As some of you may know, I’m job hunting these days. The last time I was on the job market, I made offerings to Freyr for prosperity. I had 3 conditions that needed to be met for whatever position I took.

1) It had to be within an hour of a major airport.

2) It had to pay a living wage.

3) There had to be a pagan community nearby.

Technically, I did get all three, although there is a part of me that wants to argue about the third. I ended up in a rural location about halfway between Buffalo and Rochester New York. And while both cities have pagan communities, they’re about an hour away making it all but impossible for me to participate in anything that wasn’t on a weekend.

And then my life changed.

I met the love of my life, and for a year and a half, we created community together, just us. Our religious practices changed and grew, and so did our aspirations. He decided he wanted to pursue law school, and that has us moving to a new state which has me back on the job market.

So, what’s a Heathen woman looking for a job to do? Well… MAGIC OF COURSE!

There are lots of types of magic out there, from simply praying to complicated spell work. Not going to lie, my type of work is somewhere inbetween. Also, it depends on if there is a specific job you’re applying for, or if you’re simply looking to change your job luck. I’m going to share ideas for both kinds of search. First, though, I want to stress something: in order for this to work, you have to be willing to put in the effort to make it work. Both magical AND mundane. You have to approach job hunting as if it was a job all its own, send the applications, polish the resumes, pound the pavement. Doing just the magical isn’t going to have something drop into your lap! The gods, especially OUR gods, help those who put in their own blood, sweat, and tears.

General Job Search

You’re just getting started. Maybe you’ve decided it’s time to move on: you want a raise, you want a new outlook, a new opportunity, but you don’t really know what.

Here are some things you can try to help get nibbles.

Remember, you still have to do the work of sending applications, but if there are a few that I’m interested in, one technique to decide if it’s worth applying can be basic pendulum work. Write the job title or company on a slip of paper and hold the pendulum over it. Whether it’s your subconscious or something else, that can be a good indicator whether you should consider applying.

<a href=”http://Image by Ingrid Plumeier from Pixabay“>

For many of us, we like to invoke the gods and goddesses in these sorts of decisions. I will always be a preponant of working with the gods and goddesses you already have a relationship with for these sorts of requests. Afterall, getting a job isn’t a small request. Any of the gods and goddesses can help with anything. One thing to get away from is the concept of “God of X, Y, and Z.” While They might have ways of bringing about a request, They might have reasons why a request is important to them, at the end of the day, if you’ve developed a strong relationship, they will care because they care about you.

In the realm of finding work, you should frame it for reasons the gods you work with will care about it. For Frigga, it might be to support your family, for Freya it might be to support your fun or your prosperity personally. Odin might care because he wants you to have influence in a certain way, and Thor because he is a friend who wants to see you with the protection and security of employment.

Beyond the gods, invoking the ancestors is a very powerful tool in a job search and if you don’t already have a strong relationship with a deity, would be my recommendation for you. Afterall, who cares more about you than the people who lived and loved to bring you forth, to raise and nourish you. Even if you are estranged from your immediate family, remember that you are the product of a thousand thousand loves and lives, and reaching back to the ancestors is one way to have allies. Your Disr, in particular, made hard choices to be sure your family line continued through the long, cold, winters. They want to be sure their decendents also have what they need to survive.

A prayer I like to use for a general employment search is:

Hail the Disr, Spirits of the Hall.

Hail you who have gone before, giving your lives that we might live.

Hail those I know, and those yet to be met.ure

Accept my offerings, and share with me your luck!

Help me weave my life so that I might bring honor to you, my Ancestors!

What is remembered lives on! As I remember you, may I so to be remembered when I join you in the Halls of Death!

Until that time, send me your love and aid, that I may prosper and flourish here in Midgard.

As I seek to find employment, give me the strength of character to perservere, the determination to see the work done.

Hail the Ancestors!

Specific Job: Just Applied

You’ve done your homework. You’ve found a job you want. You’ve spent time putting together your package of resume and cover letter tailoring them to the job in question, and submitted them to the company. You’ve done Everything You Can on your own to land an interview. So now it’s time to ask for help.

The same set of criteria applies as above. If you have a patron, then by all means work with them. If you don’t, then call on your ancestors. But beyond that, when there is a specific job, here are a few additional things I do.

Print off a copy of the job description, and draw runes on it. Fehu for wealth and prosperity. Maybe Ansuz if it is in the communication field. Or Ingwaz if it’s in agriculture. Think about the job and which runes resonate with you, the job, and your patrons, then draw them on the job description while toning their names. Think about how the run would manifest for you if you should land the job. I also print off my resume, and do a similar spell on it, galdering fehu (prosperity), wunjo (joy), and sowilo (stamina).

If you have a long standing relationship with one of the gods, another option is to strike a deal with them. For example, in my last job search, I promised Freyr a new statue for his altar, a bottle of GOOD mead, and a bag of cheetos when he helped me find the right job. Work with your patron and determine what feels like a fair bargain for you!

Landed The Interview

There’s a world of difference between sending out applications and preparing for an actual interview. When that moment comes where someone, perhaps through the work you did to be noticed, to have the stamina to get there, wants to meet with you face to face, it’s time to up your game.

Again, the previous work applies, but now, there’s a date, a time, and a name to go with your possible future.

There are two spells I do at this time. The first is to weave stronger luck around the interview, and the second is to not screw it up!

Weaving Luck:

Some jobs seem inspired by fate. For those jobs, work with the norns. Take a piece of embroidary floss and begin to carefully knot it with intention, thinking about what you are knotting into your future. If you have talismans about areas of your life that impact your job, knot those into the cord as well. While you’re tying your knots (macreme techniques work well for this), think about the job, what about it impacts your wyrd, why is it important to you? Direct your energy into tying the job to you, then affirm that the job is yours as you finish your knotwork.

Honeying Words:

One of the gods I frequently work with is Odin, and Odin is know for his love of good skaldship. As such, one of my favorite spells to do before an interview is to ask him to honey my words.

To begin with, I like to get some Bert’s Bee’s Honey Lip Balm, but a teaspoon of honey would work well, too. On the lipbalm, carve an Ansuz rune, meditating on the job. I ask Odin to bless the lipbalm to make the words that cross my lips sweet to the ears of those I need to convince to hire me. I also like to meditate on the job, and practice an elevator speech that I would use if I get it, seeing myself in the position.