We know our gods are getting mainstream attention when I find an Ullr brand schnapps in a big normal store with a prayer to Ullr printed right on the bottle. Of course it had to come home with me and be used for a sumbel toast. In this photo I'm pouring the Ullr peppermint cinnamon schnapps into mugs of hot cocoa.
Also on the altar are two candles. The blue one I found in Tom's house, where the ritual was held. As a former Strega practitioner, he has a lot of candles, which I'm trying to incorporate into our heathen rituals. He also has a lot of oils, but fewer of them now because we did a soap making workshop too and used a bunch of them up. The white candle is a souvenir from Pagan Spirit Gathering in 2010. Blue and white are winter themed colors, which is why I selected those two.
Ullr is a winter god. In modern times, skiers in Nordic countries often wear Ullr medallions for safety in his wintry realm. In the lore, Ullr is the son of Sif and stepson of Thor. Symbolically, that translates to: Winter is the son of Autumn-Grain-Harvest and the stepson of Rainstorm.
Image: me (Erin Lale) pouring from the Ullr bottle. Photo by Amanda T.