Excited to unveil the first in my ‘Queering Deities’ series! This is ‘Queering Odin’. Copyright Nic Phillips 2021.Queering Deities is about increasing representation in spiritual art of all gender expressions, sexualities, colours, and body types. It is at once celebrating the diversity found in modern Pagan and Goddess communities and challenging traditional ideas about deities’ physical appearance. As such, I am calling the models for this series Challengers.
My first Challenger is Yvonne, who chose to be depicted as a gender nonbinary Odinn. It was important to portray an inclusive Odin who stands up to racism, transphobia and homophobia. As such Odinn sits in front of the Progress Pride flag (designed by Daniel Quasar).
Yvonne, in ther own words:
“I’m genderqueer/nonbinary and bisexual. I’ve known that I am nonbinary since before the word was invented. I’ve known I was bisexual (actually pansexual by modern terminology) since the first stirrings of sexual feelings as a teenager. My definition of “bisexual” is feeling attracted to more than one biological sex, and to more than one gender. My definition of nonbinary is that I don’t subscribe to the gender binary. My definition of genderqueer is that my gender can vary from a mixture of different feelings and expressions, to no particular gender feelings. I’m also fairly butch.
My relationship with Odinn began very early as I remember having a dream when I was six that I subsequently thought might be about him. The reason that I identify so strongly with him is that he discovered the runes (I’ve been interacting with the runes in one way or another for forty years); he’s the god of poetry, and I write poetry; and he feels queer and liminal, and I identify with that. I also once had a vision of him and the wild hunt on an ancient track (the Roman road near Wandlebury), and I’m very attracted to ancient trackways.”
For more information on how to become a Challenger and feature in this series, please direct message or email nicholasphillips365@hotmail.com
Nic Phillips Sacred Art 