Gnosis Diary: Life as a Heathen
My personal experiences, including religious and spiritual experiences, community interaction, general heathenry, and modern life on my heathen path, which is Asatru.
Novel Gnosis part 22: Mani and Sunna
In Asatru and other Norse or Icelandic based sects of heathenry, the name of the sun is Sunna and the name of the moon is Mani. Sunna is a goddess and Mani is a god.
In my novel gnosis, Sunna and Mani were not born gods, but they became full gods with full god powers when the sun and moon powers passed to them after the deaths of Baldur and Nanna. During eclipses of the sun, Sunna can leave the sun chariot and travel other places. When she appears in Midgard this is what she is doing, but because time doesn’t work the same way for gods and for human beings, she may appear in Midgard at a different time than when she left. She and Mani always return to their chariots in enough time to drive their horses on and outrun the wolves who are chasing them.
The sun and moon hosts were found by Thor and Loki on their quest through Jotunheim where Thor acquired his servants as recompense for breaking the goat’s leg. Thor went on that quest to find new hosts for the sun and moon powers after Baldur and Nanna died. During eclipses of the moon, Mani can leave the moon chariot and travel other places. In one instance, he served as second to Thor when Thor fought the giant with the stone heart, but Mani did that under his birth name so no one knew the moon god wasn’t in his chariot.
Outside the Fireverse, it’s my custom to howl at the wolf that chases the moon during a lunar eclipse to tell the wolf to slow down and let the moon go. (It was my family’s custom to howl at the moon during the full moon, like wolves do, but I’ve been directed to change that because I’m not a wolf.)
Image: Equinox by Comfreak, creative commons via Pixabay
Comments
-
Please login first in order for you to submit comments