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I'm bumping this coz I thought it might be interesting to contrast my experience with this deity against John Odin's, given our different approaches.
I've been interacting with Odin fairly frequently for the past two-and-a-half months, using pretty much the kind of ritual outlined by GL, above, as opposed to a Thelema-flavoured model, and my experience of Odin was indeed very diferent than that described by the topic starter.
The first encounter: I started out with an altar service: blue altar-cloth, food and drink offerings (including pieces of apple and white onions, beer, honey, and apple schnapps) and other items I thought he might approve of. I kept the interaction fairly formal, first hailing him, reciting some of his many heiti, then inviting him to be present. I spent some time celebrating his mysteries, and talking to him about those aspects of him I felt closest to and those I would like to emulate myself.
I kept this up until I got a sense of his presence in the room. He appeared to me in his wandering shaman guise.
I couldn't see him, not like I can see this room, but I got some pretty clear mental images: we were standing in a small clearing, and he was dressed in a blue-grey cloak and a big brown hat, with a staff (which I somehow knew to be Gungnir, disguised). We had a conversation, during which I expressed a desire to improve some of my skills and to begin working with the runes again in a serious manner. The vibe of that first interaction was a bit odd: I felt he was relating to me like a hyperactive little kid who couldn't be trusted to sit still and listen. Things have improved over time.
I haven't done a full altar service to him in a while, because he seems to respond better to outdoor offerings. He also gets a candle lit and a libation at his harrow on Wednesdays, and other times as requested.
I'm not exactly the most feminine person, but I am female, and it's never seemed to present a problem or create a clash. To me, although Odin is himself a very masculine force he seems to be intimately connected to the realm of the feminine, deriving much of his power from females and from skills and abilities regarded as feminine. There's the magical skills learned from Frejya, the lore surrounding his main wife, Frigga (that she is as foresighted as he, but keeps her own counsel), and the hints that he's disguised himself as a witch-woman. He is served by the Valkyries, female warriors. Then there's the countless female lovers appearing in the lore; for instance, he spends about half the Lay of Harbarth essentially bragging about how many chicks he's scored with. (In a soap-opera character this would be obnoxious, but we're in the realms of myth where such interactions have a deeper mystical significance.)
Changeable isn't the half of it. In a ritual context and in trancework, I've interacted with him in a variety of forms: the wizard, the furious warrior, the weary traveller, the wise old man. In my experience, He doesn't seem to have any problem offering knowledge, power and inspiration to a woman. I've never got the feeling of treated as being weaker or lesser in any way; neither dismissed nor mollycoddled. He's very, very challenging: if you want to work with him you have to prove yourself, no matter who you are. But the potential rewards are avilable to women as to men.
As well as the aforementioned tendency to collect minor and not so minor injuries, something I've noticed is that old angers come to the surface after working with him. This is uncomfortable, but very beneficial in the long run. Rage that has been turned inward and stifled for years suddenly leaps into the consciousness, demanding to be experienced fully. Woden, id est furor...
I'd be interested to know if John has done any more work using his method, and if so what the results have been? |
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