Offerings to Frijjo Birkijoniz

Here are some of the things I customarily offer to Frijjo Birkijniz.

Incense
-Frankincense
-Amber

Libations
-Cider
-Frangelico
-Elderflower Liqueur
-Various good local beers
-Honey dissolved in water mulled with whole black peppercorns
-Milk

Foods
-Baked goods
     -Lye bread/pretzels
     -Spice cake
     -Almond cookies
     -Sugar cookies/Spice cookies
     -Multigrain crackers
     -Seeded rye bread, or really any nice bread
-Cheeses of all kinds
-Spices and other things
     -Caraway seeds (She LOVES caraway)
     -Spiced brown sugar with:
           -Cinnamon
           -Clove
           -Allspice
     -Peppercorns
     -Sea salt

Other things
-Antique skeleton keys
-Unusual coins (in fact I donate almost all my pocket change to her to fund cultus)

Animal sacrifice
     FB has made it known to me that she would accept animal sacrifice.  I am planning to raise and blot a rooster to her in the coming year.  Its not a practice I want to rush into, but she has made it clear to me that such sacrifices are an important part of siduz.
   

Opposing Infant Circumcision: A personal cause of which Frijjo Birkijoniz seems to approve

     This is my response to prompt #13 (What modern cultural causes are closest to this deity's heart?).  The reason for the unwieldy title is that I feel there is no small danger of projecting a favorite cause onto a deity.  I certainly haven't been informed what is closest to FB's heart.   So I'll just be honest.  This issue is important to me personally.  Nevertheless, I do get the "thumbs up" from FB on this, accompanied by a set of emotions: something like a mix of confusion, revulsion and sadness with regard to the practice of infant circumcision.  Frijjo Birkijoniz please forgive my presumption if I misrepresent you here.

(A note on the strong language I use in this post: there actually are not any words in the language to express the anger, disgust and grief I feel regarding this vile practice.  If you feel that words like "repulsive" and "mutilation" are to strong to use for this topic then you should probably stop reading here.)

     Let me just put it out there that I oppose all mutilation of infants and children.  The practice of female genital cutting is repulsive and it should end yesterday.  That being said, however, FGM is (thankfully) not practiced on a large scale and in a legally and medically sanctioned manner in my society.  The same cannot be said for the practice of infant male "circumcision".  I use the scare quotes because the word circumcision is a euphemism used to sanitize and obfuscate the obscene practice of sexually mutilating a child.  The fact that the circumcision of infant boys is carried out legally in every hospital in this country by otherwise (presumably) ethical medical professionals is an abomination.  Every single argument against FGM applies to boys as well, in substance if not degree.

     I am not against all circumcision, or even against circumcision per se.  Body modification is fine by me.  I like tattoos personally.  I like wearing them and I like getting them.  I am a consenting adult.  If another man wants to surgically alter his penis for whatever reason that is 100% fine by me and I wholeheartedly support his right to do so.  I can think of myriad reasons why an adult man might choose to be circumcised.  I'll even concede that there may be medical advantages to being circumcised.  But here's the thing.  An infant cannot give consent.  This is the reason that there is a crime called statutory rape.  This is the reason a minor cannot legally obtain a tattoo.  Circumcision is an extreme modification of the of the sexual organs.  To inflict it on an infant without fantastically compelling and immediate medical need is a mutilation which, in my opinion is tantamount to a sex crime.

    I try not to judge parents who choose this for their sons.  Many are not well informed on the issue.  In many places there is still enormous cultural pressure to circumcise.  Parents, please educate yourselves.  Do I judge doctors and other medical professionals who participate in the perpetration of this blasphemy? You better fucking believe I do.  There is plenty of literature out there.  Performing unnecessary surgery on an infant for cosmetic or cultural reasons or as a prophylaxis against the possibility of future medical need is unethical to say the least.  It is bad medicine and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

     Now the stickiest question: religious freedom.  Observant Jews are required to circumcise their sons in infancy.  I still believe the practice is evil, but I understand the reasons behind it.  The reasons are not evil.  The people are not evil.  The practice, however, is.  I will say though, that if the requirements o your religion are not crucial enough to you for you to keep kosher or observe Sabbath taboos I would humbly suggest you may want to think twice about cutting off part of your son's penis at least until he is old enough to have some say in the matter.

