A Few Working Definitions

Donald L. Engstrom-Reese

© 2014

I have found that clarity in communications is central to living a fully aware, awake, and well examined life. If we are unsure how a person is using a word, we are left in a situation in which we insert our own meaning on what that person has communicated, not actually knowing with clarity what that person was actually trying to relay to us. I have found that understanding this basic tool of communication is particularly important to understand when engage in teaching. With that in mind, I have made and maintained a list of A Few Working Definitions that I commonly share with my students. Here is the list as it currently stands.

It is always good to remember while looking at any definition, that language is a living thing. It grows, develops, matures and transforms continually. This list of definitions is no different. No word on this list is static. They each will continue to change until they join the ghosts of languages now only spoken at the Roadhouse of the Dead.

May we all dare to communicate clearly with kindness, an open heart, and an open mind.

A Few Working Definitions

http://wearewalkinginbeauty.org/Walking_in_Beauty/A_Few_Working_Definitions.html

Donald L. Engstrom-Reese & Saga Brown

© 2014 CE

    akkas - (Sami) goddesses

    altar - A sacred working space, often a table like piece of furniture, on which to work magic, spells and/or prayers. A place where all of the realms can come together to meet. Altars are frequently a surface on which shrines and other sacred objects sit.

    alting (Old Norse) - An assembly of assemblies gathered to make significant decisions/choices that lead to direct action/s. 

    althing (ôl-thing) - (from modern Icelandic, alþingi) - a legislative body, a general assembly.

    Ancestors - This term is not limited to just one’s biological forbearers nor to only human beings. The Ancestors are all who once lived in some type of body on the planet Earth, whose work and lives have allowed and/or inspired one to live one’s own life.

    aspecting - The direct interaction between a human being and/or a human community with Mystery. Aspecting is based on numerous techniques which allow humans to be physically embodied by the presence of a Mysterious One, Ancestor, and/or Spirit Ally. Aspecting can be seen as having four basic levels: enhancement, inspiration, integration and full trance possession

    attje - (Sami) gods

   authentic self - Oneʼs whole being, which is composed of our core values, dreams, desires, skills, talents, creativity and our birth gifts. Oneʼs true self; being in touch with what you are called to do in this lifetime and acting from that place. It is important to remember that oneʼs authentic self is not a static thing. It may begin with just birth gifts, but like any other living thing, it is always in constant growth and change based upon personal, societal and cosmic experiences and choices. It is also good to remember that a human authentic self cannot survive, let alone thrive, without being in deep relationship with other living human beings.

    AWLYBAR - Ancestor/s Who Loves You Beyond All Reason

    band - A grouping of 30-50 individuals, who come together for a specific time to fulfill a common purpose/goal/project.

    berserker - A Norse shamanic shape shifter, a were-bear, a human who shape-shifts into a bear.

    bipartite time - A way of experiencing time as consisting of the past and the nonpast. All present actions/events are an interaction between the past and the nonpast. Time is cyclic, the past informs the present which then becomes the past, which in turn informs the present. In this world-view, there is no absolute future, only potentiality which depending on choice, leads to possibility which depending on choice, leads to probability which depending on choice, leads to manifestation in the eternal now.

    burden-less truth - A truth fearlessly, yet compassionately told as experienced, perceived and/or revealed. To name a burden-less truth implies that information is given in a non judgmental, open hearted and clear headed manner. It also implies that one is fully willing to accept the consequences of stating oneʼs truth and to listening to the burden-less truths of others. This truth often emerges from the Cold Heart of Compassion.

    clan - A group of folks who come together around a common spirituality, heritage, mythology, lifestyle, and/or worldview.

    co-aspecting - A form of aspecting in which two beings equally make room within themselves in order that they may share each otherʼs consciousness. For instance, between a human and a Mysterious One or between a living human and an ancestor, with neither party losing their own sense of self or of their immediate surroundings.

    collaborate - A group working together upon an agreed intention.

