wóden-minerva 🧙

i picked out the below track - pagan poetry - björk - as a good accompaniment to this page.

wóden (← proto-germanic *wōdanaz ← *wōdaz “frenzied, spirited”) is a deity, a pattern of nature, who embodies the aspects of poetry, wisdom, magic, healing, transformations and altered states.

other names which i associate with her are minerva (← proto-indo-european *mén-es-ueh₂ ← *men- “mind”) and sulis.

i also make reference to them with epithets the healer, the wise and the witch.

magic

wóden is a patron of magic, especially that of transformation. i often invoke her in my own magical practices.

gender and duality

i see wóden as encompassing a duality in gender. it could be that she has both masculine and feminine energy at one time - being, in some way, a full unity of both conditions. alternatively, she may well be a biune - two deities existing as one: a masculine and a feminine.

eitherway, i interact with wóden on fairly fluid terms gender-wise. i even consider her to be patron of those of us who have journied along the boundaries and veils between gender and other such distinctions. i find her to especially bless magic of this field.

altered states

there are many altered states as might be included under minerva’s patronage

• hypnagogia (the transient veil between wakefulness and sleep)
• violence, rage and emotional frenzy
• psychoactive and hallucinogenic states
• hypnosis, trance and deep meditation
• artistic trance (trance induced by consumption of or participation in art)

any one of them may be a port of access to wóden and his myriad offerings.