   Muslims customarily circumcise their boys as well, although the practice is suggested rather than flat out required.  In many cases, however, Islamic circumcision is not performed in infancy.  To my Muslim friends, I would say that delaying the procedure until adolescence or adulthood removes my criticism entirely.

   Many traditional societies also practice circumcision for religious and/or cultural reasons.  Typically it is an initiation performed at puberty or at the onset of adulthood.  Again this is much less problematic than infant circumcision and falls well within the bounds of legitimate religious freedom.

     In terms of contemporary polytheism, I don't know where most folks stand on circumcision.  The ancient Greeks and Romans abhorred and banned it.  As far as I am aware it was unknown among the peoples of northern Europe.  Iranian peoples did not generally circumcise before the arrival of Islam.  It was practiced by the Egyptians, as well as many Levantine and Mesopotamian societies with a varying degree of universality depending on the group and era.  I would be curious to know if it is practiced in a religious context among Kemetics and Qadishuma.  I would suggest though that reserving the practice for adults not only relieves ethical concerns, but would also increase the devotional value of the practice.

   As I stated at the outset.  This is my cause.  I haven't mentioned FB a whole lot, but what feedback I do receive from her leads me to conclude that she opposes infant circumcision.  Its probably not the closest thing to her heart, but she does seem to care deeply about it. I frankly don't know what the most important contemporary cultural issue is for her. She hasn't told me.

     There are lots of great resources  regarding the elimination of infant male circumcision.  If this is not an issue you've given much consideration, please take some time to educate yourself, especially if you are a parent.

http://www.intactamerica.org/

http://www.nocirc.org/

http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/

http://www.4eric.org/

http://www.thewholenetwork.org/

http://www.savingsons.org/

*WARNING*  *NSFW*  *THIS IS AN 18+ LINK* *TRIGGER WARNING*
http://celebratingforeskin.com/
This last one has many, many, pictures of intact and restored penises.  The pictures range from the informational (some) to the outright dyed-in-the-wool pornographic (lots and lots... it is a tumblr after all), including plenty of images and commentary that I find misogynistic.  I won't try to defend the indefensible, but I do have an educational motive for placing the link here.  In the US we are mostly conditioned to see the circumcised penis as normal and the intact penis as strange/ugly/abnormal/exotic.  This blog specifically celebrates intact sexuality.  It does so from perspective of a heterosexual cismale.  The author is a well-informed advocate who is committed to showing the function and beauty of the intact penis.  The stuff at the back of the archive tends to skew to the informational while the newer posts are more to the pornography, with some overlap between the categories.  The links on the right hand side of the page are mostly education/activism related.  He is a man who was circumcised at birth who has chosen to restore his foreskin.  He is by far the best advocate for foreskin restoration I know of.  As an intact man myself, its not really something I can speak to directly, and foreskin education is this fellow's passion.  If you want to look at pictures of foreskins this is the place to go.  

An Unusual UPG

     So,  to take things way out of order here, I want to talk a little about a UPG of mine regarding FB's presence in a set of natural processes.  I really don't know what to make of this myself.  If anyone has any insight into this please let me know, because I find this knowledge utterly bizarre.

     Its come to my awareness that Frijjo Birkijoniz is somehow profoundly present in the process of transforming liquids into gels.  I don't really know how to describe this so I guess I'll just give some examples and then discuss them as best I can.

Dairy
     I first had this gnosis with regard to yogurt of all things, but it seems to apply to many of dairy products, cheese, sour cream, butter (but perhaps only cultured butter?).
     So: (liquid) milk --> (gel) yogurt/cheese etc.

Honey
     (liquid) nectar --> (gel) honey

Soap
     This observation began to come together in my head (gelled, so to speak) during the discussion on soapmaking in the Polytheism Without Borders forum.  I will also note that FB seems to have a fondness for lye.  Lye breads are a well received offering.
     (liquid) fat/oil --> (gel) soap

Observations:
    First of all, the raw materials in question in all of these processes are derived from living beings.  Additionally, the process by which they are gelled seems to be at least symbolically living.  I understand that, strictly speaking this is not true of soap, but having spent many hours watching a bubbling crock-pot of oil convert to soap, I am struck by the remarkable livingness of the whole affair.
     Second, each of these processes form the basis of an important traditional domestic industry.  There is dairy, apiculture and soapmaking.  To this I could add, extrapolating the symbolism out a little bit, the spinning of fiber into thread.  In this case you have another organic material in loose (symbolically liquid?) form being converted into a tighter (symbolically gelled?) form.  This might be a bit of a stretch, but given FB's established connection to spinning I think it makes some sense.  This extrapolation adds another traditional domestic industry to the list.
    The reason I believe this second observation is key is that I have been coming to understand more and more that FB is, in many ways, a goddess of civilization.  She is the instructor of proper spiritual custom in the form of siduz.  She upholds the traditions of family and tribe.  Perhaps it makes sense that she would be present in a process which underlies these industries of traditional culture.

