I have a few more religious experiences to relate and I've collected them here because they are each a bit too short to post by themselves.  I've posted so many experiences here on Gnosis Diary, and I keep thinking I'm done surely, but then I have another one! lol. 

In the summer of 2022 I got to do 2 things I'd been wanting to do for a while: 1. have a "book tour stop" where I speak and promote my book, and I did that at Occulture Faire Las Vegas, and 2. go to a science fiction convention just to enjoy it rather than as a panelist, so I could have the kind of fun I used to have when I was younger and hadn't started having all my time scheduled to speak when I went to an sf con. I mainly wanted to enjoy the costuming and the music and filking (that means an sf themed bardic circle) and I got to do that too. 

At Occulture Faire, I talked about Asatru and about my book, and I also told my version of the story of Freya and her jewel. Since it was not too long after the Freya Glamor photo shoot (see my post of that title) when I told the story of Freya I must have had a bit of her glamor because when I saw pics of myself later I could tell which ones were taken when I was just talking as me and which ones were when I was speaking lines as Freya. 

At the con, one day I wore what I call a stealth costume, meaning it's basically real clothes and can be read as just a business suit unless you really know what you're looking at. It's was my stealth costume of Business Suit Loki that I wore to WorldCon when I was speaking there on book reviewing, with two changes. This time I wasn't using a cane but I was wearing a mask, and the mask had the Marvel-Loki symbol on it. I felt the presence of Loki all day, the entire time I was wearing it. He was delighted! And so was I. We both enjoyed a pumpkin spice latte from the hotel coffee shop.

That was not a surprise, since I had planned the outfit carefully. It was surprising how much of the music I heard at both the concerts and the filking was pagan or heathen. After filking until we all pumpkinated on Saturday night, somehow we all made it back to con for a 10am concert (including the singer who had been filking with us, great fun.) The musician did a Leslie Fish song I had never happened to hear before, The Traveler, which is about Odin. As the song began I felt the presence of Odin manifest so strongly my left eye closed. His presence stayed strong until the song was over. I don't think I've ever felt his presence so strongly before when I was just sitting and not really doing anything. Not toasting, not doing a ritual, not dancing-- neither the berserker dance or any other dance-- just listening to music. Odin wasn't just in my mind talking to me, he was skinriding, and yet I was not doing the bersarkr dance. It was amazing! I wondered, afterwards, if the musician on the stage could see or sense anything. 

I also saw some wildlife. I saw a butterfly on my trip and a whole huge bunch of them in my garden when I got back home. During my trip, 2 ravens flew overhead. First one flew overhead and cawed once and then the other one did the same. I delightedly greeted Huginn and Muninn by name. 

Image: me reading from my book Asatru: A Beginner's Guide to the Heathen Path at Occulture Faire 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Marnie.