Jomangundr and Neolithic Shamanism: # Domagick 30 Day Challenge Day 4

Gods and spirit have a way of throwing everything off the rails when they wish to.

After yesterday's offering to Jormangundr, I got mixed signals, multiple serpents whispering in my ear, male, female, hermaphrodite, etc. and it got to the point one of them got a little snippy.

"I am the world serpent. Don't contact me this way, find me somewhere else in the world."

And thus, I go back to research.

***

Mehen, the Ourouboros, Ancient Egypt. Protective, he circles around Ra on a journey, or in one case I've heard, enveloping his phallus. Somewhat scant info at first, but wait, there's more!

Mehen is also a GAME. A game with a coiled serpent board played by Egyptians and other people (some boards have been found outside Egypt). Nobody knows the exact rules of the game for sure. There's speculation that it is representative of the dead traveling through gates to speak to Re and therefore gain eternal life. The players are called 'dancers', and there is some thought that nobles would play the game on a life sized board, using people rather than marbles and such.

There's also speculation that it's a calendar, or a cheap way for peasants to play the game/perform the rite, potentially a counting device for trade, and others.

So, here I am, wondering what to do next. I don't make a new offering or try contact via the old route, but I do need to go forward with very few guidelines. Taking the seed exercises back to heart, my decision is to try and speak to the spirit of the Mehen game first, then try the god, to see if the lesser form has any insight.

***

There is something on spiral dancing and the Mehen game, and running on intuition, I go outside and limber up. I center, I ground, and I shield.

I get a pep talk from Loki in my brain, about how he'll help out.

I dance the spiral of the game board using my backyard, while spinning myself, slowly moving inwards toward the tree at the center of my yard, chanting an impromptu tune to Mehen and the Mehen game beneath my breath, getting all the way to the center and bowing low, beseeching Mehen for his presence and attention. I wait for 88 breaths, a number I saw for potential spaces in the game, no reaction.

I thank them anyhow and dance backwards in a reverse spiral with a reverse spin, unwinding to the beginning, and thanking Mehen again. I walk inside, and I feel slight pressure on my arm, Loki guiding me back outside and saying "Wait."

I sit down in the grass as instructed, looking up into the trees to feel the presence of Mehen there.

"Usually, I do not have trees to be in."

"Are you the same as Jormangundr?"

"Heavens no."

The conversation from there goes on to similarities, hinting at the idea that they are perhaps spawned from a similar sort of primal serpentine draconic force, and even shows some of the transgender nature that has manifested in the world serpent, but otherwise simply related, not the same. Mehen puts a protective blessing upon me before I go. I ask if he will tell Jormangundr that I have done as asked, which Mehen refuses, but Loki takes up the task, though does not promise his child will listen.

***

I remember now something I was shown by the serpent at Paganfest, taking on the "Hydra" mantle and saying "It's okay. We're all family you know.", followed by a vision of the many brood of Echidna & Typhon in Greek myth. There are so many, many snakes as symbols, monsters, and gods in magic practices throughout the world, and while perhaps many developed independently, I can't help but think a few are just as related as those within the Greek tales.

Tomorrow I will likely attempt prayer to Loki to see if the World Serpent is satisfied before attempting direct rituals and offerings.