Blótskaparbók

(Taken from Ekortu's publication "Þursakyngi, Volume 1, The Essence of Thursian Sorcery.")

Within these texts are certain important magical tools brought up which are significant within the sorcerous and religious praxis of the Thursatru Tradition. Most of them are remains from an authentic pre-Christian Norse sorcerous practice and worship, but adapted to our Sinister Way of Thursian Worship.

This is not by far a complete list; nor is the tools and ways of using them within the Thursatru Tradition historically identical. The purpose is to give an idea how they were used by the Norsemen, but develop our own Thursian Tradition.

It is also essential for the reader to know that what is written here is a foundation of our tradition to build your own Thursian workings upon. Remember to always let your workings emanate from the Thursian Essence and Correspondences, thence:

Adapt and prosper!

Religious Relics

Here are some Norse references to the blót-praxis. All of the texts below are a later practice from when Christianity had rooted in the Nordic countries. But these extracts are a few of the meager traditional remains for us to take practical inspiration from.

The first text quoted is from Eyrbyggja saga, which belongs to the collection of sagas known as the Icelanders’ Sagas, because it holds such fundamental information about the Old Norse ritual tradition. It embraces many details of what is called blótskapr, things belonging to blót, and from this we can understand it and develop it:

He (Þórólfur) set up for himself a great house at Hofsvág which he called Hovstaðir. There he let build a temple (hof), and a mighty house it was. There was a door in the side-wall and nearer to one end. Within the door stood the pillars of the high-seat, and nails were therein; they were called the gods' nails (reginnaglar). Inside was a great place of peace. And further inside the house was another house, of that fashion whereof now is the choir of a church, and there stood a stallr in the midst of the floor in the fashion of an altar, and thereon lay a ring without a join that weighed twenty ounces, and on that must men swear all oaths; and that ring must the priest (hofgoði) have on his arm at all man-gatherings. On the stallr should also stand the sacrificial blood-bowl (hlautbolli), and therein the sacrificial whisk (hlautteinn) was, like unto a sprinkler, and therewith should be sprinkled from the bowl that blood which is called hlaut, which was that kind of blood which flowed when those beasts were killed (sæfa) who were sacrificed (fórna) to the gods. But round about the stallr were the gods arrayed in the side-room. To that temple must all men pay toll, and be bound to follow the priest (hofgoði) in all farings even as now are the thingmen of chiefs. But the priest must uphold the temple at his own charges, so that it should not go to waste, and hold therein feasts of sacrifice (blótveizlur).

Another quoted passage is from chapter 16 in Saga Hákonar góða found in Heimskringla by Snorra Sturlu-sonar, another important testimony of what the Old Norse blót-tradition and function embodied. Especially the hlaut-tradition is very important to understand – which was also mentioned in the above quotation – and therefore it should be extra contemplated:

It was Old tradition (forn siðr), when it was blót, all farmers should attend to where the temple (hof) was and bring their provisions; that which they would have during the feast (veizla). During the feast (veizla) all men should drink beer (öl); all kinds of small cattle and horses were killed, and all the blood that came thereof was called hlaut, and sacrificial blood-bowls (hlautbollar) in which the hlaut-blood was collected in, and sacrificial whisk (hlautteinar) – which were made as “sprinklers” (stöklar) – with them all the altars (stallanaöllu) were redden (rjóða), and so the outer and inner walls of the temple (hof), and the men as well. The meat should be simmered to the joy of the men. Fires should be placed in the middle of the temple and cauldrons above them. A chalice (full) should be brought around the fires, and the one who did this was the one holding the feast and the chief, and he should consecrate (signa) the chalice and all the blót-food.

After this you toasted (full) the powers and the dead, and then the congregation drank. An Old Norse stökkullwas supposedly some kind of a whisk or broom made from a bunch of twigs that was used to throw sacred water with. The hlautteinn was made in a similar way, but was used for throwing hlaut-blood unto altars, idols, and the congregation. The hlautteinn is the older one as it belongs to the Old tradition: heiðinn siðr. The Old Norse verb rjóða, meant to color something red with blood, often used in a ritualistic sense. Old Norse full is a “goblet full of drink, esp. a toast at a heathen feast” by Cleasby-Vigfusson 1874.

