My appreciation to The Spirited Witch who gave me this writing prompt:
“I would love to see more on spirit identifications and authentication.”
Sarenth Óðinsson -Heathen Spiritworker is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Factors for Vættir Identification
These are some of the most important contexts for vættir (spirits) identification:
Where a vættr is found, how one’s spiritual sensations are reacting to Them, and what kind of communication or interaction occurs when a person reaches out to Them. I also find it important to note relationships with Ginnreginn you already hold. Some of these can be worked with to hold open doors by vættir wanting to develop relationships with humans. For instance, Freyr is said to rule Álfheimr as He received the World as a tooth-gift, and so He and, in my experience, Freyja, may handshake humans with Álfar and help Them build relationships. They can also do the same for us.
Where a vættr is found can say a lot about the kind of vættr it likely is. Most vættir in Heathenry tend to have environments that They favor. Dvergar and Svartálfar prefer underground settings or ones that are close to them. By contrast, I find Álfar tend to be in the middle of forests, between or near farms, or around large boulders in forests or swamps, whereas Jötnar prefer wild, primal places. Vanir I tend to find most often in or around farms, fishing areas, greenhouses, and that kind of thing. Æsir I tend to find in cultivated spaces, and seem to really enjoy enclosed spaces whether those are with fences or protective elements to them. I find most of these vættir can frequent cities and rural areas alike, though the Jötnar tend to still to wilder places in natural, and Æsir the more urban. While location may not be a slam dunk insofar as vættir identification goes, it helps.
Why can we not just discern if a Dvergar or Álfar is living near a mound, or if a Jötnar has claimed a wild space merely by where we find the vættr? Because we live in America, and all the various native vættir, great and small, sure as hell did not just pack up and leave when colonization happened. Knowing your local myths, legends, and having actual right relationship with the local landvættir and other vættir is needed if you are going to live somewhere. You also need to be clear when you are interacting with these vættir through a Heathen lens, and if the vættir find that lens acceptable. I found with the Great Lakes that They wanted to build a relationship with me through a Heathen lens, though certainly not every vættr I have run across in Michigan is agreeable to this.
Another major source for discerning vættir is the spiritual sensations you can take in when interacting with Them. In my understanding, everyone can perceive vættir though we may not do it in the same way. What may be lacking is the ability to recognize when that is occuring, and training to refine the skill necessary to open up/close down as desired. However, cataloging sensations when it comes to various vættir is part of identifying Them. After all, vættir travel, and getting a nose (somewhat literally in some cases, since smell is a sensation we can interpret spiritual information through) for what vættir produce what sensations allows us more modes of discernment. The incidental insights around feelings, sights, scents, tastes, or perhaps feelings of light touch or pressure can be looked at, and form how we understand a vættr is contacting or in contact with us.
This is why having workshops like Digging the Dvergar and Encountering the Runes is so important. It gives space to folks to connect with various vættir with a person who understands Them and knows what to look for in contacting Them. Moreover, these workshops have vættir who have stepped forward to be part of these workshops as liasions. You can get a feel for how your spiritual sensations react to these vættir, what Their “tells” are, and what methods work best in communicating with Them. If you cannot make it to a workshop like these, both are available in recording form if you want them.
If a workshop format is not your style and you are more about figuring things out as you go through them, then having reliable ways of verifying if what you are perceiving as vættir are going to be needed even more. Know your local folklore if possible, and know as much about the vættir as you can before trying to contact Them. While divination is certainly not foolproof, it is a tool in the toolbox. Likewise for asking folks who have experience working with the vættir you are interested in contacting.
A Quick Guide to Heathen Vættir Identification
Æsir
World: Asgarðr
Visual references: I tend to see Them dressed in either period clothes for around 300 CE-1200 CE, or in modern clothes. Óðinn has always appeared to me with some kind of hat, hood, or similar head covering. Sometimes He wears an eyepatch, and other times He displays His missing eye. There is sometimes an aura of light around Them in my visions of Them, and other times Æsir look about as real as a human walking around. Homes of stone or wood, large halls in the middle of ringed forts and walled towns.
Aural references: The soft patter of leather soled shoes on stone, hard boots on concrete, the growl or howling of wolves, the snarl of bears, and sometimes a voice raised in song. The call of ravens or crows. When it comes to the Gods, no matter the tribe of God, I experience Them as having distinct voices from one another. Óðinn’s tends to be more on the gravelly side, Mímir’s deep baritone.
I tend to experience Æsir voices generally between the tenor, alto, and bass.
Osmic references: The scent of mugwort, nettle, juniper, oak, and various teas. I associate chamomile with both Frigg and Freyja, so if I am mostly getting spiritual information through scent I generally look for another smell, such as earthy tones for Frigg, or honey, chamomile, or amber for Freyja. The average Æsir smells to me like meat, onions, beer, mead, or one of the above scents, especially mugwort or nettle. Smells of metal, especially steel or iron.
