Godspousery notes (belated)

Dear Reader,

I was going to post this last weekend but I had a three day migraine and I was busy with my children. It's been a hectic time since Nativity and Yule ended. On Mother's Night, also known a the winter solstice, I was instructed by Freyr to spend my time in rest. I wasn't feeling too great and I just didn't have the spoons to argue with him. He told me to do only the work that was necessary for running the household and let the rest sort itself out.

As a result, I found myself spending time on things like preparing for my family's Yule celebration. We celebrate the 13 days of Yule at the same time as Nativity is observed. It just makes things easier calendar wise. So far, the gods haven't objected to this. If anything, they seem to encourage this practice because it works out so well. When the work of getting ready for Yule was finished, which went surprisingly quickly, I spent my days doing embroidery and my evenings doing crochet. Below are the things that I made over the time between Mother's Night and Epiphany.

 This table scarf is something that took up most of my time. I finished it the day after Epiphany because Epiphany day was full of chaos due to things like our heater breaking over the weekend before. I was wrapped up in blankets and shawls as I was stitching and praying that my betta fish would not get too cold. Loki suggested a hot water bottle beside the tank and a scarf wrapped around it to keep the heat in. Wouldn't you know it, that fish was right up by the warm side of the tank for the whole day as the HVAC repairman was at work in the basement of the building.

This square shawl had me working up until Duodecima. It is nice and cozy. I worked on it every evening after the sun went down and I had finished dinner. Some of it was a bit vexing because the light purple colored yarn kept trying to split on me, but it was a generally relaxing project.

There was one other project that I did. It has a bit of a story behind it and ties into the things that Freyr and Loki told me to focus on during the period of time between Mother's Night and Epiphany. They told me to focus on my family. I was struggling with pretty intense depression at the time and feeling the absence of my side of the family (from whom I am estranged for various reasons). I was also mourning the loss of my paternal grandparents and the holidays passed that I spent with them.

Because Freyr told me to relax, I decided that I was going to finish a project that my late grandmother had started. It was this pillow case with the tuilps on it. You can tell pretty clearly in the difference of the weight of thread used where her stitching is and where mine is. As I worked on it, I could feel something of her presence with me. When I had it done, I laid it aside and declared that my working on it was a gift for her and my Disir. This was something that Freyr highly approved of and told me that such a gift of heartfelt effort is always appreciated.

I know that the table scarf is going to be used as an altar cloth. The shawl, I'm not so sure what it's final home is going to be. I have quite a few shawls now that I've made so many. I'm debating selling it. Freyr has been decidedly quiet on the matter. I think his feeling is I made it, I decide what happens with it. And the pillow case, well, I'm going to keep that.

Over the entire period of Yule and Nativity, I was struggling with depression. I had the good fortune of these things to keep me focused on the present and my family. My children have expressed interest in learning how to sew because of seeing me do so much needlework over their vacation from school. I'm probably going to introduce them to hand sewing before using a machine. Just because I still have to figure out what's wrong with the tension on my sewing machine. Loki suggests that it is set too low and that is why it's not picking up the thread off of the bobbin. When my sewing machine wasn't working at all, he said it was the bobbin 'thingy' that was the problem and he was right. I'm sure he's correct this time. He's got a good eye for figuring out where the snarls in a situation are, even when he doesn't create them. I think that's why he's often the problem solver for the gods.

I feel silly posting about my very domestic life with the gods. I don't do high rituals or such for them. I just love them, pour out offerings for them, and listen to what they have to share. It seems the simplest form of godspousery because it's almost exactly like my relationship with Beloved. We give each other love gifts, frequently express our affection for each other, and listen to what we have to share at any given time. That's what makes the relationship work. And we make a point of doing our best not to go to bed mad. Kinda the same thing for the deity relationships.