Laurie Asra Sottilaro
Source: Dæmon that influences womb; Dæmon buds from local adult Mods approaching death.
Type: Dæmon-soul/wander-soul
Keywords: will, reactiveness, determination, drive, achievement, strategic adaptation
Other Language Synonyms: moðr (Old Icelandic), moð (Old Swedish), mot (Middle Low German), muot (Old High German, Middle High German), moet (Middle Dutch)
Spheres: microbiome, will
Afterlife: remains with & empowers Ghost in afterlife with gods
Patrons: Thor, Magni, Moði, Thruðr, Frigg and her cabinet
Care and feeding: support microbiome; striving toward a meaningful goal, purpose, or intention, solving problems, reaching toward excellence; become more self-aware
Foothold: Solar plexus, abdomen, microbiome. “The interactive processes of digestion, metabolism, energy production, muscles and tendons, reproductive system, and immune system all influence and are influenced by the state of our Mod” (Rose 2021 515)
Interface: Laeti: Abilities and activities of Lich; Litr: Condition of Mod impacts Hugr’s litr; through the gaze.
Concerns: Mod tends to be focused on projects, threats, challenges, opportunities, and adventures. It tends to be fairly active.
Runes / Bindrune: Ehwaz, Uruz, Sowilo, Tiwaz
Awareness: “opportunities, challenges, threats, problems, adventures, things that need to be ‘fixed’ in any way so they are better for us” (Rose 2022 338), everyday life, things it wants
Notes:
What’s in a name?
The term Mod has three relevant meanings:
- An Individual soul/spirit type that is often conflated with Hugr; Mod does not appear as a soul-being in Gothic or Old Norse sources, its role there is taken by Hugr. Mod as a soul-being shows up primarily in Anglo-Saxon, Old Saxon, and Old High German sources.
- An undifferentiated force permeating nature that can be drawn upon, and is closely related to mægen.
- A state of being like Wode “involving any of the following: natural or supernatural strength, courage and determination; great intelligence and wisdom; battle rage; savagery, cruelty, vengefulness, and capriciousness” (Rose 2021 195).
Winifred proposes a new word, mody, to be the English translation of ‘modig’, meaning ‘having much mod or done mod-fully.’ The modern English survivor of the word is ‘mood.’
“The phrase ‘mod and mægen’ together was how the ancient Germanic scholars translated the Latin term ‘virtus’ or ‘virtue,’ specifically the kind of virtue that refers to ‘special powers, outstanding potency’ of things like potent medicinal herbs and magical implements. This understanding implies that the triple Thorlings, Mod-Mægen-Strength, can be called upon to imbue something with power and virtue, including our own Mod-soul, but also magical and healing items and spells, among other things. This may have been an underlying meaning of the Rune inscription Wigi Thonar, ‘Thor hallow,’ on the Nordendorf Fibula” (Rose 2022 200-01).
Mod is associated with physical, mental, and spiritual strength, both natural and supernatural, and with the related terms mægen and miht. Queens, wise counselors, gods, heroes, saints, and powerful animals (aurochs, stallions…) were all gifted with mod. The term can also refer to natural forces (weather, sea); even a good beer can be described as ‘mody.’
Mod and the Gods
The term ‘Mod’ is often paired with ‘Mægen.’ Note Thor’s kids’ names: Moði, Magni, and Thruðr (‘Strength’). Clearly there was a theme when names were being handed out. Winifred proposes that the three headed figure on the Gallehus horns may represent Thor with his sons; working with them is good for Mod. “Modern heathens would do well to pay more attention to the ‘Thorlings’ or Thor’s children, not least because they were / are / will be Ragnarök survivors and thus among the Divine leaders of the next cycle of the worlds” (Rose 2022 200). Mod is also personified in Odin’s brother Vili.