Gustatory references: Given the interplay between scent and taste it should not surprise that many of these tastes follow them. The mugwort I taste is in tea form, but not overbrewed, but it still has that tannin bitterness to it. Nettle, I either experience in the bitter tea form or in the more bright, just-fried in butter taste. Juniper either comes through as gin or kind of an acidic taste. Mutton, beef, and sometimes pork are tastes I associate with Æsir. Metallic tastes.
Alcohol -Mead, Jack Daniel Whiskey, Old Crow Whiskey, Honey Whiskies, whiskies in general.
Tactile references: Calloused hands from hard fighting, sometimes the feeling of a fieldhand’s hands. Steel or metallic surfaces. Feeling of oak, ash, and birch trees. The feel of a spear, sword, and/or seax in my hand. The feel of tapestry.
Jötnar
World: Jötunheimr, Nifelheimr, Muspelheimr, sometimes Miðgarðr.
Visual references: The visual references for Jötnar can depend on if They are heavily aligned with an element -Earth-oriented Jötnar, like Jörð, tend to have aspects of it integrated into how they look to me. Jörð, for instance, looks like a section of the ground came to life with dark brown or black skin, green hair like grass, deep green eyes, and tree or plant roots as Her feet. Jötnar, such as Jökul tend to look like living portons of Their Worlds, with frost-covered hair, limbs looking like They are cut from glaciers, and cold blue eyes. Certainly not all look this way, as Skaði tends to look like a wandering hunter to me, dressed in warm furs, a bow slung over Her shoulder, spear in hand, and sword at Her side.
When it comes to the Jötnar from Jötunheimr, They can take a number of forms, from half-animal forms to what basically looks like people, though there is always a sense of primal wildness about Them. The more human-like of Them tend to wear simple shaped clothes, and I tended to see more nal-bound items with Them than the other tribes of Gods. (Note: nålbinding/nal-binding is an ancient form of textile craft. This Wikipedia entry goes over it nicely, as does this PDF from the University of Stavanger, and this website from Heritage Crafts in the UK.) I also see the homes They inhabit as being made of turf, wood, or cob-like structures. Some Jötnar move around and Their homes remind me more of tents or maybe yurts made with animal skin.
Aural references: The growl of predatory animals, elk calls, the sound of feet on grass, the swaying of trees. Campfire or bonfires burning, the lap of waters, the slow crinkling sound of ice or breaking of ice, the roll of a rock or boulder.
I tend to experience Their voices in the tenor to bass range.
Osmic references: Elementally: Fire -Smoke, campfires, bonfires, and candle scents. Ice -The ‘smell’ of fresh snow or ice, menthol, and wintergreen. Earth -Petrichor, undergrowth of the forest, pine, and compost. Water -Tea, vodka, rain as it is forming, and seaweed. Air -Sweet incenses and flowers.
The scents I associate with other Jötnar tend to be animalistic ones, whether heavy and musky odors, or even sweeter scents that I associate with cats. I associate more pungent scents with Jötnar generally.
Gustatory references: I tend to associate heavy or powerful tastes, like salt, garlic, onion, fennel, and hot spices with the Jötnar. Hot spices I tend to think of with regard to Fire-aligned Jötnar, whereas menthol and wintergreen work well for Ice Jötnar.
Alcohol -Fire: Fireball, peppery or hot pepper-infused drinks, high-ABV vodka. -Ice: mellow vodkas, mixed cool cocktails, iced drinks generally. -Earth: Dark beers or IPAs. -Water:
Tactile references: Elementally: Fire -The feel of burns, of hot things, flames on the hands, radiating warmth. Ice -The feel of cold, of ice, frost on the skin, radiating cold. Earth -Loam, dirt under the fingernails, grass or plants in the hands, the feel of fresh fruit or nuts that have just been picked. Water -Putting my hands into different temperatures of water, the flow of water over my hands at a river or creek.
General Jötnar: Pads of paws, claws, and fangs. Fur, leather, or scales. Rough hands from outside work. Carved wood, nal-bound clothing.
Vanir
World: Vanaheimr
Visual references: The Vanir strike me as wearing similar clothes to 300 CE -1000 CE in terms of basics outfits, but They tend to wear them in an even wider array of colors than the Æsir. Compared to some of the more gaudy clothes of the Æsir and the more skin or simple styles I experienced with the Jötnar, the Vanir seem to occupy this middle ground of practical, straightforward wear that also has elements of beauty sometimes literally woven into them. If the tunic They are wearing is a simple green, there is highlight work done in a gold or gold-colored thread in intricate patterning. If the pants are simple at the outset, there is something special with the ankle-area, like maybe ruffles or something that makes it a bit more than just a simple couple of t-shapes together. Of the three tribes of Gods, the stitching work of the Vanir seemed to be tighter, finer, and more decorative than the other two.
