A poem by James Moore-Hodur
Walk and wander down the winding way,
Observe, smell the air, listen to the amazing display,
The green budding leaves on the trees, the flowers, and the colors are there.
Spring has Sprung
Winter is undone.
Rejoice Ostara, Éostre, Easter is dancing,
She is prancing gaily down the path,
Let us wander with the hope child around the bend and down the way.
Winter is undone,
Spring is sprung.
[Eostre/Easter/Ostara- Artist Unknown]
Phallic Freyr is having fun,
Playing with his jolly holly
Seeds all over when it’s done,
Phallic Freyr is pleasing in an envelope or even in a bum,
Phallic Freyr is a handful and more,
Sowing Frith and so much more
His love is bountiful by the score,
Tis is no oath more sacred sworn,
With one hand on your heart and one hand on his boar,
Phallic Freyr, Now i shall start sowing seeds a plenty for you,
Having zest for a peaceful life in my heart,
Fun is everywhere even when I’m playing with my part,
Holding you close is sacred… and an admired art.
I am blind,
I am in the dark,
But I am not afraid.
I peer into the void,
The glittering void of my soul,
I turn within to know what is with-out.
Here, I’ve touched my inner divinity,
I am stronger for it,
I am far better in this darkness than any man, god, or giant.
I am blind,
But I do not see danger,
I want to play in their games,
Mistletoe?
Ok, I’ll give it a throw.
Gasp!
What happened?
What did I do???
Why is everyone crying??
What did I do??
I am blind,
I am alone,
My brother is dead,
Vengeance will be coming.
I am dead,
I’m free to embrace my family,
I don’t need my eyes to see,
I am not alone anymore,
It’s Brother and me.
I am always in darkness,
But I am not afraid,
I can see more clearly than the light of day,
And the cycle must be complete,
You can’t have one without the other,
Day without the Night,
As above, so below
Balance and Counter-balance
Baldur and Hodur together.
(Loki guides Hodur’s arm to contrive the death of Baldur by Gordon Browne.)
Faithful, Frith-Filled Friend,
Oh how I love you to where stars shall end,
I raised you like a son,
Oh You playful and Happy one!
Faithful, Frith-Filled Friend,
Oh how I will love you ’til the end,
You’ve grown so strong and full of might,
You gave us half a fright,
When you had put up such a fight
Faithful, Frith-Filled friend,
Oh how I love you to where stars shall end,
You destroyed father’s chair,
You ate his favored deer,
Your teeth doth tear,
Your bite is filled with such spite.
Faithful Frith-Filled friend,
Oh how I love you to the end,
I do not know what to do for you,
When you have come so unglued,
I have to do something,
I have to preserve order, a Ragnarok to stave off,
I don’t want to leave you in Chaos’ Hof.
Faithful Frith-Filled Friend,
Oh how I love you to where stars shall end,
I have to save you from yourself,
A collar we have made by dwarf and elf,
Rules I shall break and Order I shall bend,
I want to keep you with me always until we meet Our End.
Faithful Frith-Filled Friend,
I know I lied and still I cried,
When I placed my hand in your maw,
Watching your mouth become a saw,
A pledge fulfilled to you, my friend
Oh how I love you to the end!
(Tyr and Fenrir. Source here)
All-Father, Valfather, Sigfather
God
Hroptyr, Runatyr, Fimbultyr
Wanderer
Ómi, Óski, Godi
Warrior
All-Father, Valfather, Sigfather
Creator
Hroptyr, Runatyr, Fimbultyr
Breath giver
Ómi, Óski, Godi
Chieftain
All-Father, Valfather, Sigfather
Patron
Hroptyr, Runatyr, Fimbultyr
Father
Ómi, Óski, Godi
Huband
All-Father, Valfather, Sigfather
Magician
Hroptyr, Runatyr, Fimbultyr
Rune Finder
Ómi, Óski, Godi
Wisdom seeker
All-Father, Valfather, Sigfather
Raven God
Hroptyr, Runatyr, Fimbultyr
One-eyed
Ómi, Óski, Godi
Sacrifice
All-Father, Valfather, Sigfather
Beguiler
Hroptyr, Runatyr, Fimbultyr
Seducer
Ómi, Óski, Godi
Mead winner
All-Father, Valfather, Sigfather
Poet
Hroptyr, Runatyr, Fimbultyr
Kin Slayer
Ómi, Óski, Godi
Ygg’s Rider
All-Father, Valfather, Sigfather
Mad Maker
Hroptyr, Runatyr, Fimbultyr
Feared one
Ómi, Óski, Godi
Father of the Slain
All-Father, Valfather, Sigfather
Teacher
Hroptyr, Runatyr, Fimbultyr
Grandfather
Ómi, Óski, Godi
Knowledge giver
(Odin, the Wanderer by Georg von Rosen. Source- here )
Weary wanderer winding down the way,
Sit, converse, conspire, stay,
Tell us Tall-Tales of Thor, Theorize thus about thy Thunderer,
Laugh with us about Laufey’s lie giving leaf, Blood Brother of Bori’s Boy,
Fraternize with us about Frey and Freya, Lordly liege and Lady,
Bring us a ballad of beaming bright Baldur or bold boasting Bragi,
Harken to us tell of Hel’s hearth and hold,
Knot together gnarly yarns of nautical Noatun-Lord,
Hunt for us legend of the haute Hoarfrost huntress,
Wrought wind of Watchman’s wide-seeing, wide hearing stories of wheel and woe of worlds beyond,
Ski us past slopes that Uller scales
Inspire us immortally with appellations of Apple-Picker’s Prizes.
