One day I was doing normal house stuff and my Honir ring broke. 

First, some background. As longtime readers of this blog might remember, my actual godspouse wedding rings that I received during my 2 marriage ceremonies exist on the spiritual level, not in the physical realm, but I had 3 rings dedicated to my 3 god-husbands, and 1 of them was the one I accidentally used in my 3rd marriage ceremony which I didn't realize I had done until afterwards.

All 3 of the rings were ones I already had. The first one was for Loki, and it was a ring my dad had made. Dad cut stones as a hobby. The Loki ring has a fire agate, and is set in a gold setting shaped to resemble leaves and a branch or vine. The next two, for Odin and Honir, were rings I had bought long ago. The Honir ring was silver with a small piece of abalone, also known as mother of pearl. I had bought it at the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk while I was in college at UC-Santa Cruz. Back then it fit on my ring finger, but now I was wearing it on my pinky. the Odin ring is silver with a gray stone that has an eye-like shape, and some smaller stones on the side. I had bought it in a wholesale lot at a gem show in Las Vegas when I was reselling pagan related items like jewelry and incense in my eBay Store, Magicalrealist Gallery, in addition to my art and crafts. 

I had not been able to wear either the Loki ring or the Odin ring for a while, starting this year. Many of my other rings didn't work with my fingers anymore either, due to arthritis. The Honir ring was the only one I was still able to get on, so I had been wearing that one a lot. 

When it broke, the circle part of the ring snapped and the entire ring fell off my hand. At first I was a little upset, because when magical jewelry breaks that means it's done its job and is ready to rest now. Some magical objects can be repaired and used more but magical jewelry needs to be retired. But then I thought about how I already couldn't wear my other 2 wedding rings. I realized I needed to stop wearing all 3 of them. It had to be all or none. I couldn't just continue wearing only 1 of the 3. Until I might decide otherwise, I placed the Honir ring in my Spiritual Souvenir wall shrine. 

I remembered that my real 3 rings were not physical objects at all. That I had chosen to represent them with physical objects but they were really spiritual objects that existed within the unseen. I realized it was time for me to let go of the idea of using a physical object to represent them, and I needed to concentrate on my connection to my real rings. My real rings look like a 3-ply twisted yarn a little bit, since they only appeared as 3 separate rings when they were first going on. I can feel them if I think about it, and if I concentrate hard enough I can sort of see them in waking life but then they don't look like rings at all, just energy. They look like a glow on my hand. They can sort of dissolve into mist and go from one of my hands to other, but then they look like glowing energy again. 

As I type these words, I am aware of my godspouse wedding ring / rings, 3 in 1 like my god-husbands. I am aware of it on my proper wedding ring finger on my left hand. For most of this summer I had been wearing the physical Honir ring on my right pinky. This feels better, more true, more proper, more like it's supposed to be. I realize I was distracted by the physical representations and had not been noticing the feel of my real ring/ rings. I keep wanting to refer to it as singular as I write this, which I don't think I did before. I think it has fused over time without my being aware of it. If it goes back into parts now it won't be 3 separate rings, just the light and energy sparks / glowing mist I see when it goes from one hand to another. 

Originally I had experienced my godspouse weddings in the state between sleeping and waking when I could fully see things in the spiritual realm because I had access to the visualization of the dream state. In that state, Loki's ring was gold, and Odin's was silver, and Honir's was a sort of clear thing with a blue line going through it. There is no equivalent substance in the physical world of Earth so I had represented his ring with a silver ring with a silver and blue shell. I had wanted to wear physical rings because it helped me feel the reality of it, and also as dedicated offerings to my god-husbands.