    Cold Heart of Compassion - The crystal clear seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling and over all sensing and synthesizing core of our being. It is where all is perceived and understood from a deeply multiversal cosmic understanding of beingness.

    compassion - Compassion is an emotion/action. Compassion cannot exist without fully weaving together both the deep feelings of truly experiencing anotherʼs situation and daring to take the physical actions required to improve or celebrate that beingʼs situation. My practice of Compassion demands that I see, feel, hear, taste, smell what is actually there. It demands that I actively participate in Midgard fully awake, alive and aware. Each act of Compassion brings me into a deeper understanding of myself as a shaper-with (a co-creator) of the whole of the cosmos.

   conscious making-with* (co-creation, shaping-with) - A process where two or more people (be they human, ancestors, rivers, mountains, prairie grass, Mysterious Ones, clouds, etc.) who are peers, consciously agree on an intention, agree to invest their skills and time to manifest the idea, agree to trust each otherʼs expectations, judgments, abilities, and contributions, and agree to trust in the mystery of creation without expectation, thus bringing their intention into full manifestation.

   Cultures of Beauty, Balance and Delight - These are the emerging cultures that among other things, are concerned with transforming the relationships between the human made worlds and the natural realms into loving, sustainable, joyful partnerships, that are dedicated to pleasure and beauty, that embrace an ethics of justice and fair play, and that delight in the authentic lives of itʼs individuals and communities. The Cultures of Beauty, Balance and Delight are the emerging cultures that, among other things:

    Focus on transforming the relationships between the human made worlds and the natural realms into loving, sustainable, joyful partnerships,

    Choose to live life fully awake, aware and co-creatively,

    Are dedicated to pleasure and beauty,

    Embrace an ethics of justice and fair play,

    Delight in the authentic lives of its individuals and communities,

    Are willing to accept the consequences of their choices, learning from them and moving on,

    Remember that there is always a choice,

    Are spinning cosmologies clearly naming love and compassion as foundational underpinnings of the multiverse.

    Dances of Death, Life, and Rebirth - A set of dances danced usually in conjunction with Halloween, Samhain and other such holidays, that renew the balance between death, life and rebirth. These are also the dances that weave the very fabric of the multiverse.

    dendrolatry - n. Worship/veneration of trees.

    dendrophile - n. A human lover of trees, one who recognizes that humans and all of the green-bloods are kith and kin.

    descendants  - Those yet to be born and/or newborns and babes in the womb whose spirit has recently chosen to emerge into this world in a physical body. The descendantʼs paths on Earth; their potentiality, their call, their life journey, etc., move along the paths we are now creating. The descendants may be new souls to Earth or they may be ancestors who have chosen to return. The descendantʼs work is thoroughly intertwined with that of the living and of the ancestors.

    divination - Most simply, communication with the divine and/or mystery. Divination is often associated with a variety of tools; runes, bones, cards, stones, etc., but a seeker needs nothing more but than an open curious heart, spirit and mind.

    dulr - A magically, mystically, shamanically inspired poet, sage, word artist.

    Eartha (from the Old English) - The Earth.

    family - A group of folks who consciously recognize each other as kindred spirits. One’s hearth-kin.

    farthing* - A quarter of a circle, for instance, the eastern farthing of a ritual circle or sacred landscape measured from its northeastern to southeastern points.

    fere (fîr) - Folk who join in mutual support, devotion and delight as they travel the roads of life and mystery together. Those who remember while walking together, that it is the journey, not the destination that is of primary importance. Fere implies a type of relationship that is more than a marriage, hand-fasting or friendship. My feres need not necessarily be my spouses, but I damn well hope that my spouse is one of my feres. The word has the meanings of companion, devotee, fellow disciple, partner, spouse, adventurer, friend, comrade and beloved all woven together within it.

    folk soul - The spiritual nature of any group of people gathered for Norse magics. Often used in the Ásatrú tradition to mean any person who originated and carries the distinctive culture of Heathenry. This term is modern and comes from kennings in Hovamol, Ljothatal 111-134.