Another significant testimony is found in the book of old Norwegian laws until the year 1387: Norges Gamle Love: "no man shall have in his house a magical wand (staf) or altars (stallar), a talisman (vitt)1 or idol (blót), or anything to be of heathen tradition (hæiðins siðar)" (Norges Gamle Love; Den ældre Eidsivathings-Christenret: 24). Shortly after on the same page it says: "now, if an idol (blót) is found in an unlocked house; a food-idol (matblót) or clay-idol (leirblót) made in a man’s image (mannzlíki) of clay (leira) or dough (deig)…" This is where, for example, we know that matblót and leirblót were the most common idols in the Nordic homes, and it also tells us that they either made the idols out of clay or some kind of dough. A few pages later in the same book it says: "no man may believe (trúa) in Finns (finnar) and sorcery (fordæðor), or in talisman (vitt) (Tolley claims that the law text says vétt, as in a primitive type of shamanic drum (2009 I: 539)), or idol (blót) or root (rót), or anything that belongs to heathen traditions (hæiðins siðar)." Finns are the Sami people in northern Scandinavia, they were considered to be "in old times notorious for sorcery, hence the very names Finn and sorcerer became synonymous" (Cleasby-Vigfússon 1874). In this list of forbidden Old heathen sorcerous items the root (rót) was added, as it clearly belonged to the Old customs. The root of trees and plants were used to make magical items, and also to make sundry beverages, etc.; a craft forbidden by the Christian tradition.

In the Swedish law Upplandslagen (in the mid 1300's) it states: "Nobody shall sacrifice to idols and in groves or rocks believe", «ængin skal affguþum blotæ. ok ængin a lundi ællr stenæ troæ.» (Codex Ups. B 12, Upplandslagen (Han-skrift A); I. vm kirkiu bygning.) The most interesting part here is that the Church had to write a law against the belief in the Old Norse sacred groves and rocks, which proves that the belief and power in such things were very strong.

These laws are of course written by Christians after Christianity persuaded the bigger half of the Nordic countries. But even so, it testifies of which blótskapr were of most significance and most common to the Norsemen, and which blótskapr threatened the Christianity the most. And if you dealt with blótskapr at this time you were judged by society to be an outlaw and unholy, «útlagr ok úheilagr.»

The Corpse of Aurgelmir

Within the Thursatru Tradition we use material corresponding to the sinister essences of the anti-cosmic powers that we worship and are faithful to. The fundamental matter of our world comes from the materialized deformed body of Aurgelmir when he invaded the sphere of the cosmos, with his wrathful and omnipotent power which we perceive as Þurs. Hence all the parts of his body are used and respected within the Thursian Workings and Sorcery as remains of the first hrímþurs and the great grandfather of the Thursian races.

During the creation, the æsir-power managed to overrun Aurgelmir; they killed his deformed and unnatural body and dismembered it, and from it they built their world. All the poisonous blood from Aurgelmir’s giant body flooded the worlds like the shadows of mountains during sunset. By time, his blood turned into the oceans, lakes, and all of the waters in the worlds; his flesh became the humus and earth; his bones the mountains; and all the rocks and gravel came from his teeth.

Brimisblóð, Vatn

Since all the water of the worlds once came from Aurgelmir’s blood (Old Norse vatn), there still indwells remnants of his Rime-Thursian and poisonous essence; therefore the water has such magical traits. Within our tradition we value natural spring water the most as it ascends from the world below; it arises from Hvergelmir. As it ascends, it permeates the poisonous flesh of Aurgelmir before being collected ritually by our devoted horns. Sent to us from out of the Thursian well Hvergelmir and consecrated by Aurgelmir’s flesh and spirit to indwell the shadow and essence of mighty Aurgelmir. This powerful process and the origin of the waters have given it its name Brimisblóð, "blood of Brimir"; as “Brimir” is an epithet of Aurgelmir which refers to the ocean, his Thursian blood.

Bláinshold, Jörð

The æsir took Aurgelmir’s flesh from his giant corpse and turned it into humus and earth (Old Norse jörð). This makes the soil have two sides: a mundane one which corresponds to the demiurgic powers which is guarded and fertilized by the ásynja Freyja, and another side which is still inspirited with the remnants of Aurgelmir’s poisonous and sinister Thursian energies. It is that nightside part of the soil we embrace and make use of. Another epithet of Aurgelmir is Bláinn, "the one being black", which refers to – just as with Brimir – the transformation of his dismembered body into mundane or cosmic elements; "black" (from Old Norse blár) as in the fertile deep color of the humus and soil: hence Bláinshold, "flesh of Bláinn."