Fields of various grains, fishing, walled gardens, stacked stone wall homes, turf homes, halls inside of palisade-like structures. Farms with orchards. Ships, fishing vessels, and transport ships.
Boars, and boar shape-shifters known as Jöfurr. While these are not directly cited in lore as I understand it, given the prominence of boar helmets and their connection in poems to kings and rulers, it would make sense for there to be boar warriors in similar veins to berserkir and úlfheðnar. These Beings have reached out to me in the last couple of years, so I do not have as much experience with Them as with the úlfheðnar and berserkir.
Aural references: Birds chirping brightly, bees, the crisp sound of an apple being bitten, the bright swishing sound of running through a field and lightly holding your hand out over the grain. The sound of winnowing grain. The sound of stalks falling. The sound of fishing boats readying tackle, taking up fish, and processing the fish.
Boars and pigs grunting, squealing, and the charge of their hooves on turf.
I tend to experience Their voices as in the alto range.
Osmic references: Baked bread, fruity or sweet teas, warm honey, pork generally though bacon especially, and aromatic herbs.
Gustatory references: Baked bread, fruity or sweet teas, honey generally, butter, pork (again, especially bacon), herbs that add different dimension to meals such as rosemary, thyme, sage, or peppercorn.
Alcohol: White wines, rosé, IPAs, and light/wheat beers eg Hefeweizen.
Tactile references: Rough hands from working fields or looms, lighter fabrics like linen, stalks of grains, the seed heads of grains, grains themselves, wooden bowls, bread loaves, fruits, and the hide of pigs and boars.
Dvergar
World: Svartálfheimr and Níðavellir
Visual references: Caves, mines, picks, shovels, carts, sheet metal, stone, ore, sooty hands, dark earth, hammers, anvils, tongs, forge, crucible, axes, sledges, wire, halls of stone, carved figures, and specifically for Andvari the pike (fish). When They adopt a human-like form, I tend to see Them as shorter, stocky, and well-built, and I see Them with darker hair colors, although Their skin can be almost any color, They tend towards darker or really light shades. I have experienced Their homes as subterranean, usually in a cave, stone hall, or mine, or just below ground.
Aural references: Sounds of caves dripping, the rumble of boots on stone, the patting of feet on rocks, the splash of underground water, the slow steady dripping of stalactices and stalagmites, the ring of hammer on a piece of steel, the ring of hammer on anvil, the woosh of air at a cave mouth, the sound of stone being chiseled, the sound of earth being moved by a shovel, the creak of an oak door on stone, the sound of fire in a stone fireplace, the sound of fire in a brazier.
I tend experience Their voices as deeper in register, generally in the baritone to bass ranges.
Osmic references: Coal, deep earth, metal, oils for cleaning or lubricating metal, frying oil, mushrooms, rye bread, smoke especially from coal or charcoal.
Gustatory references: Metallic tastes, frying oil, mushrooms, rye bread, coffee, mushroom ‘coffee’, potatoes, sunchokes, sausages, ribs, organ meat, steak cuts from various animals.
Alcohol: Dunkel beer, dark beers, Killian’s Irish Red, dark rums, sometimes vodka.
Tactile references: The feel of various tools in the hand mining and blacksmithing, the feel of coal dust on the hands, the feel of charcoal between the fingers and under the nails, the rough hands of a miner, the calloused hands of a blacksmith, sprinkling of ash, sprinkles of dust, heat from a forge on the skin, the pounding of a blacksmith hammer (for me, especially up the arm). The feel of metal in the hand, whether in ingot or forged forms like an axe, hammer, sword, dagger, shovel, pick, or Runes.
Ljóssálfar or Álfar
World: Ljóssálfheimr or Álfheimr
Visual references: Large boulders outside especially with dips in them (sometimes called elf cups), forest groves, clearing in forests, the green of a dense canopy in a forest. I tend to experience Their homes as intertwined with the forest or with boulders, some at the scale of them, but most like a longhouse at a human-sized scale, built into or with the wood or rock. I tend to experience Them either with earth tones or pale colors for Their clothes, and Their hair and skin are almost any shade you could care to think of. Some have come to me looking like they stepped out of Tolkien’s legendarium, and others have been pointed teeth little, and vicious bristling with weapons. I also see Them frequently with bows. I tend to experience Their clothing as gossamer or light textiles on the one hand, with padded gambeson and similar multilayer padded clothing on the other, sometimes incorporating wood or leather.
