The Widening - Witan Svan Herul
Yule Moon is nigh! However I wanted to talk about a personal practice of mine that I feel some of you may be interested in. For almost 10 years now ( give or take/ off and on) I have partaken in a fasting ritual that I've come to call the Widening.
I have always seen Vidar ( who's name means the Wide ruler) as the Asen of Oaths and Devotion. As of recently Ive seen some Folk say that he is the Asen of Vengance though I would argue that is the dominion of Vali. Vidar commits to a stasis state of silence, he takes an oath to remain as such till he can slay the Vargwolf , the The Dweller of the Fens, Fenris.
This seems to be greatly understood among our Northern ancestors. Just as similar to the Harald the Fairhair refusing to cut his hair or com it till he avenged his father by slaying his murderer.
This enactment of commitment to a task or deed frees us from the personal vices of consumption within us. It widens the jaws of desire and re-establishes our control over ourselves.
I will share what I do, but by no means to do you have to do the same. Instead you may think of something else to enact your Widening ( of the jaws of Averice)
So its Auspicious that Yule Moon is falling tommorow ( a fool moon is the opposite of the consumed moon by the wolves!) on the exact day I start the Widening so this motivated me to post this. So on the Iron mark 51/Tyrsday is 12 days before Yule. ( December 8th on the Gregorian) I commit to only consuming one meal a day ( dinner) and only drinking water and coffee for 12 days leading up to the 12 days of Yule.
Now again i'm not advocating you do the same thing you can fill this time in with whatever you feel appropriate. when I first started this I did two meals a day ( like the Nordic ancestors, Day meal/Night meal) However over time ive worked it down to a single meal fast.
Now I know there will be folks who say "well actually" about fasting and so on and so forth. I pay no heed. We know that fasting is good for both mental physical discipline and this is just my way in showing my devotion to Vidar. It could take the form or Outsitting, or walking, or going to Gym or whatever. Dont let the naysayers try to degenerate your devotion just so they can try to say your doing something they percieve as wrong ( they are usually doing this to establish intangible dominance) beacuse its not written somewhere. I just wanted to share it with others who may see the same wisdom in this form of Orthopraxy.
Something to think about, So when Yule moon rises tomorrow just know, we've 12 more days.
Hail the Gods Hail the Folk Hail the AFA!
Witan Svan Herul
Virginia
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