Aurgelmisbein, Aurgelmistannr, Steinn

From Aurgelmir’s bones (bein) and teeth (tenn) the æsir made all rocks; from mountains to gravel. Since rock is an aggregate of one or more minerals it roughly connects Old Norse steinn to minerals, rocks and gem stones. Note that Old Norse aur- in the name Aurgelmir might refer to "watery sand", which are essentially small rocks consolidated from mineral matter. The sundry and contrasting powers which are kept within the stones are the magical aspects inborn in the Thursian current, lingering hidden for us to embrace. May it be quartz or granite for our stallar or gemstones for our taufrar. Within our tradition we follow the pre-Christian Norse religious tradition in using rock as the foundation of our spiritual workings and worship; as in using rock for stallar and sacred foundations. For example, the Old Norse grjóthaugr – which is looked upon as being the most relevant type of stallr in the line of Thursatru Tradition – is an altar constructed by a carefully made accumulation of rocks.

Fenrisönd, Eldr

Loki is the flaming thurs of acosmic light that in the beginning of the creation penetrated it as an invading Múspell-power to prevent the predestined kin of the æsir from ruling a new world. His son Fenrir is the representation of Múspell’s devastating and devouring power as his spirit is imbued by the Múspell-essence. Thereby we associate fire with Fenrisönd, "the breath of Fenrir"; "fires blaze from his eyes and nostrils" (Gylfaginning 51). Fire might seem to be misplaced under the category of Blótskapr, but it is of course a very strong and imperative element in the Múspell-workings. Eldr is the ritual fire which is actually a direct link to the Múspell-essence; a sympathetic portal to the flaming essence of Múspell within the cosmos: "Then they took the glowing embers and sparks that burst forth and had been cast out of Múspellheimr. Set them in the center of Ginnungagap; in the heaven, both above and below, to illumine heaven and earth. They assigned places to all fires" (Gylfaginning 8).  This makes the fire a binding aspect of the Múspell blót, the bigger fire the better. It is important to feel the heat and see the wrathful hunger of its flames relentlessly reaching out as if they were trying to grab something else to devour. Eldr can be ritually present as in a modern traditional form as black candles; symbolizing the black flame as fragments of the Múspellsmegir, or preferably in an older traditional way as an outdoor fire. Use one match for each black candle; hold the match in you left hand and hail the thurs by name while striking and lighting the wick. The same process goes for the lighting of incenses, candles for heating up oils, and fires of any sizes. It is the sinister counteraction in movements which attracts antagonistic (Thursian), underworldly and deathly energies in sorcerous gestures, and this must be applied to any Thursian sorcery and blót. (Walking backwards; anomalous patterns and motions; counterclockwise/ countersunwise patterns and motions.) Just take the sorcerous act of the old woman in Grettis Saga (79) for an example. The fire represents the spirit as in the black flame enlinked with Ginnungagap-Chaos, and thereby it also represents Ginnungagap-Chaos: the amorphous flames; the origin; the acosmic Múspellsheimr.

Blóthús & Blótlundr

Blóthús is the pre-Christian Norse temple. The blóthús was more of an older and primitive place of worship, as hof was “used like Christian chapels for private worship” (Cleasby-Vigfússon 1874). Blóthús is important as it is strictly a place of worship and sorcerous praxis, a place apart from the secular and profane world; its physical threshold (þreskjöldr) is actually a liminal portal and nexus to the underworldly powers. In this book the blóthús – as a concept – is mere a metaphor for the spiritual space created by the worshipper and sorcerer to perform his or her Thursian workings. This spiritual space – which is called by tradition blóthús – does not even have to have a door and walls. E.g. a blótlundr (see below) could be homologous to blóthús; the space is made and controlled by you, just like with your life, it is your living space – your life, your way – you are in charge of it and you make it into what you will. This is where ritualistic acknowledgment and consecration of the spiritual space comes in; you make it yours by taking it and consecrating it.

