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Hloaf Festival
(Lammas)
Evan McCallum
The place of the ritual should be ringed about with eight standing stones (as large as practical) and have an altar near the north of the ritual area. Beyond the altar hang a banner of the Odin rune in black cloth with silver or gold markings. Place a rune banner for Freya to one side of the Odin rune and one for Thor to the other side. (Suitable images representing the three Deities may replace the banners.) The patron gods of this season are Freyr and Gerd, who are husband and wife. If possible, make up rune banners for each and place them immediately behind the altar.
On the altar should be an incense brazier, a sword or dagger and a drinking horn in its center. Have a jug of mead or ale available beneath or beside the altar. Place fresh bread and hot fish sticks in a warmer on the altar shortly before beginning. You may want to have copies of the rite for the participants.
Light the ritual area only with fire. Have candles or torches on or beside the altar, to be lit during the ceremony. Place one at each Quarter and before each rune banner. Before beginning, light a small taper on the altar in order to light the other candles or torches and to aid reading. When using altar candles, the one on the left should be yellow and the one on the right, brown.
Devotees may carry hand held banners or standards of the Odin rune, symbolizing the gods of Valhalla, or heroes of our own people. Appropriate music would be Wagner's "Entry of the Gods into Valhalla" followed by "Siegfried's Rhine Journey." Alternatively, continuously play "Summer," from Walter Carlos' "Sonic Seasonings." Some may prefer other music, even storm or other nature sounds. If available, a bull's horn or other appropriate musical instrument should signal the start of the rite.
In addition to the Godi (Priest), it is best that a Godia (Priestess) lead the ritual. If a woman of the Folk is not available, place flowers before the banner of Freya, and the Godi (or any other) may speak the words of the Godia.
When all is in readiness, sound the horn and assemble the folk. (If there is room, the Godi and Godia may lead a Procession of Honor, ending before the altar.) The Godi (or other so appointed) lights the candles or torches beside the altar.
The Blod Rite
The Godi or Godia sound the summoning horn and all gather in a semicircle before the altar. The Godi calls for a period of silence of at least thirteen heartbeats. All place their minds into a calm and meditative state.
Godi:
Great Odin, we do now work this rite in Your honor. Be with us here, we do ask.
Godia:
O Fair and Magical Freya, we do now work this rite in Your honor. Be with us here, we do ask.
Godi (or other):
Strong and Sturdy Thor, we do now work this rite in Your honor. Be with us here, we do ask.
Godia (or other so chosen) turns briefly to the East and salutes, saying:
O winds of the East, blow soft, cool, and sweet upon our people and our Lands. Hail Odin!
All:
Hail Odin!
Godi (or other so chosen) turns briefly to the South and gives salute, saying:
O Warm sun of the South, shine brightly upon our people and our lands. Hail Odin!
All:
Hail Odin!
Godia (or other so chosen) turns briefly to the West and salutes, saying:
O blue waters of the West, flow cool and giving of life for our people and our lands. Hail Odin!
All:
Hail Odin!
Godi (or other so chosen) turns briefly to the North and salutes saying:
O lands of the North, and of all the places of our people, give rich crops and calm souls for our people. Hail Odin!
All:
Hail Odin!
Godia takes the jug of mead and holds it for the Godi. He takes the dagger and touches the point to the jug, saying:
Great Odin, accept this as sacrifice in honor of You, in honor of our gods, and in honor of ourselves. Place your blessing within this good mead, so that we may draw upon your wisdom, and gain victory in all that we do. Hail Odin!
All:
Hail Odin!
Godi puts down the dagger, takes and opens the jug and half fills the Blod-Bowl. He takes the bowl and dips the aspergillis or a bundle of leaves into the mead, and briefly sprinkles each of the female worshipers, saying:
You are blessed in the Name of Odin.
Godia does the same for the male worshipers. When all have been blessed, the Godia takes the bowl and leaves and similarly blesses the Godi. Then she replaces all upon the altar, turns to those present and says:
At this time, as in times far past, are those of us who follow the Old Ones blessed and consecrated in their sacred presence. May the strength, power, magick and wisdom, the courage and the steadfastness of the gods themselves remain forever within each of us. Hail Odin!
All:
Hail Odin!
Calling the Great Ones
Godi lights the candle or torch before the Odin banner and says:
O Great Odin, Azure-Cloaked Wanderer from the far, ancient lands of our people, Lord of the Shining Ones who do protect our land, our folk and our families, we call to Thee to be with us here. We call to Thee across all of time and all the worlds of the gods. Your people are still here, O Wise One. Come to us again, and give us to drink of Thy cauldron of life and of inspiration that we may prosper once again. Come to us now and be with us here? Odin the wise! Hail Odin!
