Fair warning, this is probably going to go into UPG or whatever it’s called.

Things I’d like to do with the Gods and Goddesses.

I hear Hel likes flowers. I would like to go pick flowers with her.

Freyja likes strawberries, and I’ve heard strawberry daiquirís are her favorite. I wouldn’t mind trying those with her. I like strawberry stuff, though sadly I can’t eat them anymore. I would love to share strawberry pocky with her.

Thor likes food greasy, or so I am told. Apparently he’s a big fan of BBQ, which leads to fun at his house. I have to be careful with the stuff, because I don’t do well with pork, but it might be fun to go out and have some with him.

So often we forget that our Gods and Goddesses are, well, just as much people as we do. We sit back and view them as these great, powerful, distant beings. And to an extent they are. Asgard isn’t on Midgard. And they certainly are insanely powerful. In a Marvel Comic, it was once said that Thor possesses the power of every storm on the planet. All one has to do is look at what happened in Texas to realize the power of a small storm that effects just a state or two. Sometimes I wonder if Thor draws, or is, the power of all storms, no just on Midgard, but in the entire universe. Can you imagine that kind of power? Hel is the Goddess of Death. Wherever a thing dies, is her power. And even as we live, as every things, it is also dying at the same time! Freyja is the Goddess of beauty, battle, and fertility. Everywhere there is beauty, everywhere there is battle, everywhere there is life, is her power!

Who needs a god that is all powerful? When all the other Gods and Goddess, whose power is in everywhere and everything, clearly surpass any being of “omnipotence.”

But they’re still people. They like making friends, walking around, getting into trouble (admittedly probably on a larger scale than you or I tend to do, but still). It can be a bit jarring, to think that Freyja, who strides the fields of battle, of livestock, and of produce, and makes sure there is a fine harvest, could appear as just another lovely, busty blonde at a bar, sipping a strawberry cocktail. Or that Hel, who takes all living things in their time could be around the corner at your local florists, looking lovingly at all the flowers and even getting herself some. That Thor could well be the guy the next table over at Buddy’s BBQ, working his way through an all you can eat platter and as many rolls of paper towels as he can get his hands on.

Recently, I got my altar set up, and I try to spend a few minutes there every day. Admittedly, I generally only manage about five to ten minutes, I’m still working out how to sit still there. And I tend to speak rote words, giving hails unto them, casting a few runes for their advice. But even as I do this, I’m slowly coming aware, both by my own realizations and reading from others, that the Gods and Goddesses are people, and it is better to approach them respectfully as friends, rather than as some distant beings. I haven’t really started this, it’s a constant evolution as my mind wraps around this, since for so long they’ve been distant things on the horizon. I still don’t know if I’m comfortable venting my problems, concerns, and thoughts to them. Partially because I don’t know if they wanna hear it. To paraphrase what Bogart said, “The problems of few little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this world.” I can be arrogant, but I don’t know if I’m that arrogant. Then again, if they are to be our friends, should we not act as friends?

I talked here recently, about how I think the whole “personal relationship with a god” thing started with our Pagan ancestors, despite the fact that it is commonly known as a Christian thing. After all, at least for the “Scando-Germanic” traditions, the Gods and Goddesses are our family members. That kind of leads to personal relationships.

Years ago, I thought I fully understood my power. These days, I’m learning that in regards to both Magic and Faith, I’m having to learn how to use it all over again. Where it leads, I don’t know. But I have faith, that my Gods and Goddesses will be there with me. And when at last I journey to my place in the Three Halls of Death of my people, be it an assigned place, or one of my choosing, I know that even then the adventure will not end, and that my Kin, both God and Mortal will be there with me.

So the next time you go out to pick flowers, have a greasy meal, taste something of strawberries, or do any of a number of other things that your own Gods and Goddesses like, dedicate it to them, share it with them, and remember that ours are not distant gods, but close and oft loving friends and family. Hail to the Gods. Hail to the Goddesses. Hail to kith and kin. To our friends. 🙂