Blótlundr is an Old Norse word for a "sacrificial grove"; i.e. a place of worship and sorcery, also called blótskógr and blótviðr. There are some classic examples of these kinds of groves, but within the Thursatru Tradition your choice of worship depends on several factors, e.g. what powers you are working with, what opportunities you have, and to what area your invoked thurses have ushered you. But places in analogy with the Old worship and the thurses are groves in distant places where you can work undisturbed, upon hills and mountains, in caves, and in deep and deserted valleys. If you live in a bigger city, a fitting valley is of course very hard to find, but a cave or a deserted underground bombshelter would be easier; this is where you need to find your individual place fitted to your own work and situation, may it be the corner of your bedroom, as long as you can work in tranquility with the Thursian Powers and in accordance with their will.

According to tradition, the outside grove, lundr, is decorated by time with sacrificial items to honor the Thursian Powers and to bind their essence and magic to the anti-cosmic spiritual place which you have taken. These are normally hung from or around trees, on bushes, and put upon rocks. Some of the sacred items may be roots, horns and skeletal pieces with ritually inscribed runes and seals reddened with blood dedicated to the Thurses; talismans and Thursian fetishes; gemstones and rocks with inscribed runes which are reddened with blood.

Stallr

The stallar (pl.) for all workings are always staying in their places, of course, as you never stop with your workings; you rather, suggestively, change key focus depending on what part of the year it is. For example, you do not ignore your Nifl-workings for half of a year just because it is summer; you just focus more intensely on the Múspell-workings during the part of the year which is ruled by the heat. Altar is a “Christian word, the altar in heathen temples being called 'stallr'” (Cleasby-Vigfússon 1874) or stalli. The stallr was simple; any block or shelf could be used, on which other sacred things were placed. E.g. skurðgoð sett á stall, "the idol sat upon the altar."

The altar was also called blótstallr; hörgr or haugr; grjóthörgr, a "cairn stone altar"; blóthaugr, a "cairn for worship and sacrifice" which was more precisely “an altar of stone erected on high places, or a sacrificial cairn (like haugr), built in open air, and without images, for the hörgr itself was to be stained with the blood of the sacrifice” (ibid.).

The stallr on the other hand was historically more appropriate to use as a foundation to put your effigies of your deities upon. A blótstalli is a sacrificial altar whereupon our forefathers put effigies of their gods cut out from wood; trégoð, and other ritual items. As Saga Hákonar góða testifies, it was common to have several altars, most likely for several purposes and powers. Your altars and tools are very individual and should be created from your own imagination and the traits in analogy with the essence of the Thursian Powers. As soon as you start to get to know the powers you will receive unaffected visions of their essential manifestations, and these visions you will use as inspiration to build your altars. You will see the elements and forms of the powers’ desires and by this you will know what to offer and how to satisfy them. The Thursatru Tradition is considered to be a very rich and eclectic practice of sorcery and worship, and therefore it is believed to be important to explore other sinister and anti-cosmic traditions. But the keyform of the practical side of the tradition is of course from the pre-Christian Norse heiðinn siðr, and evidence has been found through mythology, tradition, archeology, etc. Much of this is to be found in modern books on the subject.

To be a successful fjölkunnigr and to satisfy the Thursian Powers, you have to use as much of their corresponding elements as you can. This means that you first have to know what these elements are, find them and place them on your stallr. As soon as you have identified them you have to understand them, you can’t just read this book and then add stuff to your altar: you first have to understand why it is so. Start by asking yourself this:

If you have not asked the Thursian Powers and received an answer, how could you possibly know it is so?

As a suggestion, a Hvergelmir-fetish holding Brimisblóð ritually gathered during Midwinter, quartz crystal, oils, and necromantic aspects correspond well with the Nifl-stallr. A dagger or sword, fiery herbs and incense, red and black candles, an outdoor fire in the center of the blótlundr (for outside stallr), Lignite, Lava Stones, and Obsidian correspond well with the Múspell-stallr. Practice makes perfect.

