Skalded Apples: A Devotional Anthology for Idunna and Bragi

127 Pages·2012·5.57 MB·English

by  Galina Krasskova

Skalded Apples

Skalded Apples
A Devotional Anthology
For Iduna And Bragi

Galina Krasskova

Hubbardston, Massachusetts
Asphodel Press
12 Simond Hill Road
Hubbardston, MA 01452

Skalded Apples: A Devotional Anthology For Iduna And Bragi
© 2012 by Galina Krasskova
ISBN 978-1-938197-07-9

Idunna cover art © 2011 Amelia Magerl
Bragi cover art © 2012 Raven Kaldera

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified,
no part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any means without the permission of the author.

Printed in cooperation with
Lulu Enterprises, Inc.
860 Aviation Parkway, Suite 300
Morrisville, NC 27560
I dedicate this book to Ruther Skae, my favorite
Idunna’s man and a good and gracious friend.

I’d also like to offer a big thank you to all the
contributors of this devotional. May Idunna and
Bragi ever and always be well honored!

Thank you, Idunna, for the grace of Your blessings
and protection.

Thank you, Bragi, for Your gifts, in which I basked
for so long in my youth.
Contents
Foreword: Cider and Song .............................................................. i
Introduction: Skalded Apples .......................................................... iii
Idunna
Idunna: Goddess of the Apples of Youthfulness ................... 1
Ways to Honor Idunna ......................................................... 7
A Prayer To Idunna ............................................................. 8
Idunna’s Sleeve ..................................................................... 9
A Prayer To Idunna ............................................................11
The Apple-Maiden’s Tale ...................................................12
Invocation of the Apple Queen ............................................14
Golden Delicious .................................................................16
Iduna’s Apple Tree ..............................................................18
The Power Of Apple ...........................................................19
Metamorphosis ....................................................................21
Iduna’s Blot: 16 Eostremonth (April) ..................................22
Heirloom Apple Trees.........................................................24
Work Is A Prayer In Itself ...................................................26
Apple-Lady ..........................................................................28
For Iduna.............................................................................29
42 Adorations To Idunna ....................................................30
Blot Bowl to Idunna ............................................................32
Three Haikus For Idun .......................................................34
Prayer To Ivaldi ...................................................................35
Apple Blossom Pie For Iduna ..............................................36
Seven Recipes For Iduna .....................................................38
Jan’s Applesauce and Apple Butter.......................................45
Apple Brown Sugar Cookies ................................................47
Apple Spice Muffins ............................................................48
Apple Potion for Long Life .................................................49
Praising The Apple-Goddess ...............................................50
Idunn’s Gift .........................................................................51
The First Principle ..............................................................52
Idunna Speaks ......................................................................54
Words Of Vitality: The Customs Of Wassail ...................... 55
Bragi
Immortality ......................................................................... 61
Bragi: Master of Poets ......................................................... 63
Ways To Honor Bragi ......................................................... 67
In Praise Of Bragi ................................................................ 69
Invocation to Bragi .............................................................. 70
To Invoke Bragi’s Blessing Before Public Speaking ............. 71
Guitar Dedication To Bragi................................................. 72
In Praise Of Bragi ................................................................ 72
Adorations For Bragi ........................................................... 73
Hymn To Bragi ................................................................... 76
Raising A Pole To Bragi ..................................................... 77
An Encounter With The Blessings Of Bragi ....................... 79
The Mystical Kind .............................................................. 81
A Prayer Of Gratitude To Bragi .......................................... 82
Bardic Divination ................................................................ 83
52 Adorations For Bragi ...................................................... 85
Bragi And The Dead ........................................................... 87
Prayer to Gunnlod ............................................................... 92
Blessing For The Bad Poet ................................................. 93
Performing Artist’s Prayer To Bragi .................................... 94
First Performance Art Prayer For Bragi ............................... 95
Second Performance Art Prayer For Bragi ........................... 95
Spellsinger: A Song For Bragi ............................................. 96
Walking Ways: A Song For Bragi ....................................... 99
Author Biographies ...................................................................... 105

SKALDED APPLES i
Foreword: Cider and Song
I first met Iduna when I journeyed to Asgard. For the
uninitiated, this usually means taking a trip with one’s “astral” or
“energy” body to an Otherworld. Unlike many of the Gods, she was
informal with me. I helped her with the weeding in her garden, and
she sat and shared my lunch. She reminded me of a wholesome farm
girl; not a delicate flower, but the sort of Goddess who can dig a
hole big enough for a good-sized sapling, using her own shovel and
unafraid to work up a sweat, and then climb that tree when it’s tall
and beautiful to shake down the fruit. One of the things that stands
out about Iduna is her work ethic. She is a Goddess who works, not
just one who stands around radiating certain lovely kinds of energy.
And, considering her half-Duergar origins, that is not surprising.
She values sweat and sore muscles, toiling and trying again and again.
Her fruits and vegetables are her art and craft, just like the work of
any smith or weaver, and she puts that love of work and detail into
every one. We don’t think about what it takes to maintain the fruit
of immortality—never mind all the other magic growing in her
garden—year after year without failure for a family of Gods. We
assume that she waves her little finger and they just spring forth,
but in the story where she was kidnapped, Thjiazi didn’t just steal
the apples. He took Iduna as well, because he knew that it was her
love and toil that made the difference.
She loves all of our toil, but she especially loves to see people
taking joy in their art and craft, because in her own way she is a
Goddess of joy. That’s probably why she chose Bragi as her husband,
because he also knows what it is to toil at your craft in order to
bring joy to others. As Seawalker points out in his poem in this
book, Bragi works just as hard, and for far more ephemeral results.
He actually came to me many years ago, back before I knew
anything about the Northern Tradition. I was trying to support
myself and a small child with whatever money I could scrape
together, and that included singing on the street when all else failed.
Somehow a particular bardic God showed up and led me to the best
ii GALINA KRASSKOVA
places to sing, to people who would teach me for free and help me
to hone the craft, and to a place of being comfortable with
performance no matter where I might open my mouth. After Bragi
worked with me, I never again had stage fright. An audience was an
audience, he seemed to say to me. You sum them up, you adjust
your performance to your assessment of them, and then you do your
best. If you fail, there’s always another audience. Sometimes it’s just
not the right day. Don’t take it personally. It was a lesson that has
stood me in good stead ever since, especially when I became a
professional writer and my audience spread far beyond a roomful of
bored listeners.

Galina Krasskova has assembled a beautiful written shrine to this
divine married couple, so different and yet so united in their tasks of
bringing joy to others. The combination of sweetness on the tongue
and song around the hearth—the marriage of Cider and Song—was
not about physical survival to our ancestors, but about what made
life worth living. Even today a good meal and drink and a good
entertainment are what most of us homely humans revert to when
we decide to reward ourselves for our hard toil, and keep our own
mental health going. The gifts of Iduna and Bragi, and the health
and wit they imply, are often ignored in favor of more popular and
impressive gifts. For myself, however, they are simply my favorite
Aesir Gods, and I will never underestimate the beautiful
simplicity—and subtle complexity—of what they offer us.
Be healthy in her name. Be eloquent in his name. Honor their
love with joy.

RAVEN KALDERA
MARCH 2012
HUBBARDSTON, MA