     Just so I can answer two prompts at once, I'll reiterate my list of industries as a set of mundane activities connected to Frijjo Birkijoniz.

  -Dairy
  -Apiculture
  -Soapmaking
  -Spinning

Haili thu Frijjo Birkijoniz.  Ek lubo thek.

Frijjo Birkijoniz: Symbols and Icons

Frijjoz Besamo
     The birch besom (PGmc besamo) is the first and, to my mind at least, the most important symbol of Frijjo Birkijoniz.  It is representative of corrective discipline (like the scourge associated with Perchten and Krampus in folklore), of ritual purification (as in the scourge associated with sauna and sweat bath culture), and of rulership over the domestic sphere.  In the case of my own practice, I use the besamo in place of the traditional evergreen tine to redden with the blot offering, as a demonstration of the primacy of of FB as the matron and instructor of siduz.
     I consider the besamo to be a physical embodiment of the goddess on the same level as her graven icon.  It is the shorthand symbol of my faith in the same way that a cross, hammer, star of David etc. might be used.  I even have a pendant version.

Distaff and Spinning Wheel
     The distaff and the spinning wheel are also important symbols of Frijjo Birkijoniz, along with the thread she spins.  These items are common symbols of "domestic" goddesses.  In the case of FB they are representative of her role in creating the substance of wurdiz (wyrd).

Keys
     Keys represent FB's role as the guardian of home and stead.  Antique skeleton keys are among her favorite offerings.

Birch Trees
     Birch trees and the Berkano runestave are manifestations of FB.

Siduhelmaz
     The siduhelmaz is the symbol of siduz, after the form of the helm of awe.  As the tutelary deity of siduz, this symbol also belongs to FB.  Here it is in an awesomely stylized form.

How Frijjo Birkijoniz Communicates With Me

     I want to start by saying that I am not a priest, although sometimes I fulfill some priestly functions.  I have no direct line to the gods.  I'm not excellent at divination.  Nevertheless, I have enough occult experience to identify spiritual communication.  I'll sometimes say that FB has "told" or "asked" me something.  This is how it happens.

     Frijjo Birkijoniz communicates with me in two major ways.  She uses visual "flashes" to indicate her presence.  As a child I experienced absentia seizures, and these "flashes"  seem to come through similar channels.  They are visually intense, but utterly silent.  Often they are accompanied by a distinct emotion.  They are purely psychic in nature.  Unlike with the Old Man, I never see FB with my natural vision.

     The second means by which FB communicates with me is direct knowledge, gnosis if you will.  This is generally how she makes requests of me.  An example of this form of communication would be the "request" I received to complete a three day fast in her honor.  The defining feature of this means of communication is the utter certainty I experience with regards to the message.  One moment I am going about my normal business, the next I know without a doubt that I should fast for three days (along with a host of other instructions and taboos).  Absolute certainty is not a condition native to my psyche, so I am inclined to receive these messages as originating from outside myself without much second-guessing.

     It seems to me that many public polytheists are gifted spirit-workers with many various avenues of communication.  I am curious as to how my experiences align with these folks understanding of divine communication.  I am also curious about how other "lay" polytheists communicate with their gods.  Thoughts?

How I came to Know Frijjo Birkijoniz

Introduction and Disclaimer
     I have no small amount of difficulty in identifying the exact moment that I first encountered Frijjo Birkijoniz.  I first came to know her by that name less than two years ago, but Her appearance in my life long predates this.  Coming to know FB has been an ongoing process, so I will have to combine prompts 2 and 26 in order to give a most accurate and precise account.  Even doing my best, the chronology may still be a little muddy.

