Why I offer Tobacco to Odin

For those who are not familiar, I regularly make offerings to deity in my devotional practice, and Odin is one of the gods that I work with.

In a recent online chat, I brought up the idea of offering tobacco to Odin. No one else in the chat did the same, and I got a couple comment about it being odd because tobacco was from North America, so I thought that a blog to explain might be good.

One of the aspects of Odin that I work with is the Wanderer. In the Eddas, we find Odin wandering the world to seek wisdom and knowledge. I see Odin wandering the world, smoking his pipe and seeking out new information. I realize that in the time of the Eddas, it was highly unlikely that there was tobacco (at least not that we know of) but it seems appropriate to me.

I believe that our gods change. In talking with Kristoffer Hughes at Pantheacon, he is ecstatic that the Welsh gods are present here in the US. The gods move, they change. Maybe not as fast as humans do, but as humans worship them, they experience life through us – and those experiences can change them. It’s not everyone’s point of view .. it might be just mine 🙂

So, I will continue to offer the Wanderer artisan tobacco, while standing on this American soil … for as long as it continues to be accepted.