Dancing with Daemons
Mod began “as an undifferentiated natural power or energy and then gradually developed into a nature spirit…that became associated with, and eventually incorporated into, the human ‘soular system'” (Rose 2021 194). It was originally an external dæmon “in the nature of barely personified energy, force, power.” In its second stage it “wandered or was drawn into the soul realm of human beings, but was not yet fully Incorporated therein” as urges, strength, will. “Thirdly, Mod internalized itself into the inner person of human beings, expressing itself as more sophisticated emotions, desires, motivations, as well as more primitive eruptive impulses and moods. And finally…Mod becomes the entire Inner Person, the persona, ego, living soul, of human beings, without overt implication of an external force acting on the human” (Rose 2021 203-4). “While the humanized Mod-soul inserted itself and evolved as described above, the original Mod-force and Mod-dæmons or elementals which inhabit nature still continue their own existences” (Rose 2021 205).
“Our Mod soul confers many advantages, all relating to strength, willpower and outstanding capability as these express themselves through our body, mind and souls…however, Mod also can plague us with moods, unwise impulses, knee-jerk reactions, selfishness, capriciousness, bad temper, rage, cruelty and savagery…the primitive nature of the Mod-daemon can express itself in unthinking reactiveness like mob violence, domestic abuse, hair-trigger temper, and social Injustices. The Mod (as with the Hugr) is very much a soul that needs to be trained and cultivated, and brought into harmony with our other souls” (Rose 2021 216). Part of that training is building a strong and deep relationship with Sefa. “Without Sefa and Modsefa, Mod alone would pursue its own will and power without concern for the consequences to others” (Rose 2021 331).
Mod In Action
“The Mod soul underlies our moods and is integrally connected to, and reflective of, mod and mægen in our environment and in others around us” (Rose 2021 200). Mod is sometimes described as simply will. “Will or determination is a ‘push’ coming forth from inside oneself” (Rose 2022 252) that “acts upon the person from within, affecting their own behavior” (Rose 2021 203) and “has the ability to drive, urge, incite that person to action” (Rose 2021 201). “There is no concern about running out of mod power, because our Mod soul accesses this energy from ambient sources: solar, telluric, lunar, elemental, planetary energies, their interactions and enhancements of each other, and the surging, intertwined flows of natural Life-energy all around us” (Rose 2022 202).
“Mod wants to take action” (Rose 2022 212), but it can be heavily influenced by such things as our personal drives, our character and our actions, strengths and abilities. It’s heavily motivated by the drive toward excellence, but it can act on its own at times. From Heliand “we see clearly that Mod was envisioned as something belonging to oneself but also having its own volition and identity” (Rose 2021 201). In Beowulf as well, Mod is seen to act independently, albeit in minor ways.
Mod and Health
As with the other souls, Mod can have an impact on our health. Paralysis was translated as ‘mod-stolen’ in old Swedish tales and medical texts; the concept of the ‘war-fetter’ may be the same idea. “Theft, loss, or damage to the Mod-soul leads to a decrease in the inflow of mod and mægen (power, strength, energy) from the environment. Without this inflow, people and animals become lethargic, depressed, weak, paralyzed, lacking the strength and will to act or even to live, depending on the severity of the condition” (Rose 2021 207).
More directly, Mod can impact anything related to the functioning of one’s gut. “Mod’s foothold is not only our microbiome, but all the body systems and processes that are integrated with it, such as our digestive system and our immune system” (Rose 2021 212). The center of will is typically located in the area that would have been covered by Thor’s belt, and thus is in the same area as that microbiome foothold.
Possible Traits:
| Capability | Abusiveness |
| Character | Acting out |
| Confident | Aggression |
| Courage | Anger |
| Deep thought | Cruelty |
| Determination | Disconnected |
| Enthusiasm | Easily threatened |
| Fierce | Frustration |
| “Fixes” things | Grasping |
| Focused | Initially amoral |
| Intelligence | Moody |
| Laser focused | Outrage |
| Potency | Overly focused |
| Power | Overwhelmed |
| Protective | Rage |
| Purpose | Savagery |
| Stalwart | Self-centered |
| Strategic intelligence | Selfish, self-absorbed |
| Strength | Sociopathy |
| Striving | Uncontrolled passions |
| Virtue | |
| Will |