    fylgia (file-ja) - A fetch, guardian/projection of the human soul, awakened at birth by the attending Mysterious Ones. This act is often attributed to the Nornir.

    galdr (pl. galdrar) - A chanted/sung repetitive spell/incantation often in a falsetto voice and/or using throat singing.

    gidden* - Goddess: if the Old English term for divine female (gyden) had survived, it would today be something very close to the word gidden.

    ginnunga-gap (gin (as in again) -nun-ga-gap) - The great seething void of all potential which existed before the manifest of our particular universe. The heart of the multiverse from which all universes are born.

    gog - A Norse kenning [an ambiguous or roundabout figure of speech (usually using two words, which are often hyphenated) that employs figurative language in place of a single noun.], used to mean the language of Seidr. It may also be understood as the runes, Gebo-Othala-Gebo (ancestral grace, blessings in all things, recognition of ancestral justice).

    gothi [go thee (pl. gothar, for both priest and priestess)]- priest

    green-bloods - All who are a part of the botanical realms.

    gythjar [(gith jɐr) Norse] - priestess

    hagzissa - (hedge sitter) One who is a go-between betwixt the living, the ancestors, the Mysterious Ones and other spirit folk. It is 

    hamingja - (Norse) The personification of the luck or fortune or an individual, hearth-kin, clan, etc. It is an entity in its own right and yet, is also a part of an individual and/or a group.

    hearth - The center of a family’s life. In postmodern times, a Paganʼs hearth may

often be their kitchen.

    hearth-clan - One of a person’s core/primary clan affiliations.

    hearth-hold - Folks who share a hearth and garden, who live in the same homestead, who dwell in the same house.

    hearth-kin - One’s family through blood, relationship and choice. A contemporary Pagan/Heathen extended family, all who are deeply connected to oneʼs hearth, affiliated by blood, affinity, and/or joyful obligation. All who show up at one’s door that cannot be turned away (human or otherwise). They who have a claim on one’s hospitality, one’s hearts and one’s hearth.

    Heathenism - A way of life deeply informed by the cultures; practices, arts, magics, spiritualities and worldviews, of the ancient Germanic, Norse and other Northern Peoples.

    hedge-rider (hedge-witch, heathen-witch) - A witch who lives on the boarders between the wild, the domestic and many other realms.

    hedge-witch (hedge-rider, heathen-witch)- a spiritual specialists who develops ready access to all of the realms of the cosmos. The hedge-witch often lives and works in the magical and/or liminal spaces between two or more realms; such as, chaos and order, human and non-human, the wild, the devastated and the domestic, the known, the suspected  and the unknown, the living, the dead and the unborn. We have noticed that these spaces are often marked by hedges, gates, crossroads, borders, ideas, edges, thresholds, graveyards, dreams, orchards, gardens, genders, cultural constructs, etc.

    Hliðskjálf [(h)lid-skelf] - The leading h is not pronounced, but is a soft pallet breath “h”] - Window Shelf/Seat; the seat from which to look upon the Multiverse. This is the High Seat of Seidr. It is also the name of Frigg and Odin’s High Seat.

    The Honey Library - A branch of the Multiversal Libraries where information is stored in vials of honey and the librarians are all bees.

    hugr (ho-grr) - The energy which inhabits and animates a spirit, person, place, thing, or realm. Often used in connection to the landvaettir.

   joyful obligations - The community and or private tasks, jobs, projects, pledges, path. etc. that a person or group takes on joyfully and willingly in order to fulfill a particular outcome, goal, project, etc. Examples range from preparing delicious meals for those we love(our household and/or clan holds) thus blessing each that taste each dish we prepare, to doing whatever one can to nurture the emerging Cultures of Beauty, Balance and Delight.

    landvaettir - Land spirits/wights who protect and nourish the lands in which they dwell. It is a good thing, the polite and smart thing, to consult and gift the landvaettir concerned prior to any overland travel, land use, and/or change to a particular site.

    lineage - This is a descriptor for the group of folks that we commonly call the ancestors. It is all of the folks that have made possible the lives and/or ways of life of a  living person and/or group. It is also the ancestral power of a particular group that is passed from an initiator to a person who is being newly initiated into that group.

    maegen (mayh-ghen) - Mystic might; the prime moving force within everything as perceived by the senses.

    mother-mind - Creating, building and sustaining, human interaction, relationships and culture grounded in the life-cycle of lust, mating, conception, gestation, birthing, nurturing, parenting, and death.