Blót

Blót, which refers to the offering or sacrifice, is vital within the pre-Christian Norse heiðinn siðr and within our strong Thursatru Tradition. Every time one calls for the Thursian Powers – whatever one’s purpose is – one must give a worthy offering as a sign of respect and more importantly show one’s true and faithful gratitude and devotion. A blót-offering can be many things; it depends on what you are working with. Incense made by you from herbs you have ritually harvested yourself – or even grown – can be a very worthy offering; the best foods from a feast; dreypiblót; fresh raw meat and blood; hlaut; your sorcerous Performance, Will, and Devotion, are some worthy offerings which will satisfy the Thursian Powers.

Dreypiblót

Dreypiblót, or libation, is one of the ritualistic sacrifices in Old Norse tradition; e.g. it was poured unto the idols during blót (Cf. Adam of Bremen’s testimony). Dreypiblót is used in many different ways, principally it is used to offer the first and best share of the beverage to the Thursian Power by pouring it onto the idol; for stallr at home you could offer the dreypiblót in a consecrated rock, wood or clay bowl by the idol and toss a small part of it onto the idol with a specially made and consecrated whisk (teinn). Dreypiblót is also considered a sacrifice to e.g. herbs and trees when you are harvesting for your magical workings: you give something potent to take something potent; here, dreypiblót could be beverage or even blood. It could be mixed with other offerings; what sort of offerings has to do with what type of daemon the plants are ruled under. Dreypiblót is an important tradition and should be part of any larger blót conducted by the blótgoði or blótgyðja. Sacrificial blood (hlaut) mixed with liquor (preferably homemade) is a potent and old traditional dreypiblót.

Hlaut

The hlaut was a very important and special part of the pre-Christian Norse sorcery and blót. Amongst the Old Norsemen the hlaut was the blood of the sacrificed animal, and it was used in manifold ways. Importantly, it was the most sacred offering to the gods. Hlaut was only obtained from a freshly sacrificed animal – in ancient times even people; it was the magical act of collecting a fine animal, preferably one homologous to the underworld, in the honor of the Powers, offer it in a traditional ritualistic manner, and collect its blood for a predestined purpose that makes the hlaut so special and magical. There were no substitutes whatsoever to hlaut; it could only be received by the pre-Christian Norse religious sacrificial tradition. From the sparse testimony in Eyrbyggja saga we can get a limited understanding on how it was used in the early middle ages, and that knowledge can be as a foundation of the purpose. The book An Icelandic-English Dictionary by Cleasby and Vigfússon enlightens us with the Old Norse usage of hlaut and sundry tools used with it under the word hlaut: “the blood of sacrifice, used for soothsaying; this word is prob. to be derived from hlutr (hlautr), as an abbreviated form, for hlautblóð = sanguis sortidicus, and refers to the rite, practiced in the heathen age, of enquiring into the future by dipping bunches of chips or twigs into the blood, and shaking them; those twigs were called teinar, hlautteinar, hlautviðr, blótspánn, q.v.; the act of shaking was called hrista teina, to shake twigs, Hým. 1; kjósa hlautvið, to choose lot chips, Vsp.” (Cleasby-Vigfússon 1874). The last quotation kjósa hlautvið is taken from Völuspá 63, and the first one hrista teina is taken from Hymniskviða 1: «hristu teina ok á hlaut sáu», which is of course very hard to translate as we do not really know today the essence of this sorcerous practice, but it could be translated into "(they) shook the divination chips and beheld the hlaut-blood." As there is so little to go on, several questions arise; how are the chips shaken? Are they thrown into the blood? Or are they already lying in the blood and shaken there? Or have the chips already been dipped into the blood and then shaken, and thereafter the blood is beheld? The next quotation is taken from Völuspá (63): «hlautvið kjósa», "to choose hlaut-chips." The choice of the Old Norse word kjósa is very interesting here, because it kind of means to "draw the right lot", which must mean that the mantic practice of teinar, hlautteinar, hlautviðr, and blótspánn in some extent had something to do with choosing a chip or lot, in contrast to the chip to be chosen by a divine will. This could mean that they choose a lot from the bowl of hlaut-blood, which from that particular lot divination was made through the blood. At the same time it does not say who draws the lot; the god or the human.

Hlautteinn

The Old Norse hlautteinn as a ritual tool seems by Saga Hákonar góða to have been made from a bundle of twigs, similar to something called stökkull in Old Icelandic; some sort of small whisk or broom – which actually made a very effective sprinkler. This teinn or stökkull has been adopted by the Thursatru Tradition and is used for both a consecration and cleansing; a separate teinn specially made to sprinkle Hvergelmisvatn or sea-salt water with, during a cleansing ritual. Hvergelmisvatn is also used for consecration to empower idols and fetishes by using a teinn to sprinkle.

