Heathen Kinship Blessings

Below you will find links to all the Blessings and daily rituals practiced by members of the Heathen Kinship. Some of these "rituals" are more or less modern inventions made up to "fill in the gaps" or provide comfort to those who need such rituals. The Daily Adorations are not historic, nor are the hammer signing or hammer rite. It's very likely that our ancestors made an area holy mostly by holding blots there, they may well have raised a hammer and invoked Thor to make the area sacred.  In fact, that's pretty likely.  But not historic, provable fact.  Having noted that though, the ritual is still appropriate, emotionally moving, and certainly doesn't hurt anything. The Native Americans also had many rituals involving the four directions, and honoring the sun and moon, so it is Possible that some of our ancestors somewhere might also have made up something like this! This should not be confused for "sacred rites of ancient tradition" however!  While the Daily adorations, Hammer Signing, and Hammer Rite are not historically accurate (as far as we know!), the Blessings that follow are based on traditions that go back thousands of years!

 

For the main celebrations (rituals) of Asatru, we honor our gods (as opposed to "worshipping" them) by remembering their stories/lessons, by offering them a gift, by calling on their names and sharing a drink with them.   The "gift" we offer can take the physical form of many different things, wheat, fruits, money, ale.   One traditional gift our ancestors offered was blood.  This type of offering was referred to as a Blot, which is the root word that the term "blessing" derives from.  Literally, to bless something is to make it bloody!  Today, we usually use mead or ale as a substitute for blood, though on Yule, at least, we try to have a more traditional Blot with the pig we roast on the spit!                  see more details here

  

  Daily Daily Adorations to Sunna (practiced either 3 or 4 times per day)
  As needed Hammer Signing - our protection and charging rite
  As needed Hammer Rite - to make a space sacred or holy

 ~Above at the common/daily rites, below are the blessings~
  December 31st Yule - The Holiest blessing of the year. The meaning of Yule
  February 14th Disting / Vali's Blot - A time when we choose to honor the Disir and Vali The origin of Vali's Blot
  Spring Equinox

Ostarra - Celebration of Fertility and the re-awakening of the earth

 Origins of "Easter" on History.com

  April 30th  Walburgisnacht - Private Rite for Kindred only.
  June 21 (solstice) Midsummer - Open public rite with outdoor games and competition
  August THING - Business meeting to plan for the next year
  full moon after fall Equinox Harvest - To celebrate the year's rewards The history of Harvest
   October 15 Winter Nights - last Celebration before winter closes in
  December 20th Mother Night - Start of the 12 days of Yule