    MOWLYBAR - Mysterious One/s Who Loves You Beyond All Reason!

   The Multiversal Libraries (also called the Akashic Records) - The Multiversal

Libraries hold all knowledge and information in the cosmos.

    multiversal worldview - All things in the cosmos are in ever growing and transforming relationships with each other. There is no one ultimate reality. There is no single source of creation. The only constant in a multiversal world view is change.

    multiverse - Imagine that the cosmos is composed of multiple realities with a multitude of expressions of beingness. Our universe is just one of the possibilities/ realities within the multiverse. Imagine that there are more universes in our cosmos than we can count and that one is being born and dies every instant.

    Mysterious Ones - This is a term, a place holder, a descriptor, a title designed to broaden the scope of what can be sensed as divine. This term includes all gods and giddens, all of the spirit powers including the plant, animal, river, mountain, prairie, etc., spirit allies. But, this term is not limited to individuated personalities. It also includes that shiver that runs down the back in the midst of numinous events and also that sudden joy that wells up through a person as one smells a summer garden under a full moon. Nor is it limited by gender. Nor is it trapped in an anthropomorphic image. The term ʻMysterious Onesʼ opens up opportunities of an expanded experience and imagining of Mystery/Mysteries.

    Mystery - That which is understood in ways not of oneʼs usual perceptions; the realms of the multiverse that are not readily sensed by normal senses; that which can only be directly experienced by the individual, not specifically taught by one person to another. Some things are not knowable and remain a mystery, at least during this lifetime and perhaps longer.

    noaidi (pl. noaidit) - A Sami shaman: a Helper, a Knower, a Doer

    nyd-fire (need-fire) - In ancient times when troubles beset the land, and the community was in peril, the folk turned to a practice known as the need-fire. One story is that the fire represented the spirit of the land, which gave life and purpose to everything in the culture as a whole. Therefore when troubles arose within the community, it was a sign that the fire had been contaminated and the spirit of the land had grown ill and required renewed vitality. The custom of lighting a need-fire called for specific types of sacred wood of that bioregion to be used to feed the fire (for example; birch, elm, hazel, holly, oak, pine, rowan, willow and yew). Each of these sacred woods served to pass desired qualities and blessings into the need-fire. Through this practice the people were able to refocus their spiritual values, generating a new vitality with which to enliven the spirit of the land. The ancient need-fire was kindled by friction and then fed with the logs of the sacred wood. Torches were then lit from the bonfire and carried to each home to relight the hearth fire. In this way the renewed spirit of the land passed into each home within the community. Today a nyd-fire can be lit in any number of ways.

    oath - A witnessed (by human or others) solemn binding promise involving the Mysterious Ones and/or their representatives, an oath clearly states what benefits and/or consequences are involved. The witness(es) is called upon to enforce and/or judge the fulfillment of an oath.

    oracle - 1. A person whom Mystery (ancestors, Mysterious Ones and other spirit folk) speaks through in response to an individual querist or group of seekers. Such communication is usually quite enigmatic, obscure and/or allegorical, more likely to be poetry, song, spirit mapping, dance, and other none vocal communication. The information given is rarely a clear statement. A lecture is almost a sure sign that the oracleʼs connection to mystery is tentative. 2. The information coming through an oracular worker. 3. A site (river, mountain, forest, temple, etc.) that is associated with oracular work.

