Jormangundr and Neolithic Shamanism: # Domagick 30 Day Challenge Day 30

On the morning of the final day, it is cold, and the horizon is a bright and beautiful spectrum, like a rainbow wrapping around the world, and I cannot help but feel the mythic resonance of the bifrost.

I cleanse of necessity. Yesterday was the last day at my old residence, evicted, and it was an emotional departure, one I'm still recovering from. So I cleanse physically first, brushing teeth, running water over my skin, washing out my mouth. And then I peel at the metaphysical skin I seem to be shedding, pulling loose all the hurt and pain and discarding it. I know who I am, and while others may help me in exploring that, I cannot allow others to dictate my identity, motivations, and actions. I have suffered mental abuse and I will not, cannot, allow myself to amplify it by being dragged down in a sea of gaslit doubt and misery. I am not perfect, but I am not broken or wrong. I am me.

I take my time in the cold morning air to approach the lake. Rowing teams are out practicing and I laugh and cringe at the idea of the world serpent arriving forcefully. My steps are a slither, winding like a serpent's undulating path, as I intone Iormungundr as I approach. It is slow and purposeful, my voice growing louder as I sit beside the water.

The following is a paraphrase and recollection, done to the best of my memory.

"It has been 30 days, but I know you've been trying to contact me for a decade or more. I thank you for your patience and apologize that it was a challenge, shallow motivation to bring me here. But then again, you appreciate challenges don't you? Victories and contests"

"I thank you for helping me to shed the skin of my old life. Things were not as they meant to be."
I ramble for a while on my life, eviction, the feeling of necessity for a change.

"I thank you for the insights into who I am and who I might be, and insights into the universe."

As I finally give the offering after a long and loving goodbye, I breath upon each piece of food as if it were an ember, letting it light up in my hand before casting it into the water. I do this as I pray, one by one, until the final handful of food. I take longer on this one, three breaths, very long, very deep, until it feels as if it is shaking with power and I have to cast it away.

I incline my head to finish my departure, and a fish leaps, the largest I've witnessed here, enough to startle me- is it here? Is the world serpent present physically? But nothing happens. A passing thought, but by no means a coincidence.

My departure is colder, at first, but Jormangund licks me, as if to complete the cleansing I could not quite do myself, leaving my aura cleaner than before.

***

Before I head inside, I make an offering to Loki, who has been contacting me as well, but was not, technically, a part of this challenge. And I make the offering unbidden, to say what's in my heart.

While I am not perfect, nor do I consider myself a devotee, I will not forget them. The Norse pantheon, and the wider world of spirits and gods, is not one I plan to ignore, and as they are there in my mind, they are a part of me, and in turn, I let them know that I love them, and will not abandon them.

It's been a long 30 days, and while the challenge ends, the relationships I have built remain.

Hail to you Iormungundr, World Serpent, child of Loki and Angrboda of the Iron Wood.