Jeff Russell

I am so very, very close to having all of the bedes of the "Heathen Rosary" at least to a stead where you can say the whole thing, but the draft of the closing bede still feels a bit "flat," and so once again, I am asking for your help in working out what I might change about it.

Your thoughts on the "Hail Idun" and "All-Father" have been very worthwhile and truly helped them take shape, so even more so than usual, kindly share them on this one as well so I can have a full set of prayers I'm happy with and get to working out the "mysteries" to go with them.

Thanks ahead of time if you choose to share any and all thoughts, big or small.

Alright, I'm very excited to share what I believe is the last, working shape of the "All-Father" bede for the Heathen Rosary undertaking. Y'all's comments really helped me make the last few tweaks I needed, so thanks very much for that.

What's most exciting is that I now have all of the main bedes for the Heathen Rosary, so I can start saying it and seeing how that goes. I'm still on the fence about whether to write one or two closing prayers (as you find in today's version of the Catholic Rosary), and I still need to work out the "mysteries" (I'm leaning toward calling them "riddles") for bethinking while saying the bedes, but this is a big step closer to having a workable daily practice.

As always, your thoughts are most welcome.

Alright, after a lot of poetic stagnation, I've pulled two drafts of an "All Father" prayer for the Heathen Rosary out of, well, somewhere (let's hope it's from the mead that made it to Asgard, and not that which was "lost" upon the way!). Even more than usual, I'd very much appreciate your thoughts on these, as I can tell neither is "there" yet, but in working out the "Hail Idun," your input was invaluable.

Oh, and I also realized I hadn't posted my "Tree Creed" which I've been using in my daily prayer for nearly a year now, so I've put that in here too.

Again, thoughts very much welcome!

After The Seed of Yggdrasill, I wanted to read a book that was still relevant to my spiritual pursuits, but much shorter, so I went for Stories of the Rose by Anne Winston-Allen. It's a pretty short book about the development of the Rosary in the middle ages, and it was chock full of useful nuggets on the practice for someone trying to develop a parallel practice with different deities.

As always, let me know what you think!

Once again, I'm trying out mirroring my main post here.

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So, I'm getting close on my "Hail Idun", but I can tell I'm not right there yet. Divination has suggested that I ought to go with a single stanza of Galdralag (two four-line half stanzas), and a few of the images/themes I should/shouldn't include. These poems/prayers are highly personal, but I'm also trying to make sure they work for other folks, so I'm going to share three variants I'm thinking over below, and I'd very much welcome your thoughts on what bits work, what don't, and what I might change. As I've said before, whatever I land on for this prayer will be the beating heart of my Heathen Rosary, so I want to get it right.

Way 1

Hail Idun,
Yggdrasil's Seed,
Life-giving Lady,
Love-giving Lady.
Blessed Idun,
Blossom of Healing,
Goddess ale-giving,
Quench our thirst for thee.

Way 2

Hail Idun,
Heart's Opener,
Lady love-giving,
Lady life-giving.
Bless us with
Blissful drink,
Ale age-helping,
Mead mind-opening.

Way 3

Hail Idun,
Heart Gladdener,
Beloved life-giver,
Lady love-giving.
Blissful Idun,
Bless us with
Thirst quenched with thanks,
Soul awakened to seeking.

Close

Again, it would be a great help if you can share your thoughts on any of the above, most of all if the wording of any bits works better than others - whether to pick one or another, whether to blend them together, or whether to start all over again. Thanks very much, and I hope you find something helpful here.