But now-- 10 years later, or a bit more-- it's time for me to only wear the real ring/ rings-- the real ring. It's definitely a singular ring now. It's light and power. Energy, not matter. And it is a single thing. My real ring, which I didn't even realize had become just one until now. It's a single one for all of them, 3 in 1 like the gods themselves. Melded together, like silver and gold-- like silver and gold and heat and shape? I bit like smithcraft? Well, that's just a metaphor. The real ring is a light on my hand, a mark, a sign that I am wedding to Odin and his brothers. It's power, but power that is not meant to be used for anything but itself, just like the power that powers a physical light is just there to make light. I have other powers and gifts from my god-husbands but the wedding ring is just there to be itself. 

I am so much more aware of it now that I've been in a long time. Years perhaps. This was definitely the correct change for this time in my life.

xxx

The 25th was the 4th anniversary of Tom's death. I usually don't do a huge thing for it because I do the huge thing for his birthday instead, but I did make a toast with root beer and posted the photo on my social media. My brother commented that he would also raise a root beer toast. Then several of my friends commented that they were going to raise a root beer toast to Tom too, even people who had to go get some root beer to make it happen. Even people who never met him. It was like getting a hug through the internet.

I posted the photo on my Deviantart for the Heathen Visibility Project. 

xxx

A few days before Zisa Day, I posted on my social media that I took my first monster treatment and would soon possess monster powers. My brother responded that to be a monster is a glorious thing. I was talking about Gila Monsters, and developing Gila Lizard Powers (GLP.)

That's sort of a pun. GLP-1 is the real generic term for the new medicine I'm taking, and it really did originally come from Gila Monsters. (I think it's made in a factory now though.) I used to hate puns before Tom punnified my sense humor. Now I like some puns on occasion.

On the morning of Zisa Day, I was still filled with enthusiasm for my GLP and thought I might like to make a tapestry to honor the Gila Monster. I was about ready to start my big project on the big loom and had not chosen a subject yet, and was thinking about doing the Gila Monster one for the big one. 

As mentioned in Part 1, I needed to raise a toast to Tyr along with my toast to Zisa on Zisa Day. Zisa Day is September 28, for historical reasons that really have nothing to do with me but it's still observed in my country by the Urglaawe so it's the logical day for me to honor Zisa.

My housemate and I made our toasts with Zirbenz stone pine liquor, the same bottle I've had for years now. One of the great things about hard alcohol is that it's shelf stable at room temperature, so I can store the appropriate bottle and just bring it out every year. I had a pine cone on my altar as well, to honor Zisa, although I usually relate to her as Zisa Undoer of Knots. I made toasts to Zisa and to Tyr.

After the ritual, I spoke with Zisa and with Tyr briefly. Tyr was pleased that I restored out line of communication. Zisa and some other goddesses advised me I might want to choose a different theme for my big tapestry, because it would take me a year to make. I asked for clarification and they assured me that nothing bad was happening in a year about my Gila Monster powers, I just might not still be as excited and enthused about Gila Monsters then as I am now. I resolved to make a smaller weaving to honor the Gila Monster and choose a different subject for my big tapestry.

 xxx

Pagan Pride Day 2024 and Sin City Witches Samhain Soiree 2024 both have ad images featuring me. I shared them on my Facebook, Xitter, Minds, and LinkedIn. (I also have a MeWe but they limit the total amount of photo and video space one can use so I don't share many images there.)

The Sin City Witches Samhain Soiree Haunted Tavern Takeover will be October 19, 2024, starting at 6pm, at the Jackpot Bar & Grill, 4485 S. Jones Blvd., Las Vegas. I will be on stage at 6 and will wrap up before 6:30. At the Samhain Soiree I'll be doing a brief presentation on Asatru, and I'm going to be telling the story of when Thor got his hammer back.

At PPD I'm going to be doing a short talk on rune shapes. Las Vegas Pagan Pride Day 2024 will be on November 16 at Paradise Park, 4775 McLeod Dr., Las Vegas. In addition to doing a 15 minute presentation on runic orthography, part of the time I'll be hanging out at the Author Table.

I'll be sharing photos from the events on my social media, and blogging about my experiences at both events here on my blog. I plan to make a separate blog post after of those events to talk about my experiences. So stay tuned for more exciting heathenry!