World Weary Wanderer wishes to be on his way,
Rise, Fondly Farewell, Fare forth, Fly.
Yonder Yggdrasil yells for Way-Weary, World-Wise Wanderer years long journey call.
(Odin, the AllFather. Source here)
Óðinn is breath.
The All-Father is the very air that fills your lungs.
He is the wind.
He is everywhere wandering like the breeze through the new autumn leaves.
Óðinn wanders on…
He is in the roaring scream!
He is in the Galdr Chant.
He is the speech among kinsmen.
He walks among us as we are reflections of Yggdrasil itself.
Óðinn wanders on…
Breath connects all life.
Breath makes peace.
Breath makes love.
Breath makes war.
Breath sings a Rune’s true song.
Breath tells lies.
Breath whispers secrets.
The absence of breath brings death and destruction.
Breath brings poetry to life.
Breath connects us all.
Óðinn wanders on…
(The art and artist are unknown to me. I found it here. If anyone knows the artist, please let me know via email)
Hail and Welcome!
My name is James Moore-Hodur. I wish to welcome you to this blog. This blog is my newest creative endeavor, Önd: The Journey of Breath. Önd was the gift bestowed to mankind at creation from Odin,the AllFather. Önd is the breath of life and/or animating principle of spirit. Odin’s name literally means breath, ecstatic inspiration, energy. My hope is that my readers can enjoy what I have written and become inspired/energized to write their own poems. Odin is a wandering deity and he often is traveling much like the wind. The wind fills our lungs. Odin is within us as we take our breath. He is the go that brought to mankind the mead of inspiration and droplets of that mead sometimes fall upon the folk. Those folk are sometimes moved to write poems or to great creative things. My hope is that my readers can be inspired to do something creative as a result of my poetry.
I began writing poems when my mother passed away in 2000. It was a way to create while having all this sorrow and anger that welled up inside of me. As time went on and when I discovered the heathen path, my poetry began anew and with much vigor. My current poetry is very much inspired by my religious path and by the gods and goddesses that inhabit my spiritual sphere of influence. At no point, will I claim to have a master over the poetic form nor will I claim to have mastery over anything. I am always learning. My poems come to me at random times. They come in a lyrical or rhyming fashion. I don’t quibble over form or how it looks. I simply put pen to paper or finger to my iPhone and let it flow out of me. My poetry is free flowing river of my consciousness. I let the muses of inspiration come to me and I am the instrument of that inspiration. Whether it is Odin or whomever, I let my heart and my soul be moved in such a way to allow these poems to be set down in an electronic form or within my notebook. This blog will be an exploration and journey of those poems. I will be sharing both my heathen inspired poems and my other non-heathen poems throughout the length of this blog.
I do NOT claim to be an ancient Skald or Norse poet. Nor will I claim to be a modern Skald in any right. Sometimes my poems reach towards that “Skaldic” style and could very well be nearing that level of complexity.
My poems are written in MY style. I don’t have a name for it. I won’t be writing in Old Norse or any other language for that matter. I do not pretend to have a mastery over any language even the English language. I do try my best to keep my prose and my poems in the best grammatical form and in the best “English” as possible. But I do sometimes fail at even my own first language. (LOL!)
I am an Odinsman. A lot of my poetry is inspired by Odin, the AllFather. However, I will be sharing poems that pertain to the other Norse pantheon and the creatures that live in, around and under Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
I will be sharing poems that are not so heathen that were written in times of deep emotion and memory. My poetry lays bare emotions. My emotional state is not so happy at times and can quite dark. I hope that from this darkness I bring to this blog that it will serve as source of inspiration and power. Life is not always sunshine and rainbows. Dark thoughts and emotions are not always bad things. Make friends with your own darkness. Let it fuel and empower of you.
The universe began in darkness and in the void. It was through the combination of fire and ice that we have our universe. It is through the combination of potentiality (ice) and energy (fire) that births forth imagination and inspiration in our souls.
Please feel free to share this blog with your friends and family. Also, please check out my other blog, Rune Lore for All. It is a blog on my esoteric practices with the Runes. And who knows, my runic work may bleed over to my poetry from time to time. Runes are everywhere!
With this blog, I want to share my Önd, my journey of the breath of my inspiration with all of you! I hope that I can breath life and inspiration into your daily lives!
Let us wander as Odin does…
Önd: The Journey of Breath 