All:
Hail Odin!
Godia lights the candle or torch in front of the Freya banner and says:
O Leader of the Wind-Riders, You who weave fates and destinies and before whose magicks men and gods do bow, consort to the great Odin of the shining Lands of the Gods, we call on Thee, O Freya the Fair One! Be with us here in this rite! Hail Freya!
All:
Hail Freya!
Godi (or other) lights the candle or torch before the Thor banner and says:
O red bearded thunderer, friend and protector of our people, before whose mighty hammer neither god nor man can stand, we call on Thee, O mighty Thor! Be with us here in this rite! Hail Thor!
All:
Hail Thor!
Godia (or other):
We give greetings to the beauteous Gerd, of a race more ancient than the gods, wife of Freyr, and patroness of this season. Her choice to attain godhood shall always be an example for our people. Hail Gerd!
All:
Hail Gerd!
Godi (or other):
We give greetings to high Freyr, god of prosperity and of joy, husband of the beautiful Gerd, and patron of this season. Your strong will and lust for life shall always be an example for our people. Hail Freyr!
All:
Hail Freyr!
The Sacrament of Freyr and Gerd
After a pause of twenty heartbeats or more, sound the bull's horn. Then the Godia says:
The warm season is a time for joyful living. We look forward to a time of thanksgiving and a plentiful harvest, that we may live in confidence as the dark and chill of winter approaches. On this day we have come together before our gods to honor Freyr, patron of the good life, and Gerd, whose great beauty leaves sparkles in the air as she passes. To them we give honor for the harvest from the sea and from the fields.
Godi and Godia take the bread and fish. Godi says:
The loaf is of new grain baked fresh and warm as our people baked it in ages long past. The fish is of the bountiful sea that feeds and transports our people as it fed and gave passage to our folk in ages long past.
Godia comes forward and the Godi holds fish and bread out before her. She sprinkles each with mead, using the aspergillis or small bundle of leaves, saying:
At this time and in this place do we offer bread and fish to joyous Freyr, to beauteous Gerd and to ourselves, in thanks for a bountiful harvest. May this bread be blessed as symbol of Earth's boundless sustenance. And the fish be blessed as symbol of the ocean's eternal richness. Hail Gerd and Freyr!
All:
Hail Gerd and Freyr!
Godia gives fish and bread to each in the rite, saying to each:
Take now this bread and fish. Know well the bounty of the season, and the blessings of our gods. Hail Gerd and Freyr.
Recipient:
Hail Gerd and Freyr.
After serving all, the Godia Freya banner some remaining crumbs of fish and bread into a flaming brazier, saying:
We give you this offering of thanks, O Freyr the sensual and Gerd the beautiful. May our joy in having partaken be also your joy, for we have done this in your honor. Hail Gerd! Hail Freyr!
The Wisdom of the Hloaf-Season
After a pause of at least ten heartbeats, the Godi says:
Watcher of the South, tell us your thoughts.
Watcher of the South:
Freyr, the son of Njord, a Vanir, is the God of fertility of the Earth and all its inhabitants. Gerd is the daughter of the Great Ones who lived and prospered even before Valhalla. In ancient times the Vanir had the knowledge of agriculture, fishing, shipbuilding, seamanship and even seid, or sorcery.
They were wise: the Vanir relied not only on hard work, but on thought and careful reasoning as well. Their seid, or sorceries, usually were the carefully considered plans of action that gave them success in battle, in the struggle for existence, in the normal mundane strivings of life for their folk, their tribes, their clans.
Freyr was a very pragmatic God, for he used his knowledge to gain wealth so that he could support more of his children and kin. Loving and passionate he was, with the beauteous Gerd. Yet also he cherished and cared for their children and kindred.
In ancient times our folk knew full well that bringing new lives into the world required that there be sustenance aplenty for all. To take pleasure together, man and woman required life-sustaining goods. Freyr was thus the patron not only of lust, but also the responsible god of peace and production.
Godia:
Watcher of the West, tell us your thoughts.
Watcher of the West:
The lust of living brings forth responsibilities for those who desire children, and thus to extend their lives. The primal lust for life produces the extension of life. To each one here I say, this is your most ready immortality: that your own life go forward through the years through your children, or the children of your kin. This may well be the sum total reason for living!
Our dreams, stories and fantasies are really the plans we weave for the approval of others about us, and for the lust that ultimately manifests in reproduction. Yet all may not be well. Many folk will live only for these dreams, rather than face the challenges of a full life.
