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Blots: Are We Doing Them Wrong?

Blots: Are We Doing Them Wrong?

I’ve been racking my brain about what to write this week.  So, naturally, the idea comes to me while I’m feeding my goats and other sundry critters.  Heathens do a lot of offerings and blots, but are they the right ones? And can we scientifically talk about “offerings” in the context of a more enlightened age?  Actually, I think we can, and I know I’m going to ruffle a few feathers with this, so hang on.

Let’s Talk About Wights

One of the critters we give offerings to are the wights.  Wikipedia states:

Wight is an English word, from Old English wiht, and used to describe a creature or living sentient being. It is akin to Old High German wiht, meaning a creature or thing.

Now, granted, the concept of Wights in our beliefs tend to touch on those magical spirits that inhabit homes, land, and other places.  Technically, our gods could be considered wights, as well as humans, as the Anglo-Saxon term actually suggested a human being.

I’m rather agnostic when it comes to wights, although I seem to have had what could be construed as possible encounters with them.  But for the sake of argument, I’ll talk wights like I believe in them.

Your Car Wight

Okay, with me so far?  So,  let’s say the wights are the essence of some sort of “thing,” whether it is a tree, stone, a piece of land, or whatever is around us.  We can consider animals as part of the “wights,” in my not so humble opinion, and we may be able to consider everyday objects as wights as well.

“Wait a second,” you say.  “There aren’t wights when it comes to computers, dishes, or cars.”  Oh, I would heartily disagree.  If you’ve ever worked on cars, airplanes, computers, or some other mechanical device, or operated them for any length of time, you damn well know each of them have their own distinct personality. You can drive five of the very same model and same year of vehicle and get a different impression of each.  Even from the factory.

Now, you may argue that cars obtain their “personality” from the persons who assembled it on a particular day, the flaws in the parts they might have, and the owners they have.  Okay, so how is this different from something living?  We obtain our basic genetic code and personality from our parents (Mom had something to do with our assembly), the flaws we have (you have arthritis or maybe a healed broken bone?), and the experience and care we receive growing up.  Hmmm.  That sounds like there are correlations here.

“But my car isn’t sentient!” you say.  “It’s a man made construct!” I’d agree with you, only to a point. Everything we see and use has been created from the same natural materials that came from stars. The metal that makes up the car was mined.  The fuel it uses is from plants and animals that rotted millions of years ago.  Everything in a car — every molecule — came from nature.  We did not create the mass, although we can rearrange molecules and change them into different compounds.  So, if you subscribe to wights at all, you have to consider your car is a wight.

Does My Car Need Offerings?

This is a silly question, but one that you’ll have to look at seriously.  We certainly do make “blots” to our cars. We even have some very prescribed rituals for making sure they are satisfied and will give us a gift in return for our gifts.

Our frequent blots to our cars: we go to the gas station for fuel.  We offer our hard-earned tokens that symbolize our energy equation (money) in exchange for other energy (fuel), and we have a special requirement for how to provide the offering (open the fuel cap, prepay at the pump, insert the nozzle, etc.)  Less frequent blots: changing the oil, rotating the tires, getting a tune up, etc.  Often, these blots occur at a particular seasonal time: change summer tires to winter tires in the fall, change winter tires to summer tires in the spring, tune up the car late spring for summer trips, etc.

We offer these “gifts” in exchange for our car’s gift: transportation.  Still don’t believe the car is a wight?  People talk to them all the time.  They name their cars.  They grow attachments to them. Some people trust their cars better than they trust their spouses.   I remember back in college friends comparing the top end speed of their Volkswagen Beetles. Same era and virtually the same cars, yet they were very different.

Now, did these wights talk back or go rescue your ass when you got stuck with a bad date?  Of course not. That’s not within their operating parameters.  But they have quirks and behaviors you can’t ignore (especially when they hate cold weather).

Let’s Take This One Step Further

So, if you’re with me that cars and computers and airplanes can be wights, then it’s not a farfetched conclusion to look at what we give them in return for gifts. We give them something they need in order to perform properly.  When I look at my goats, I know I need to feed them hay and minerals plus give them water, and assuming the goat kidded, I will get milk in return.  Gift for a gift.  Now, let’s look at our nature wights and our gods.  This now brings me to the question: if we give offerings, what are we giving the gods and nature Wights that they need?

In other words:

What the fuck does a god or land wight need with mead?

See my problem?  We could make up some woo-woo stuff about the essence strengthening the land wight or the god appreciating the sacrifice. But I’m not sure that really works. In fact, I would argue that it may not do anything for the land wight. And a god? If a god is the essence of what he or she represents, I’m wondering if sacrificing things that have no bearing on what the god is would even be appreciated.