Aural references: Singing in various melodies, laughter, the chirping of birds, wind rustling through leaves, rain on leaves, whispers.
I tend to experience Their voices in the contralto to soprano, sometimes carrying into falsetto if They are being mocking or mean.
Osmic references: Honey, elderflower, chamomile, forest after rain, pine, ‘brighter’ soups scents like vegetable or egg drop, clear soups like mushroom or onion, lemongrass, and lemon.
Gustatory references: Honey, elderflower, sugar, saccharine, chamomile, pine, ‘brighter’ soups like vegetable soup or broth, lighter chicken soups, egg drop soup, clear soups like mushroom or onion, lemongrass, and lemon.
Alcohol: White wines, light meads, elderflower flavored alcohols, elderflower liquor.
Tactile references: Bark, smooth rocks and boulders, moss, willow, silk, linen. Gossamer or light textiles on the one hand, with padded gambeson and similar multilayer padded clothing on the other. Willow Bark.
Svartálfar
World: Svartálfheimr
Visual references: Darkness in doorways, caves, rough-hewn earth, dark brown or dark black soil, dermestid beetles, animal bones, obsidian, jet. Carrots, potatoes, sunchokes. In Their more human forms I see Them as more slender, though shorter than the average human, dressing in dark but not necessarily black clothes. Dark blues, purples, grays, and occasionally reds, yellows, and true black. I tend to see Their clothes as straightforward tunics, pants, and other practical clothing. Their hair and skin tend toward either extreme dark colors or light to white colors. Generally, I have not run into a Svartálfar in the shape or likeness of Drizzt Do’Urden of Forgotten Realms fame.
Aural references: Dripping of caves, dripping into cave lakes, the sound of earth moving by a shovel, the sound of soil being moved by hand.
I tend to hear Their voices in the alto to baritone range.
Osmic references: Fresh tilled earth, graveyard dirt, compost, root vegetables, cooked organ meats, mushrooms whether fresh or fried.
Gustatory references: Root vegetables, organ meats, umami tastes, fresh or fried mushrooms.
Alcohol: Dark beers, ports, cognac, brandy.
Tactile references: Wool cloth, mushroom or plant-derived cloths, shale, rock, soil, ground, compost, animal bones, teeth, slick surfaces, slimy surfaces, textured rocky surfaces, shells.
Trolls
World: Miðgarðr
Visual references: Rocks, streams, bridges, crossroads, liminal spaces in general. Railroad tracks, railroad spikes, swamps, forests, underpasses. Claws, molars, horns, antlers, iron, bronze.
They can be as immense as a house or tiny as a rabbit. Their human-like forms can range from incredibly beautiful to rock-like, and Their hair and skin come in a countless array of colors. I have experienced a troll try to fool me by looking like one off the shelf. Sometimes trolls look like They stepped out of a Tolkien story or fairytale book, and sometimes They look incredibly average human looking with an uncanny feature, such as horns or antlers, large teeth, or eyes that humans cannot generally get like dark red.
Aural references: Taps or knocks on wood, taps or knocks on iron, low or guttural singing, low or guttural snarling, water rushing by as in rivers or streams. The rumble of cars or trains overhead, the feeling of the roar of train horns or trains themselves. Low, guttural growls and roars.
I tend to experience Their voices as baritone, bass, or soprano.
Osmic references: Railroad tracks, railroad spike, vinegar, acidic smells, clean water, forest after a storm, earth and oil, various animal hides, musk, woody/earthy scents, dark cigars.
Gustatory references: Mallow, marshmallow, watercress, licorice, iron, copper, asparagus, peaty flavors, blood.
Alcohol: Killian’s Irish Red, deep red wines, gins, metheglins.
Tactile references: Weighted iron in the hand eg railroad spike, heaviness, fangs, front teeth, decaying wood, Swamp Oak bark, mushrooms, the thud of iron or feet on wood, the rumble of cars or trains overhead, the feeling of the roar of train horns or trains themselves. Dimpled skin. Scales. Slime-coated skin. Sticky skin. Deep fur. Horns and antlers. I find trolls to often bring a feeling of coolness unless roused to anger.
Conclusion
All of these sensations I have described above are my own experiences with the various vættir, and you may find over time that certain imagery, sounds, smells, feelings, and so on work better for you. That is part of the beauty of comparing our notes, and growing in our practice: we can help to inform and cross-reference for one another. By providing larger amounts of resoures for each other to compare, contrast, troubleshoot against, and develop our own experiences from, we allow for more accurate understanding of the spiritual phenomena we experience, and the vættir that share these experience with us.
Thanks for reading Sarenth Óðinsson -Heathen Spiritworker! This post is public so feel free to share it.
Share
Sarenth Odinsson 