Monday, March 17, 2008

A New Breastplate

The Lorica (or Breastplate) is a prayer written in Irish and Latin that is often attributed to Saint Patrick. There are many variations of it (one can be found here), but I have decided to rewrite it in "honor" of the old saint who is said to have driven out the pagans. Now it has a nice Heathen slant...
A Heathen's Breastplate 
I arise today 
Heir to the strength of Asgard; 
Light of the sun, 
Splendor of fire, 
Swiftness of wind, 
Depth of the sea, 
Stability of earth, 
Firmness of rock. 
I arise today with mine own strength to pilot me; 
Thor's might to uphold me, 
Frigga's wisdom to guide me, 
Odin's hand to guard me, 
Heimdall's watch to shield me, 
Freya's love to bless me. 
Afar and anear, 
Alone or in a multitude. 
The ancestors are with me, 
before me, 
behind me, on my right, on my left. 
As sure as The Earth beneath me, 
The Sky above me, 
The Holy Powers within me. 
I arise today 
Rooted in the mighty traditions of my past. 
And I walk Midgard, 
Sending forth the blessings of this day's deeds to generations yet unborn. 
copyright 2008, BSW

5 comments:

Longbow said...

Hi Brainwise,
I liked A Heathen Breastplate so much I posted it on my Blog. I have also linked your Blog site.

Would you please post my site Heathen View on your links

Cheers
Ole
Heathen View
http://heathenview.blogspot.com/

Brainwise said...

Yes, yes! I will do the linking. I thought I had taken care of that already (once I noticed your blog), but it must not have saved properly.

Thanks much for appreciating "A Heathen Breastplate". It just came to me over the course of the day (this past Monday).

Yewtree said...

I like it! Posting to MetaPagan

Brainwise said...

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. I hope they like it over at MetaPagan, too.

Unknown said...

Been busy and haven't had a chance to catch up on your blog 'til now. Very nice, I like it a lot.

I've always admired your philosophical view of the world and your open mindedness toward everything.