Now I may be full of shit here. But I notice that more often than not the gods favor those in particular areas who have made a fair amount of effort toward whatever they look to gain. Sure, there is blind, dumb luck like those who win who play the lottery, but with the exception of maybe the Lokeans, most of us don’t depend on randomness in our lives.

So What Would Be an Appropriate Offering to the Gods and

Wights? (Or would Thor like a Tesla Coil?)

If we take the gods as personified metaphors, then we need to look at their function and see what strengthens their role.  Wisdom and creativity are two things that Odin would like.  Tyr is obviously the god of laws, so doing something toward upholding law and order is appropriate.  But then I start getting silly and seeing within my mind’s eye Thor’s glee at a Tesla coil.  Yes, somehow, I think he likes those.

When it comes to wights, the offering should be appropriate to the wight. If we can, we need to understand what makes that wight and that particular environment thrive.  That might mean clearing out noxious weeds on a piece of land, or maybe providing water during a drought, but in all honesty, I believe that if there are wights, wights are limited by the physical constructs they cling to. That means that they can only do what is prescribed by their form. A tree wight, for example, can only do things that trees do — in the relation of gifts and giving. It can accept things that the tree can use, and it can provide what the tree can provide.  Anything else is asking something beyond it’s reasoning.  It’s like asking a dog to explain particle physics to you.  Assuming the dog knows particle physics (which, with the exception of a couple I know, don’t), the dog can’t tell us that he knows because he can’t speak our language due to lack of a soft palate, shape of the tongue, and possibly the inability to understand English. (Although most dogs I know have a limited human vocabulary.)  So, I suspect is the problem with asking the wrong thing from the wights.

So, Where am I Going with this?

So, am I telling you to stop laying out offerings?  No. Am I telling you that my way is the only way? No. Am I thinking that we’re doing blots wrong?  Maybe.  We got the concept of offerings from our ancestors, who may or may not have had an understanding of what the gods and wights wanted/needed.  After all, while there are many good things we learned from our ancestors, our ancestors got shit wrong all the time, especially when it came to science.  So they could’ve just anthropomorphized the gods and wights and assumed they wanted things that people want. But do the gods have needs that we as mortals can satisfy?

And then the question remains is, are they at all interested in what we give them?  I mean, Odin doesn’t need Twinkies.  (Neither do I, but no one sends a package my direction, either.)  It may simply be the act of giving the gods something we value that works, and not necessarily the item. I can accept that.  But I do ponder the implications of today’s musings and wonder if we’re going down the wrong path with our blots.

Then again, the whole idea is the goats’ fault, since I was feeding them. You can blame them.

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Blood Sacrifices and Other Moronic Things

Blood Sacrifices and Other Moronic Things

I’ve been talking to one of my peeps and he asked me my opinion on sacrificing animals to the gods.  Now, before anyone gets their panties in a wad, let’s review my background a wee bit.  I am a hunter and I raise animals for my food.  Yes, that means I have killed animals.  So, I am not an animal rights person by any stretch.  So, let’s continue:

Blood sacrifices today are simply a stupid idea.  Period. 

There, I got that out.  I’ll explain my rationale (Rational Heathen — get it?) and why I believe that there is no reason people should take an animal’s (or person’s) life as a sacrifice to the gods.

The Gods Don’t Need Your Sacrifice

Assuming our religion and beliefs aren’t just some mass delusion on the part of a number of people, including myself, our gods don’t need a sacrifice in any fashion.  They’ve been doing fine without that dead chicken or goat for billions of years, thank you. If they eat, your scrawny attempt at giving them something is laughable.  You want favor from a god?  Live the way the god or goddess expects you to.

I’ve never heard of someone being an absolute shit in the stories, making a sacrifice, and having the gods say, “Okay, Bro, you gave us a delicious barbecue pig, we’re going to cut you some slack for being a shit all your life and grant you something you wanted.”  See: The Gods are Not Your Bitches, if you still don’t get it.

So, they don’t need the blot, whether it’s mead, a box of Twinkies (wink), or a chicken.  We offer the blot to show our appreciation to the gods and ask (nicely) if they would do us a favor.  The gods don’t necessarily accept the offering, although it’s now gone, so whether it works or not is pretty much immaterial.