The Lady of The Birches
     Not long after I first became a heathen, roughly at the age of fourteen or fifteen (1995 or 1996), I became aware of a deep and abiding spiritual presence among the birch trees.  I spent my summers as a child out in the forests and mountains of Vermont, which are graced with many stands of stately white birches.  I remember encountering the "Lady of the Birches", as I came to call her, in my quiet and solitary moments.  She was silent, cloaked in birch bark, and shining with an inner light.  She did not exactly fit with any of the goddesses I was learning about in the lore, so I inwardly acknowledged here presence, but gave nothing more of myself.  Her existence was real, our encounters were real, but not in the same way as my early encounters with the Old Man, which tended to be startlingly physical, and not at all mystical, or with the Thunderer who I would cavort naked with as the trees bent an the rain pelted against my flesh.

     It was when I began my study of the runes that I connected the presence I had felt in the birch groves to the mysterious goddess present in the Berkano rune-stave. Many of my experiences of the goddess lined up with the meaning hidden in that rune. The ideas of silence, enigma, and obfuscation which I experienced in my runic meditation and study were the same experiences I had as I walked among the birch trees.

     At the time that I began to study the runes in depth I was still fairly involved in Native American spiritual practices (in a relatively appropriation-free context; I have been fortunate to work with several respected elders from a number of nations), especially the sweat-lodge ceremony.  From these experiences I drew a connection to the purification aspect of Berkano, particularly once I learned that scourging with birch boughs is a traditional aspect of sauna culture.  Thus my birch goddess revealed herself as the matron of the sweat-bath.

     Most of these ideas had gelled in my mind by about the summer of 2001.  Right about at that time, however I drifted away from any sort of participation in heathenry, due in large part to the fairly toxic online heathen scene.  I continued to study the runes, but most of my practice became geared toward chaos magic, and I moved away from a religious interpretation of my heathenry.  If you had asked me what my religion was during that period, I would almost certainly have told you that I was a heathen, but to be quite frank, that was simply not what I was doing.  I spent about a decade in this state, exploring gnosticism, chaos magic, folk catholicism, and finally zoroastrianism.  Then I woke up.

What I Learned From Frigg
     In the winter between 2010 and 2011 I began to reach out once more to other heathens, and, more crucially, to reconnect with my own heathen practice.  I dusted off my hammer and assembled my stullon (portable altar) and blot tools.  In a moment of inspiration, I constructed a besom of birch twigs to use in place of an evergreen tine for reddening (sprinkling of the offering) following the blot.  I consecrated this tool to the Lady of the Birches.  Functionally, I had returned to her, but the process had not yet completed itself.

    It was in January of 2011 that I first met my good friend S, a fellow heathen living nearby.  We hit it off immediately, and decided to begin a series of study sessions, focusing on a god or class of wight every two weeks.  the very first god we chose to study was Frigg since neither one of us knew very much about her.  During the weeks of study, I experienced a series of series of strange omens, culminating in a night when an owl spent several hours trying to break into my house through the bedroom window.  As we sat down to discuss Frigg, I became aware of a familiar presence.  Here again was that same thunderous silence, that same secrecy and enigma.  Could it be possible that Frigg and the Lady of the Birches were one and the same?

     The qualities of FB which I discovered through my study of Frigg include an association with the art of spinning.  In the lore, Frigg is said to spin the thread (urlagaz) from which wyrd (wurdiz) is woven.  She knows all but reveals little.  Additionally, she presides over the family, which is the seat of tradition (siduz), which, in turn, is the basis of culture.

Synthesis
     As I began my rapprochement with heathenry, it became clear to me that I needed to systematize my approach.  I had never felt wholly comfortable with the Norse pantheon.  It was close, but still felt foreign to my experience of the Holy Powers.  Likewise, the Anglo-Saxon and every other historical Germanic tradition just seemed "off".  When I called the holy names in Proto-Germanic, however, I felt a deep and pure resonance.  This would be my path then: a new siduz springing from a source lost in pre-history, and Frijjo Birkijoniz would be my teacher.
    I have completed three major tasks for my goddess.  I found her proper name and have called her thus.  I completed an icon for her and have rendered sacrifice to her through it. Finally, this past July I undertook a three day fast at her request.  As I write this, I have just laid out an offering of elder flower liqueur to her.

     May her name resound through the generations.  May those who call her be blessed with her sublime presence.

Haili thu Frijjo Birkijoniz.  Ek lubo thek.

a note on my use of the 30 days prompts

It's becoming clear to me as I outline my responses to the Thirty Days of Deity Devotion writing prompts that its not going to be practical for me to address each prompt in a separate post.  I still intend to try to address each prompt, but will combine some.  Others will just have to get an "I don't know".  I'll do my best to reference which prompt(s) I'm dealing with in each post.