There are many risks to life, of course. It may even mean personal death to attempt living life to its fullest? Yet we do not know until we try, and hiding from real life will most certainly bring eternal darkness upon oneself. Those who truly live must take risks!
Godia:
Watcher of the North, tell us your thoughts.
Watcher of the North:
The myths of all religions since long before the dawn of history address death, and promise future life after earthly death. In ancient times, when only the Holy Elders of a people could read and write, such lore was recorded as ultimate Truth, and could not be contested. All faiths, all creeds, tell of life after death, including the ancient lore of our own people. Yet verily, with all of today's learning, we still really know only what the ancients knew? We truly know nothing about death, except that we cease to live.
Godia:
Watcher of the East, tell us your thoughts.
Watcher of the East:
The myths of death were presented to inspire the honorable actions of the living. Those of the folk who performed the noble actions of which the priests or tribal leaders spoke, would receive their rewards beyond earthly death. If warriors were needed, then death in battle was honorable and there was rich reward for the warrior after death.
Cold-eyed study of the past shows us that if a people, a clan, or a tribe needed a certain belief to survive and prosper, they adopted a belief that offered rewards after death. Prayers and rituals would consecrate these goals, and the people would accept, and believe.
Is this not as it should be? Should not a people, a folk, a society, ask some to sacrifice themselves that their kinfolk and their friends may live? In reality, the final morality must be the question, "Will one's actions benefit the tribe, the clan, the society, and one's own beloved children?" If not, the tribe, the clan, and the believers will soon perish. They will join the bleached bones of others like them, down through the countless ages of history.
The morality of beliefs and of actions is known by the fruits they bear. If a clan, a tribe, or a society grows and prospers by adhering to a belief, then this belief is moral. Yet if by such a belief the people, the clan, the tribe, or society is harmed or even perishes, then the belief or action is immoral. Those who lead, whether temporally or spiritually, have the power to build or to destroy that which their people have created in all their history, simply by making morals that are good, or bad.
Godia:
Watcher of the South, tell us your thoughts.
Watcher of the South:
What do we truly know of life after death? To promise a condition beyond life's Final Gate is to promise something over which you have no knowledge or control. The ancient lore, truly, does speak such things. Yet in the light of day, such words are seen as a powerful means for motivating or even controlling people.
What we do know, and this beyond all shade of doubt, is that folk who beget children and who work to promote their children's future live long after death through their children. Those who cannot have their own offspring live through the children of their kin, for they perpetuate their genetic life by aiding their kin's clan, tribe, or society.
Godia:
Watcher of the West, tell us your thoughts.
Watcher of the West:
Freyr is also the God of human sexuality. He has always been represented with an erect member to show well his erotic potency. Our folk in ancient times knew full well that sex in the proper time and place produced joy along life's way, and ultimately the children through whom their people's essence would reach to eternity. Thus did Pagans strengthen their people, their tribes, their clans and families.
Sex then, as now, is the highest and deepest of all joys. Yet be mindful also that it demands responsibility above all.
Godia:
Watcher of the North, tell us your thoughts.
Watcher of the North:
Gerd and Freyr were and are the gods of beauty, peace, and prosperity. Peace is productive if the mores of a society promote the welfare of those who work and prosper, as well promoting as charity to the impoverished.
War produces problems in all societies, especially for those that are weakly bonded, with no real mores of conduct. The stress of sacrifice long continued totally destroys the fiber of a people, a clan, or a nation whose bonds with each other are weak.
Let us build bonds of trust and love and honor so that we, and those of our people, can survive in peace and war. Let us build bonds of sensual understanding between men and women so that our loves and our families can live in peace and prosperity.
Godi:
We honor Freyr and Gerd as God and Goddess of fertility, joy, beauty and prosperity. They were of the Vanir—those who came before, who knew well the means to prosper, and to use nature for rich, full and joyous lives. These were their secrets,
The Odinist Tradition
Evan McCallum's Odinist Wheel of the Year continues this issue with Gimli and the Hloaf Festival (Lammas). On July 10th, Gimli is a rite that renews our commitment to each other and the planet. The Hloaf Festival on August 1st is the Odinist's Lammas, a celebration of the first harvest.
Remember that, at this dawning of this New Age, "folk," "culture," "peoples," etc. are what we make them. For instance, many of us find our "family by choice" to be closer than our family by birth. In the New Age, a "folk" is a group with homogeneity of spirit, rather than of DNA. The "One Planet, One People" bumper stickers do not call for genocide. Similarly, "Folk" asks us to recognize our unity as a species and a planet and to manifest it as a unity of will to create the best world we can.
—S.R. | 
