Seasonal
Rites
The wheel keeps turning, and the work keeps asking to be done in season. This is where seasonal rune rituals live — practices tied to the turning year, the sun’s position, and the rhythms our ancestors moved with. Each one stands on its own. Start wherever the season finds you.
Harvesting in Right Time
Rune Ritual
A Nordic Rune Ritual with Sif, Jera, and Gebo — A Ritual for Abundant Prosperity and Sacred Exchange
This simple yet powerful ritual is rooted in Nordic animist traditions and honors the grain goddess Sif and the runes Jera ᛃ (year, harvest, divine timing) and Gebo ᚷ (gift, exchange, sacred reciprocity). It’s designed to align you with the spiritual rhythms of the land, the harvest cycle, and the blessings that flow when we live in right relationship with time, effort, and exchange.
This ritual is especially potent on August 1, the time of Hlæfmæst or Loaf Mass — the traditional Nordic first grain harvest feast. Consider aligning your practice with the quarter moon closest to August 1 — waxing or waning — to honor this sacred turning of the wheel.
If you’re receiving this ritual after August 1, you can still connect with the energies of first harvest, sacred exchange, and prosperity in right time by tuning into what is ripening in your life now.
This ritual can be done on Lughnasadh, Hlæfmæst, or any moment when you feel called to honor the cycles of growth and giving.
Important — please read
Each one of these rituals requires an offering after the ritual is done.
This is to thank the deities and runes for listening and working with us humans. If you already know what to offer, go ahead and do that.
If you don’t, here are my suggestions:
For Sif, offer grains to the earth after the ritual.
If possible, do the ritual on August 1, followed by the above offering.
If you have any questions, you can always reach out to me.
- 01
A candle (preferably golden or earthy tones)
- 02
Jera and Gebo runes (you can draw them or use rune stones/cards)
- 03
A small grain offering (oats, barley, flour, or bread)
- 04
A bowl
- 05
A staff (yardstick or broom handle)
- 06
Optional: bowl of soil, herbs, a photo or icon of Sif
Create a quiet space, either indoors or outdoors.
Opening Sacred Space
Tap your stav and say: “Austri, Sudri, Vestri, Nordri. Austri Sudri Vestri Nordri. Hail Dagr, Hail Nott, Hail Sol, Hail Mond.”
Tap the stav three times.
Light your candle and take three slow breaths. Say aloud or whisper: “I honor the time of first harvest. I step into rhythm with the land, with the divine cycles of effort and reward. I call upon Sif, keeper of grain and harmony. I ask Jera to guide the timing. I ask Gebo to bless sacred exchange.”
Hold your grain offering in a bowl and hold the bowl in your hands. Picture Sif — golden-haired, radiant with abundance, peaceful but strong. Say: “Sif, wise keeper of the fields, teach me to grow in rhythm. Show me what is ready to be harvested, and what must still ripen. Help me give and receive in balance.”
Place your offering on the altar during the ritual, to be offered outside later.
Take your tealight candle, use your fingernail, and carve while chanting.
Chant: “Jera… Jera… Jera. I honor right timing.” Carve Jera three times. “Gebo… I welcome sacred exchange.” Carve one Gebo next to Jera.
Speak your request clearly to the runes and Sif. Ask for a harvest — spiritual, creative, or material — that is aligned and timely.
Example: “I am ready to receive abundance in a way that honors my path, nourishes others, and reflects right relationship. I give thanks.”
Place the candle in a safe place and let it burn till the end. Say: “I thank Sif. I thank Jera. I thank Gebo. May the cycle of giving and receiving bless all beings.”
“The sacred winds return to stillness. I give thanks to Dagr, Nott, Sol, and Mond. Austri, Sudri, Vestri, Nordri — I walk again in the middle realm, renewed.”
Closing Sacred Space
Tap your stav and say: “Austri, Sudri, Vestri, Nordri. Austri Sudri Vestri Nordri. Hail Dagr, Hail Nott, Hail Sol, Hail Mond.”
Tap the stav three times.
Let the silence return.
You may bury or compost your grain offering later, or leave it out for birds or land spirits.
You may repeat this ritual at each harvest moon or as you notice something coming into fruition in your life. Keep your runes on your altar or carry them with you as a reminder of right time and sacred exchange.
Summer Solstice
Rune Ritual
Sun at the Center — A shamanic rune ritual to honor the Longest Day and awaken your inner flame
At the Summer Solstice, the sun stands still. It hovers at the zenith before it begins to fall. We stand in the full fire of life — yet this is also a threshold. This is a time to gather, to celebrate, to anchor the light within before the darkness returns. This ritual helps you do that in a sacred, animist way — with runes, nature, and breath.
Important — please read
This ritual requires an offering after the ritual is done. This is to thank the deities and runes for listening and working with us humans. If you already know what to offer, go ahead and do that. If you don’t, here are my suggestions for Sol: Mead or Kombucha, and also a small portion of cream or butter. If possible, do the ritual followed by the offering. If you have any questions, you can always reach out to me.
- 01
A candle or fire (or the sun itself if outdoors)
- 02
A bowl of water or flower petals
- 03
Staff, drum, rattle, or your hands
- 04
A quiet space
- 05
Optional: your rune set
Tap the ground four times with your staff (or hand), turning clockwise. Chant: “Austri, Sudri, Vestri, Nordri… Austri, Sudri, Vestri, Nordri…”
Say aloud: “I honor the high sun. I honor the light within me. I honor the land and all that walks upon it.”
Invoke these runes:
Eiwaz — Axis of the world.
“Yggdrasil, tree of life, carry me through the turning of the year.”
Jera — Cycle and harvest.
“Let the seed I planted become fruit. Let the work I’ve done be seen.”
Sowilo — Sunlight, victory, clarity.
“Hail, Sol! Sun spirit, light bringer, awaken my vision and my voice.”
Dagaz — Threshold.
“Let me walk with grace through what is ending and what is beginning.”
(You may whisper these, carve them into wood, or draw them in the air.)
Hold your palms up to the sun (or to your candle). Say: “I gather the fire of this day into my spirit. I gather the light of the sun into my path. Hail, Sol — giver of clarity, warmth, and will. I remember that I am alive, and that is sacred.”
Close your eyes. Let the light soak into your chest, spine, and hands. Let any message or memory rise. Drum or hum three times.
Dip your fingers into the water. Touch the Earth. Say: “As the sun gives, I give. As the Earth receives, I receive.”
(You may pour water over your hands, or over tree roots or soil.)
Tap the ground four times again, turning clockwise. Chant: “Austri, Sudri, Vestri, Nordri… Austri, Sudri, Vestri, Nordri…”
Say: “The sun begins to fall now, but the light is within me. I carry it forward. Hail, Sol.”
Blow one breath to each direction. Bow to the Earth. It is done.
Pull a rune and ask: “What am I meant to tend as the light begins to wane?”
On Offerings
If something in this finds you, the deeper work waits in Singing the Runes and through Patreon — shamanic journey, spirit relationship, galdr sung into candle and rune.
The offerings themselves grew slowly, over more than a year, in a discussion group working primarily through Rune Rasmussen’s Nordic Animist Year — a book that gathers and compiles research on seasonal practice from many sources. Where the text gave us a thread, we followed it. Where it gave us none, we listened for our own.