The hlautteinn bundle is within our tradition made from:

Thin yew or juniper twigs, stripped from needles, which has drawn up Brimisblóð from out of the Bláinshold with its roots, hence the twigs are imbued by Thursian Eitr.

Feathers from a raven (or crow), as a gandr or the intermediary between the underworlds and the sorcerer.

Various dried herbs analogous to the workings.

Hair (from a black gelding), cloth and other materials have also been used.

Hlautbolli & Blótbolli

Hlautbolli, also called blótbolli, was the sacrificial bowl in which the Norsemen collected the blood during a sacrificial ritual. The Old Norse term blótbolli indicates that it was a device only used in blót. The Old Norse term hlautbolli indicates that it was a device only used to collect hlaut, sacrificial blood. The bowl was very important in the pre-Christian Norse rituals. There are no sources in the Old Norse literature explaining how it was made or from what material. To use the concept of the hlautbolli as an offering bowl, we suggest using materials corresponding to the Thursian Powers when creating your bowl. Poisonous wood, stone or clay would be very fitting materials. By tradition it is suggested that you make the blótbolli with your own hands in dedication to the Powers. Empower the bowl with sacrificial runes, inscribed or painted. It can be difficult to know which runes to use, but this is a very personal task and the runes have to be received by you, individually – there are no manuals to this. Some runes are used by tradition, which of course are strongly suggested to you to use in strengthening the indwelling energy in the runes of Thursian Power. As with all your other ritual items, it is suggested by tradition to always keep them on your stallr or within the altar area so that they stay within your consecrated working area. 

Seiðstafr

The most important ritual tool (blótskapr) of the pre-Christian Norse sorcerous practice is the staff or wand; most often called stafr, völr and gandr. Price lists in his book The Viking Way (2002: 180) the most used Old Norse terms of the sorcerous staffs, and he describes who possibly used it and for what purpose, according to the Old Norse literature and archaeological findings.

Within Thursatru Tradition the seiðstafr symbolizes the spine of Jörmungandr, the fang of Níðhöggr, the impetus of Fenrir, the sorcery of Angrboða; the Thursian Root for underworldly powers to climb on: it is the magical weapon of controlled Will and Power. The seiðstafr is a mighty magical tool and was frequently used by the enlightened. The wand has been used in most religions as a symbol of power, referring to the connection to the worshipped gods. The wand is a scepter of power in the sense that the one who carries it has a direct communication with the invoked gods, and therefore he/she carries power. The wand is a serpent; the burning spine of my sorcerous workings. The serpent and the dragon were the messengers in Old Scandinavia; thus dragons embellish rune-texts on rune monuments in Scandinavia. The serpent is the perfect metaphor for the magical wand’s function: the tool which works in accordance with your magical will; by your focused will it descends into the underworld as a protruding root seeking its way down into the blackness until it finds the wells of poisonous wisdom, where the root can absorb the primordial Thursian Gnosis.

It’s very important in making a sorcerous wand that you pay extra attention to what type of material you are using for your individual magical workings. But the far most important action is to “activate” the wand. The powers you are working with must accept it and connect with it. There are many ways to this, but you have to find the way that fits you and your working best. In the second volume of Þursakyngi subtitled Practical Thursian Sorcery it will be illustrated how to consecrate, enlink, and ask the Thursian Powers for their approval. This is important as They need to accept your workings and ways of communicating; They are the ones who will provide you with enlightenment.

The staff is bigger in size than the wand and should be as tall as yourself; its form, amulets, and carvings are all up to your individual workings as long it is in accordance with the sinister Thursian Powers. Remember that this is a very mighty tool, so all magical attributes on your staff need to correspond with your workings. The wand is smaller in size, about the length of an arm. Both the staff and the wand are made of wood or a chosen metal, the material is carefully chosen with the guidance from the invoked Thursian Powers; ask for their help in choosing material and always ask for approval of the collected branch or root. A good way to ask for approval is using blótspánn, the divination chips. If the thurs you are working with does not approve of your choice of material and you chose to use it anyways, it will affect your workings grievously. A few suggestions of powerful trees aligned with the Thursian Powers from which to ritually harvest a branch or root are: Juniper, Pine, Oak, Ash, as well as Elder, Elm, Yew, and Birch. These are just examples; make always sure that you choose material after what corresponds to your individual work.

