#holda

Frau Holle is perhaps one of the most documented and recognizable Continental Deities. There's a lot to cover so you're going to appreciate the Read More link here, but for the uninitiated Frau Holle is in charge of:

The weather, the fae, the wild hunt, death, the milling of souls, beauty, babies, the home, spinning, chores, labor, and a slew of animals like cows and sheep.

Theres the part of her that deals with domesticity, things like spinning, fiber arts, housekeeping, hard work, and anything to do with the hearth.

And then there’s a wild side with spirit flight, the witch’s sabbath, and the wild hunt. Not to mention her as a weather-making spirit or deity, and her associations with portals and liminality (think wells and thresholds). She’s also identified closely with the Elder-Mother or guardian of elder trees.

To Holda

I’m in the thick of illness again. It’s the day before the winter solstice, tea and diffusers are plenty in my room, and the rain forecasted by the weather app is defiantly becoming a thicker and thicker snow.

Holda is not typically a goddess of healing. She’s a goddess of home and hearth, of chores and domestic duties, and from my experience, a goddess of cycles and natural change — the things that must get done to keep the wheels turning. She’s a goddess of fall and winter, the hibernating and fallow seasons, the rest and resetting period that must happen in order for the next season to begin. Perhaps this is why she can be so stern: she knows what must happen, and if you know what’s best for you, you should too.

But I turn to her today in memory of the last time I was really sick: riddled with days of fever, slipping in and out of delirium, hitting the point where I began feverishly wondering if I was going to pull through (turns out I had covid). I had a half-awake, lucid dream suddenly of being in a dark wooden cabin that was blackened with age and my back to an ancient stone hearth where I was given a bowl of soup and brought to sit by the fire. Small blue flowers — either flax or cornflower — were pressed into my chest. Geese flew past the window which looked onto an expansive rolling field at late sunset.

Today I’m not nearly as sick as I was back then, but I’ve been ill for a few days and am facing a few more of bed rest with another bought of covid. I’ve dropped my pagan practice over the last two weeks due to rushing around. I think of Holda, and the last time I had covid, and with the solstice tomorrow (one of Her days) I feel the need to not be alone.

I light her electric candle and invoke her through prayer. I explain that I have nothing to offer but the light today for I am too sick to give my usual.

And I feel profound gentleness. My goddess, a Lady who goes by many names and faces, many likely forgotten to time. Gentleness, both vast and steady and old. I feel her with me and I stand, asked to be in peace and just rest. I feel the hearth shrine become beautiful. I feel her sweeping out the cobwebs of my lungs.

Goddess of Duality

One of the things Spirit has been showing me is how everything contains its counterpart. Frau Holle embodies this so fully. She’s shown me her stern side, she’s shown me her caring side, but more recently she’s been reminding me of her natural side — the face that screams along in the winter wind, the wild spirit who leads the Wild Hunt. In a winter storm she is both the blizzard and the walls of the house that shelter us from it. She is the hearth and the reason its thick bricks exist.

Perhaps it takes being such fierceness to be such gentleness.

The header is necessary because Nazi blogs and racialists keep trying to follow me. I am not one of you. If you can’t unlearn your disease, just eat shit and suck my cock.

You can call me Keej, this is my side blog for spirituality-focused stuff! I began my witchcraft and oneironaut journey around 11 years old, and fell out of the practice of witchcraft around 14. In the last few years, I’ve returned to a renewed practice and am looking forward to exploring magick again!

My path is built around traditional and folk magick, mainly the folk traditions of Bavaria and the Alps, as well as some Brujeria. I also incorporate elements of the local Californian landscape into my path. I adore hearth/cottage witchery, but I do spend a lot of time in the wilderness hiking and backpacking. My other focuses are folklore, animism, dreamwork, plant/herb magick, and kitchen witchery. I also have a guilty pleasure for glamour magick.

I’m personally very skeptical of divination, so I will mostly use “divination” as a means of introspection.

I observe Frau Holle/Holda and Perchta, so if you’re interested in her/them (however you look at it) then you may like my blog!

I also encourage you to reach out if you notice that I accidentally reblog misinformation, pseudoscience, or posts from a bigoted individual. I also encourage you to let me know if I accidentally reblog AI art. I don’t bite, and would really appreciate this!

Hail Freyr-Yngvi, who watches the seeds and roots sleep under the earth one day ready to awaken.

Hail Freyja, warrior of beauty and fierce golden light.

Hail Bride, welder of poetry and craft.

She immediately displayed transplant shock, her leaves all died and she droopped all the way to the concrete. But I knew she was still alive. I read that it can take months to recover from the shock, so I removed all her dead leaves and used a stick from the yard to help her stand up straight. Then I patiently watered her and braced myself to wait months to see if she'd bounce back.

To my utter surprise, she's recovering much faster than anticipated! Look at her leaves!! And she's standing on her own now despite the intense wind we're having. I'm so happy!

I'm looking forward to tending this emissary of the Elder Mother.