or Norse Wiccan rites. Think of it as an Idiot's Guide to Old Norse for Pagan Ritual. I'm using modern Icelandic pronunciation, rather than trying for the reconstructed Old Norse pronounciation. If some hard core Heathens want to do that, go ahead. I think this is Good Enough for most people's needs.

(note: I haven't finished recording all the pronunciation mp3s. If you want them, bug me about it, so I know someone cares!)

Quick and Dirty Guide to Anglo-Saxon Pronunciation and Icelandic Pronunciation (for Pagan Rituals).
- Icelandic & Old English (Jul2010)

An Idiot's Guide to Pronouncing the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poems and Charms, and Old Norse from the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda.

A Review of Fixed Stars Astrology by Bernadette Brady, A Pagan Astrology Viewpoint (May2010)

You know how Amazon.com sends you an email to review books you've bought and help other customers? Well, I started writing a review for Bernadette Brady's Fixed Stars Astrology book. And it turned into a mini-novel. So I decided to put it up here, with links to resources for Fixed Star Astrology.

Equinoctial Astrolabe for Pagan Divination : Fixed Star Astrology as Pagan Augury

Ever had sudden irrational passion to work on a project, and suspected one of your Gods was responsible? That's what this is with me. I mostly use runes, and I've never had much faith in astrology. But suddenly I found a passionate desire to research and build an astrolabe, which led to learning about Fixed Star astrology, Naskshatras, and the ancient oracular practice of Horary Astrology. I suspect Someone wants me to do this. So I am. It's a work in progress.

Rite Druidique en Francais (written in 1996)

is an ADF style Druid ritual for the solitary practitionner in French. I wrote this during my 9 year stint as Senior Druid of Silver Fox Grove, ADF.

Ceci est un rituel Druidique en francais que j'ai écris quand j'étais chef druide de la Clairière du renard argenté, ADF en 1996. Il sert pour la pratique individuelle.