Blót

Blót, or more correctly blœti, was an idol and/or a talisman; normally used as leirblót, clay idol, or matblót, an idol of dough. Idols made out of clay and dough were probably much easier for a common man and woman to make than a trégoð-idol cut out from a log. Clay is a worldwide traditional material in making idols and amulets, it is easy to work with and also easy to fill with herbs and gems if so willed. There was also the trégoð, a wooden idol, and skurðgoð, a carven image. Idolatry and worship of carven idols were for example called in the Old Norse villa skurða, skurðgoða dýrkan, skurðgoðavilla, blótdómr, and blótskapr (the last of which could also mean "things belonging to worship") (Cleasby-Vigfússon 1874). There is hardly any physical evidence of the idols that survived the early middle ages, only in literature. So we don’t really know how they were made, their substantial variety, and how they actually looked like. So for a dedicated practitioner of Thursian Sorcery it is important to call for the thurses and ask for their guidance, and when you have established a strong nexus with the powers you will receive visions that can be imitated into idols. You should ask the invoked powers to receive knowledge about their attributes and then add them to your idol: Nettle leaves, Lignite, Charcoal, Sulfur, Sól-runes cut out from natural shaped and ritually harvested Juniper root, and engraved bind-runes traced in sacrificial blood mixed with ash from a burnt Múspell-formula for the making of a Múspellmegir idol. You can make a spine in your leirblót idol of ritually collected and ritually prepared root from a tree or plant analogous to the power, which will act like a sympathetic core absorbing and harnessing the essence of the thurs-power. An effective and resultant way is also to either make the leirblót hollow and then put your magical items within its body, or mix the items into the clay before shaping it into the figure of your imagination.

Blótknífr

The ritual knife should be assumed to be both a traditional ritualistic tool and a mere cutting tool for cutting the throat of the sacrificial animal to collect the hlaut and slaughter it to the blót-feast; veizla. Weather it is used for this or not, it is the symbolism in its multi-function that is of significance. The knife and the sword represent power and war, and as the Thursatru Tradition invokes the anti-cosmic powers of the underworld, Niflheimr and Múspellsheimr, a blótknífr and a sverð, sword, are essential elements within its Thursian Ritual and Sorcery. The knife represents – magically – the spiritual plane and the spiritual will; it is the symbol of your black Múspell-flame as well as Surtr’s burning sword: it is your own Gambanteinn with which you direct your devoted will and strength. Amongst the Old Norsemen the sword was very magical and was clearly connected to fire, sorcery and the underworld, as we can see in Old Norse sword-epithets: hjörgaldr (sword-galdr), Mistilteinn (the arrow that Loki made and that killed Baldr), grindlogi (flaming gate), brandr (flame), úlfr (wolf), askr (ash), vitnir (a supernatural wolf as an underworldly vehicle), logi (flame), eldr (fire), Naglfari(the underworld ship on which Loki and the thurses are sailing to the war of Ragna Rök), hyrr (fire), eimnir(the flaming one), Níðhöggr, and vargr (wolf, antagonistic monster, or outlaw), to mention a few. All of these sword-epithets could be connected to Loki and Surtr, and the flaming sword and the sinister traits of the black magical knife or sword correspond with the spirit, the flame, Loki, and Surtr. For a much more thorough insight of the sorcerous blade see Sverðbók.

Blótknífr is your burning iron thorn; the sword of eternal Ginnunga-power.

Blótknífr is your anti-cosmic blade; with which you shall remove cosmic power.

Blóthorn

By your stallr you should have a consecrated drinking horn with inscribed runes, to represent a vessel to carry the sacred Brimisblóð from Hvergelmir. It is a sacrificial drinking horn, drykkjarhorn, which is only used during blót honoring the Thursian Powers.

Helsóti, Rót

The root was by the Norsemen looked upon as the trees of the underworld and the wolf-gandar which the thurses rode on; hence the term Helsóti, "the black steed of Hel." The root is a very important material in pre-Christian Norse sorcery as it represents necromantic aspects and the Thursian Powers below the world-tree’s roots. All necromancy should include root of poisonous trees and herbs, and incense, talismans, divinatory runic chips and staffs should be made out of root.