    orlog - The primal layers, the cosmic laws of the multiverse, the natural laws of existence, the laws of physics. Orlog is the yet unknown and the known. Both are the potentially observable natural patterns that weave the cosmos. It is what shapes the core of beingness in the cosmos. Orlog is impersonal and cannot be manipulated. All beings are subject to the orlog.

    paradox - The mystery of holding apparent opposite and/or contradictive truths and/or multiple truths at the same time as equally true. For instance, in romantic relationships, the urge to merge, build a home together and yet remain a unique individual. In politics, it is to oppose a war but yet support the soldiers. In Pagan life an example may be, the sun is a huge burning ball of gas and also a living being whom some call Sol.

    pledge - A solemn binding promise between two or more humans, often involving goods, services or payment. (Nordic - drinking a pledge toast to honor/bless/recognize  a person of high regard, good virtue, reliably trustworthy and honest.) All humans involved are called upon to enforce and/or judge the fulfillment of a pledge.

    prophet - 1. A person who speaks on behalf of a Mysterious One or group of Mysterious Ones. 2. A person who recognizes the probable results of the choices made by individuals and/or communities.

    prayer - A sacred dialogue between two of more beings.

    The Queer Mysteries - The multitude of mysteries core to Queer Spirit, some hidden away deep within the multiverse, most hidden in plan sight.

    Queer Spirit - Queer Spirit embraces the knowledge and power of queerness, taking those mysteries through the personal realms into the understandings of thriving queer communities, families, hearth-clans, and so on. Queer Spirit embraces authentic

sexuality as a sacred expression of beingness and wonder. A few of the traditional roles of devotees of Queer Spirit are: go-betweens, bridge builders, peace makers, healers, teachers, sexual explorers, artists, poets, dancers, priestesses, etc.

    queerness - Queerness is not merely about whom one has sex with or desire for. Rather, it is daring to truly live one’s authentic life, daring to be one’s own authority, while yet remaining fully engaged in community. This authenticity includes one’s sexuality, artistic expression, spirituality and all other aspects of one’s worldview. Therefore, a queer is simply someone who chooses to embrace and openly celebrate their own life, willing to accept the consequences thereof. Queerness inherently challenges any and all authoritarian/power- over culture. Authentic queer expression is quite often outside of expected norms as determined by the overall or dominant culture from which it emerges.

    red-bloods - All who are a part of the zoological realms.

    ritatru’ (rita-true) - Honor of and faith in the organic laws of Yggdrasil.

    The Roadhouse of the Dead - A gathering site, somewhere between all realms and worlds, where the Ancestors of the Good Green Earth and the Mysterious Ones connected to Midgard come together every Samhain/Halloween/Day of the Dead to dance the Dances of Renewal, which include among others, The Dance That Renews the Balance Between Death, Life and Rebirth, The Dance of the Many Petaled Irish Rose, The Dance That Weaves the Fabric of the Multiverse and other Dances of Mystery.

    seer - 1. A person who sees into the future (the highly probable), the past, the invisible and other realms, reporting back on what they have experienced to their client, clan, community, etc. 2. A person who recognizes the probable results of the choices made by individuals and/or communities.

    seidr (seidhr, seidh, seid, seithr, seith) - An Old Norse umbrella term for a variety of magics: runic, shape-shifting, weather advice, communicating with the ancestors, sacred singing, etc. The word seidr is often used currently to name a type of shamanic oracular ritual often involving deep trance, galdrar and seething (shimmying and shaking ecstatic dancing).

    seidkona - Female bodied seidr trance practitioner, a magic worker in general.

    seidmadr - Male bodied seidr trance practitioner, a magic worker in general.

    seithu [(see throo) coined by Yngona Desmond] - a novice or student of seidr.

    seithus [(see thus),  pl. seithru (see throo) coined by Yngona Desmond]- gender neutral term for skilled, long term seidr practitioner/s

    shaping-with* (co-creation, making-with) - all beings of all kinds; rocks, rivers, plants, animals, planets, stars, Mysterious Ones, winds, ancestors, etc., eternally shaping the Multiverse together every instant of every second. The substance of the multiverse eternally changes form and substance, but it does not create something out of nothing. All beingness, all things are eternally growing and changing together. One of the Great Works is: All beings of the cosmos together forming and growing the stuff of the multiverse. That Great Work can be called, shaping-with.

