TEUTONIC MAGIC - Awaken Video

which was a practical necessity. The month of slaughtering was called Blotmonath (month of blessing) in
heathen England, and it is likely that each animal was hallowed before it was slain. For this reason, unless
one owns a farm at which animals are slaughtered regularly, it is not needful or even desired to revive the
custom of animal sacrifice (it is also illegal, and leads to bad press). Pouring an offering of mead or ale
over the harrow or onto the earth is all that is needed. Alternatively, one can make animals out of bread
(charging them strongly with life-energy) and ritually slaughter and eat them, sprinkling mead or ale from
the blessing bowl. The gift of loaves shaped like animals was used in Germany for several centuries after
the Christianization of that land, and even today in Sweden the Yule boar survives as a pig- shaped cake.
It is further customary to drink several minnehorns (horns of memory) at these feasts, according to
the gods being honored. The best-documented toasts are those of Yule, where the first horn was drunk to
Odhinn for victory, the second to Njord for fair winds and good sailing, and the third to Freyr for peace
and prosperity. It is also written that some drank to Odhinn for victory in battle, but those who trusted
more to their own strength called upon Thorr. If you feel particularly drawn to one of the gods or
goddesses more than the others, you should of course drink that toast. Likewise, it is fitting to drink the
minne of heroes, dead ancestors, and absent friends.
Blessings can be offered at any tie of great need. You should, however, remember that the giving
of a gift creates an obligation and that if you do this too often it begins to become annoying-to the gods as
well as to humans.
The practice of Teutonic religion is not necessary to the practice of Teutonic magic, but it is helpful
both in that it strengthens your relationship with the gods-all of whom can aid in different aspects of
magic-and in that it brings you to a greater awareness of the godly forces expressed in the runes, as well
as of the Teutonic mindset as it grows to encompass the twentieth century. Performance of the blessings
is also good for strengthening your sensitivity to the seasonal flows of power, just as the rite "Hail to
Sunna" raises your ability to feel and use the greatest points of power in the course of the day.
Guidelines and examples of the seasonal blessings may be found in Edred Thorsson's Book of Troth.
In magical work with the gods, it is best to spend some time reading about them and performing
meditations before you start performing rituals that involve them. Kevin Crossley-Holland's The Norse
Myths is a good beginning source; the Eddas are, of course, invaluable. Meditations on the gods
themselves can be performed from the descriptions here as searches. For guided meditations, one
possibility is to use the meditation for the appropriate rune and instead of following it all the way through,
stopping the reading at the point where you meet the god or goddess and allowing that being to speak
directly to you, bringing yourself back to your own body and the earth after a space of time (no more than
two to five minutes for a beginner). For this you will do best to tape yourself reading it. Stephen
McNallen's tape "Pathways to the Gods" (available through World-Tree Publications, P.O. Box 961,
Payton, AZ 85547) is an excellent source of truly beautiful guided meditations.
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