Taking a life — any life — is serious business. Our ancestors understood that when they slaughtered or butchered animals.  In terms of human sacrifice (and I can’t BELIEVE I have to talk about this), the sacrifices weren’t as clean or as positive as you’d think.  More often than not, it was a way to disposed of enemies, or, in the case of the account of sacrificing the slave girl, it was a way to behave barbarically.

Sorry folks, our ancestors weren’t always right.

It Means Nothing to You

It sounds callous, but I truly believe that sacrificing an animal means nothing to you, other than seeing an animal die. Before you get all pissy, hear me out.  Nowadays, most people do not make their living in agriculture or raising herds (or flocks). In fact, I’d bet that even if you sacrificed your own animal, it doesn’t really take anything away from you in a serious financial way. Our ancestors sacrificed animals because animals were a form of wealth  (Fehu).  Sacrificing an animal meant you were showing how serious you were to the gods about your request. You were willing to sacrifice your hard-earned wealth for the favor. Think of it as taking a pile of money and burning it.  Yes, that’s what it was like.

Now, you may argue with me that you paid a couple hundred dollars for that goat.  Okay, yeah.  But you invested NOTHING.  You didn’t help kid it. You didn’t raise it and plan on it being a dairy goat.  You didn’t spend much (if any) time with it.  Look, I raise goats, and I don’t sacrifice them to the gods on a desperate attempt at getting favor from the gods. Yes, I do slaughter them from time to time, largely because I have wethers (castrated males) who basically are being raised for meat.  But these guys have a purpose to feed me.  And if I dedicate them to my gods, I do it without ceremony.

If you want to sacrifice something that means something to you to the gods, try an iPhone, your Internet connection, or your car.  THEN, you have something that means something to you.  Not sure what Thor would do with an iPhone, but hey, it’s electric.

Do You Really Know How to Kill an Animal Correctly?

Some of you would know how to slaughter animals humanely, but most of you I’d bet have never killed an animal for food in your life.  Sorry, that’s a fact of life and our era.  Most people get squeamish in Biology class, let alone seeing a real animal get killed.  As a hunter and one who has slaughtered animals, I can truly say that the results are often less than stellar.  Goats, for example, are the hardest critters to kill.  You get a lot of thrashing, even if you put bullets in their brain. I’ve shot heads off of birds and the body goes through spasms even if there is no input from the brain any longer.  The saying “running around like a chicken with its head cut off” is apropos, even if I’ve never seen them “run.”

Gods help you if you fuck up the slaughter and make a total hash out of it.  Remember, you’re probably doing it in front of a bunch of folks if this is a ritual. Oh yeah, that would be good.

Is the Animal’s Terror Worth it?

Slaughter should be done humanely.  There, I’ve said it. Bringing an animal to a ritual is anything but humane.  You have taken it away from its environment and stuck it with a bunch of weird looking people who are chanting and praying.  Some animals, like goats, are highly intelligent.  Many goats I’ve owned rival dogs in intellect.  And you’re going to put them through this?  Way to go!

No, this is NOT humane. 

You’re Wasting an Animal’s Life

You may argue that you’re eating the animal at a feast.  Yeah, how much of the animal are you eating?  Who is processing the animal?  I’m sorry, but it takes time to properly skin, dress, and butcher an animal.  I do it in a few hours, depending on the size of the critter. It’s hard, backbreaking work, by the way, to strip all the meat out, choose the roasts and steaks, and grind the hamburger.  Then, there is wrapping and freezing it.  Do you have an idea how to butcher it?

On Human Sacrifice

Okay, if you seriously think that human sacrifice is fine, then it is time to check yourself into a mental institution.  I don’t want to be anywhere near you.  And yes, you are fucking nuts.

Alternatives to Blood Sacrifices

You want to sacrifice to the gods?  Okay, then do something worthwhile and dedicate your work to them. I regularly dedicate my hunting to Tyr and Skadi because the work of hunting often exceeds the payout at the end. If I do take game, I thank the animal, the wights, and the gods so I can eat. If we slaughter an animal, we do the same.  Killing is serious business.  As a hunter, my goal is always a humane kill.  Animals die inhumanely in the wild all the time, so if I can give my meal a good death, then I have done my part.

Don’t want to hunt?  Try creating a container garden and dedicate the work for that.  Maybe you’ve been trying to learn a musical instrument. Dedicate your practice and performance to the gods of your choice. What about your art, your writing, your work?  How about helping out in a cause you believe in?  All of these things are good, and the gods will be pleased.

Our ancestors sacrificed many things that were of value to them.  Given that most of us have so little time, dedicating our time to something that we do not gain from is one way to give to the gods.  And yeah, I’m pretty sure they’d be good with that.