I have done some research into Baldur and Nott, and was thinking of taking them as my God and Goddess. I wanted to know if anyone here had them as their patron and matron God/ess and wanted to know more about them-I can't find a lot of myths on them. If anyone has any myths and info on them, could you please add it? I've been giving this some serious thought, and while I feel them pulling at me, I would like to know more about them first. Thank you!
Re: Baldur and Nott? By: Personified / Knowledgeable
Post # 2 Mar 05, 2013
The Jotunbok by Raven K discusses Nott in a little more depth than you'll find anywhere else, and gives you some simple invocations for Nott. I would read that if you're interested in learning to work with her. It's not common for Nott to be the main matron Goddess as far as I know, so you will have issues finding information regarding that. Let me know if you need any help on that end though. Nott comes from the Jotunfolk, or Giants, and I know quite a bit about the etin-kind.
There's a lot more info out there on Baldr. He is shown all throughout the Eddas so if you haven't read them- I'd start there. You can read more about him and specifically how to work with him in Diana Paxsons Essential Asatru book. Baldrsmen/women are more common than Nott so you'll probably be able to find more information about that side of things. I'm not too familiar with Baldr on a personal level so I cannot help you out much with him.
I want to share a little tid bit on Baldr that I think many heathens will find interesting. It's taken from the book Our Troth. It expalins Loki's relationship to Baldr, which I thought to be quite interesting.
"Possibly the worst act associated with Loki is the killing of Baldr. To most satrar, this no doubt seems the worst crime possible, the killing of a god. And Wolf's-father is not even remorseful for this act, as well he should not be.
The Edda does not tell of the time Baldr spent in Jtunheimr, learning their ideas before he came back, determined to undermine the gods. He taught them of peace and became the most beloved of the sir. He spread flowers and the concept of utopia. He was actually talking deities of war into being nice. While it is not known why the others were so gullible, Loki was not fooled. He discovered Peace-freak's weakness to mistletoe, which was hard to find as it is not native to Iceland, and put that knowledge to good use.
Of course, this is not serious. Baldr was not out to destroy the strength of the sir, but his teachings were certainly having that effect. Ragnark would be coming early in the year, and the gods would not have had a chance in Hel. And if Loki had simply spoken out against this divine hippie, no one would have listened. After all, who trusts Loki? They would have tied him down right then to prevent him from harming the Flower-powerful. And his efforts would have come to naught (Warder's note: Snorri's presentation of Baldr as a kind, sweet, peaceful Christ-figure is almost certainly a great distortion of the god's original warrior-character, as discussed in the chapter on Baldr, where the many spiritual implications of this myth are looked at more closely. But when one considers what Snorri seems to have been doing here, the Loki he knew is to be applauded as the force of change who - even in a literary work - shows up to keep the forces of stagnation from weakening sgarr. Of course, no one thanks the guy who rocks the boat! - KHG)."
This is from Our Troth by Stephan Grundy. He has some interestings points as to why Baldr was slain. There always more to a story if you look for it ;)
Re: Baldur and Nott? By: Personified / Knowledgeable
Post # 4 Mar 05, 2013
I absolutely love how he explains it, Clever. I think Baldrsmen/woman and even Odinsmen/women are too quick to cast a stone at Loki just over the Baldr debate. While I don't have a personal opinion on Baldr, it's easy for me to see that he served a very functional purpose just as Loki does. The difference is that Loki brings change, and we don't always like or agree with the change that occurs. It's easy to put on rose colored glasses when looking at Baldr and not consider his negative implications as well.