    shapers-with* (co-creators, makers-with) - All beings. We are all shapers-with if we are conscious of it or not.

    shrine - 1. An object which is designed to be a dwelling place of an ancestor, Mysterious One or other spirit person. 2. A container which holds sacred relics. 3. The grave site or tomb of a venerated person.

    sippe (sip-peh) - Kindred and/or family unit of any sort: hearth-hold, hearth-kin, household, etc. Sippe is often used when referring to a group of people who live together in a steading.

    sjövaettir (Norse) - sea spirits/wights who protect and nourish the seas and oceans in which they dwell.

    Soul Crafting - The mystical application of a learned skill (such as a Galdr) to affect the human soul or being. A modern term, harvested from the Voluspa, from the descriptions of all the magics the Volva knows. An umbrella term which holds all of the old Norse magics.

    spa - Norse prophecy, (Noticing the potential, the possible and the probable).

    spakona - a Norse prophetess, a person who discerns the potential, the possible and the probable

    spell - A spiritual/magical working with a specific intent.

    standing-with - A method of communication/conversation with a Mysterious One, Ancestor and/or Spirit Being in which, the living human and the spirit person stand next to each other and speaks/communicates with each other. The spirit person does not enter the living human. The living person does not enter the spirit person. The living human simply repeats what is being told, shown, communicated by the spirit person to the living human who then shares it with the folks who have gathered to hear from the spirit person.

    stromvaettir - river spirits/wights who protect and nourish the rivers, streams and watersheds in which they dwell.

    svinfylking - A Norse shamanic shape shifter, a were-boar, a human who shape shifts into a boar.

    The Terrible Powers of the Widow - These powers are often associated with the widowʼs refusal to be confused, comforted, charmed and/or hexed by societal norms and/or other polite niceties. These powers also often include a sense of having nothing left to loose, which then empowers the widow to step consciously and courageously into any situation, naming out-loud what her widow eyes and ears, his widow senses are telling her and thus, demanding justice and fair play for all. These powers may also include a new understanding of the intrinsic beauty and wonder of life, death and rebirth.

    thews - The virtues, good qualities, principles and practices that make sustainable, thriving lives of beauty, balance and delight possible.

    time - It is experienced in many different ways. Some experience as a process (atomic decay, aging, the movement of the Earth through space, etc.). Time is often experienced as the seasons, the ages, the eons; the rising and setting sun, moon, and stars; the ebb and flow of lifetimes, the journeys of beings throughout eternity. Some experience Time as part Elemental, part Mysterious One and yet essentially itʼs own unique entity. Clocks are human made constructs of convenience for organizing and scheduling time. Time can be experienced as mutable, cardinal, and fixed, all at the same time. Choice is the core ingredient in creating a delightful working relationship with time of any kind.

    ting (Old Norse) - An assembly

    Tivar - All of the Aesir and Vanir, all of the Nordic Mysterious Ones. Tivar is often seen in modern writings as “Tivaric”, meaning the collected energy/wisdom/power of all the Aesir and Vanir.

    totem - n. An animal, plant, rock, river, etc. or symbol there of, that is in deep relationship with, holding the power and mystery of a family, clan, tribe, etc.

    totemism - n. A way of understanding and moving through the worlds in which every human being  has a spiritual connection and is in deep relationship with another non-human physical being, such as an animal, stone, river, or plant. These relatives are  often called spirit-beings or totems. A totem interacts with an individual and/or kin group serving to hold their power and mystery and as an emblem or symbol of their human relatives.

