The Vanir Glyphs

Those who follow my facebook page might already be familiar with my new creation, but I thought I would explain a little more in depth about exactly what I have created and to what purpose. It is a system I have been working on for the past few weeks which I feel is finally ready to see the light of day, so I thought I would share with you all why I felt the need to create this system.

I have worked with physical methods of divination for much of my adult life. I started reading tarot when I was 12 years old, but the relationship I have with the cards ebbs and flows, and at times I cannot use them at all due to a certain disconnect I have with the negative energy the are sometimes susceptible to, as well as some of the symbolism. For instance, some of the more patriarchal tendencies they illustrate, the presence of a devil concept, and the social hierarchy reflected in them. King, Queen, Knight, Page, etc. It just doesn't mesh well with my personal ideals and philosophies, even though I have used them for many years with great result. There is still a disconnect there, that always comes back to haunt me.

Since becoming heathen, specifically Vanatru, I have found a similar disconnect between myself and the Runes. The runes are an amazing system, yet as a practitioner of the Vanic path, I have found they are a bit too Aesir centric for me to really connect to in a way that is practical and viable for me. So what to do?

I had read before of people creating their own systems for meditation and divination which followed the Vanir path. However so, no one has at this point, that I know of, shared those personal systems with others on the same path. It happened a few weeks ago that I found some unfinished wood circles while I was cleaning out the craft center, they were about an inch and a half in diameter, about the size and shape of poker chips. I like the feel of them in the hand, the grain of the wood, and the ease of handling them. It struck me that I could use these to fashion my own system, a thought that had been brewing for some time. The fact they were sold nine to a pack sealed the deal. (Nine ways of the Vanir, anyone?)

It took some time narrowing down the list of possibilities, but after a time I decided on several stencil images and ideas which I felt were essential to my understanding of the Vanic ways. I decided to follow a model of nine, after the nine ways of the Vanir. The first nine I call the majors, and to me represent the essential gods of the Vanir pantheon, in my personal estimation. The second group, called minors, represents both those who interact with the Vanir and a couple essential concepts of the Vanic paradigm, such as the concept of wyrd and the world tree Yggdrasil. I intended to make the set 27 in size, but after brainstorming I found it was much easier to pick 18 essential concepts rather than 27 general ones. I also like the fact that 18 chips fit just right in the hand, 27 would be too much to cast one handed.

I think one of the major reasons such Vanir based systems have not been shown publicly is simply the fear of being attacked by hardcore heathens. I have reached a point in my practice where I no longer care about this, as I am sure in my research, experience, and understanding of a Vanic lifeway. I do not claim these have any historical basis, or are anything more than an utterly modern, personally created system I have made to further my spiritual connection to the Vanir gods. I am sharing because I know that other Vanatru, being such a minority, also find it hard to create a practice for themselves when so little is left of the Vanir ways, and hope only that they might find my creation useful, relevant, and insightful, and use the system themselves or at least let it be an inspiration for them to create their own personal systems which are focused on our Vanir gods.

I would also add that learning a system of divination and meditation such as this is amazingly easy when it is yourself who has created it. You already know what everything is and means. =)

In frith
Cena