In Hávamál 151 it is said carving runes on roots from trees generates harmful magical power: «Þat kann ek it sétta: ef mik særir þegn á vrótum hrás viðar, ok þann hal er mik heifta kveðr, þann eta mein heldr en mik.»

In Grettis saga 79 an old woman carved runes with her knife onto the roots of “root timber” (rótartré; a tree which has been uprooted) and colored them red with her own blood, and sang galdrar over them: «Hún lét telgja á lítinn flatveg þar gnúið var. Síðan tók hún hníf sinn og reist rúnir á rótinni og rauð í blóði sínu og kvað yfir galdra. Hún gekk öfug andsælis um tréið og hafði þar yfir mörg römm ummæli.» "She carved a small flat surface on its smooth side. Then she took her knife and cut runes upon the root; reddened them with her blood and uttered galdrar over it. After that she walked backwards against the sun round it, and spoke many potent words."

From this saga we learn that the old woman wants to be taken to the sea-shore where she picks out a root timber apparently on the beach. It seems to be a random dead and dried uprooted tree with no attention to what kind. Instead, emphasis is put on the tree’s dried root, the carving of runes and rjóða, and the spoken galdrar. Additionally, in this act or sorcery it was important to walk backwards and counterclockwise to oppose the life-giving source of the sun. All of these elements are continuously appearing in Old Norse sagas and sorcery, and so need to be integrated in the tradition of underworldly and deathly powers.

The sagas have many examples of the correspondence between death, thurses and root. Tolley, for example, says that taken from evidence of the sagas using a root in sorcerous practice was presumably intended to call forth deathly powers (2009 I: 539).

Grand Seasonal Blót within the Tradition

This sacred blót-tradition is an individual choice, but strongly suggested for the Cult of the Thurses.

All these seasonal grand blót are by genuine Old Norse traditions, adopted and developed into the Thursatru Tradition. All blót should be within the current of the anti-cosmic Thursian Tradition, but they should be personalized as it is an individual practice. Certain runic formulas and bind-runes should be used by the Cult of the Thurses, so that stronger links grow between the essence of Thursian Powers and the runes/formulas. For every year of intense practice and worship the rituals will evolve and enhance.

The particular dates are inspired from and enlinked with other sinister traditions.

Várblót, April 30: The Spring Blót is on Walpurgis Night and looked upon as the beginning of the Múspell-workings. The winter has ended and the summer approaches.

Miðsumarblót, June 21 (20): The Summer Solstice Blót is on Midsummer Night and is looked upon as the climax of the Múspell-workings, and should thereby have a grand ritual which includes the full Múspell-working.

Haustblót, October 31: The Autumn Blót is on Samhain Night and is looked upon as the beginning of the Nifl-workings. The summer has ended and the winter approaches.

Miðsvetrarblót, December 21 (20): The Winter Solstice Blót is on Midwinter Night and is looked upon as the climax of the Nifl-workings, and should thereby have a grand ritual which includes the full Nifl-working.

From here on it is your own left handed path through hardship and challenges, but the rewards are nothing you can receive from cosmic sources: freedom beyond your present limited imagination. Þursakyngi will provide knowledge, power bind-runes, invocations and evocations, Thursian rune lore, mythological investigations and interpretations, certain technics and more for you to hopefully be inspired to form your own personal Thursian Workings within the Cult of the Thurses.

Here is a list of Important Tools you should make/get from the start. You should try to handcraft as much as possible, but if that is not an option you may obtain them in other ways.

Stallr, an altar. A sorcerous working area. Preferably made of rocks: the remains of Aurgelmir.

Seiðstafr, wand. Poisonous tree (limb or root) is recommended.

Blótknífr, ritual knife.

Blótbolli, sacrificial bowl.

Illumination: candle or fire.

Blót or blœti, a talismanic idol.

Divinatory Runes; the runes inscribed individually on 24 wooden chips, gems, pieces of bone, etc. You will use these for both runic divination and receiving rune-lore from the Thursian Powers.

A Personal Grimoire which holds your own constructed blót, runes, findings, understandings, etc.