    transconsciousness - a unique, irreducible state of religious consciousness, a mental structure or capacity set apart from all others, one which comes into play only in religious experience. (Mircea Eliade)

    tribe - A social group of approximately 1000-2000 individuals connected by a shared system of values organized for the mutual care, defense, and survival beyond that which could be attained by a lone individual or family group. Tribalism was successful for the first 2-3 million years of human development.

    ulfhednar - A Norse shamanic shape shifter, a werewolf, a human who shape-shifts into a wolf.

    universal world view - All things are one. All Goddesses are one Goddess. The

ultimate reality is unity.

    utangard (oot-ann-guard) - Beyond the fence, beyond the enclosure (where it is wild, chaotic, anarchic).

    utiseti (ute-se-ti) - Sitting Out. Literally, sitting out with the Ancestors(the dead of the Sippe) on a burial mound or harrow. Utiseti is done in order to ask for practical advice or to gain access to the wisdom contained in the Wyrd of the ancestor.

    vardlokkur (varth-lokk-ur) - 1. The Warder’s Song; warding charm, ward–allure, ward-entice. 2. Lulling, sight/vision inducing spirit songs. Warding songs used in seidr work. A special gift given to the MOs who come to a seidr. 3. A singer of vardlokkur. 4. A person who opens and closes fetters and locks. 5. One who has the power of binding and releasing spirits using runes. 6. A protector of the Gates. 7. A family’s traditional song used in the home when folks were sitting out with the ancestors to say hello and name their needs.

    vaettir (Norse) - Nature spirits who protect and nourish all of the realms of nature.

    viriditas - The sacred greening forces of Life, which long to spread throughout the multiverse.

    vision - A vision may be experienced in a dream, a trance, or an ecstatic state. Some may experience visions while walking through natural environments or visiting other sacred sites. Others experience visions during a grave illness. Still others may experience visions while simply going about their everyday activities. A vision usually communicates a new understanding, perception, sensitivity, and/or insight, often revealing the probabilities emerging around any set of actions. Visions are not usually forgotten as easily as and have a deeper clarity than simple dreams. The ingestion of allied entheogens are used by some folks, other people do not develop such relationships. There are also folks who work with entheogens for specific projects and yet, at other times, choose not to work with these allies.

    vitki (pl. vitkar) - A rune maven, a skilled rune worker.

    volva - A Norse practitioner of public seidr, spa, galdr, sorcery and prophecy.

    vow - a religious/spiritual promise in regards to a marriage, initiation, religious order, etc., a promise specific to a particular religious tradition, there may or may not be a way of dissolving a particular vow.

    wight [(wīt) Middle English] - A living sentient being. Often used in contemporary times to refer to spirit beings of a specific place, thing or event: land wights, river wights, wind wights, etc.

    witch - A practitioner of witchcraft.

    witchcraft - A set of tools, practices, techniques, etc. used to engage with the energies, powers, magics and sciences of the multiverse.

    wyrd - That which we [(individuals, clans, hearth-holds, communities) humans and otherwise] are born into/with; the choices/actions of all those who came before us, our choices/actions in past lives, our genetic heritage, the gifts from the Mysterious Ones and other spirit folk. The wyrd is more personal than the orlog and can be effected by our choices/actions.

    yoiking (Sami) - Singing the essence of a person, place, thing or event. Once a yoik is voiced it shimmers endlessly throughout the multiverse. A yoikʼs rhythm can have a conventional pulse pattern, be fractal in nature, or be a combination of both.

    zooloatry - n. Worship/veneration of animals.

    zoomorphism - n. 1. Attribution of animal characteristics or qualities to a god. 2. Use of animal forms in symbolism, literature, or a graphic representation. -- zoomorphic adj.

    zoophile - n. A human lover of animals, one who recognizes that human animals and all other of the red-bloods are kith and kin.

    zoophilia - n. Attraction to or affinity for animals. -- zoophilic adj.

from The Paganistan New Saxon Word-hoard, created by Valireʼbrand and Steven Posch: http://www.stevenposch.com/

Pronunciation Guides:

http://www.forvo.com

http://dictionary.infoplease.com/pronkey.html