Summoning Pagan Gods 101

Gazing down at the half-finished wooden sculpture, Castiel allowed himself a small smile.

He'd been saving up for the past few years in order to be able to go to east Sweden and study the old runes and stone circles.

His sister, Anna, had laughed and called him a nerd but Cas was excited to be seeing some of the objects he gave lectures about at the university.

His plane from Illinois had arrived earlier in the day, greeted by showers and a cool breeze but the blue eyed man hadn't minded; he was finally there and that was all that mattered.

Castiel had always been interested in theology and ancient history; to some it had been odd that a Christian, like himself, had wanted to study pagan gods but he had simply been fascinated with them for as long as he could remember.

Sitting down on the hotel's bed, Castiel studied the map that he had brought with him. The Huntæ circles were closest too him, with the largest being that of the Wienscheste family; the oldest family of gods in an exceedingly old religion.

This faith, in particular, had always fascinated Castiel. Its roots appeared to be Germanic but also linking with Norse, its following seemingly had spread across parts of east Russia, through Finland and to Sweden, relics having also been found in northern France and over the Atlantic in Newfoundland.

During his own time of doing his degree, he had visited the sites in Newfoundland as well as Finland and had simply known that this was the theology he wanted to focus on for his papers and dissertation; and now the book that he was currently perfecting, this trip being both for work and personal enjoyment.

Deciding that he would visit the Wienscheste circle first, Castiel folded the map and placed it on the night stand before regarding his small sculpture again.

The wooden figure was rough at the moment, but he reasoned that it wouldn't take long to perfect. At the moment, it was only a vague shape resembling Deån; god of homes and the hunt, eldest son of Mærie and Djohhn Wiescheste. The god's head was covered by the thick hood of his cloak which was also wrapped around his body, his hands hidden by long sleeves and leaving only his face visible. Flicks of hair were barely showing beneath the fur of the hood and his slight smirk was simply an etch on the surface at the moment.

Castiel considered painting it but chose to decide later, depending on how it went. He wanted to show the earthy colours associated with the god, though; the black of his eyes with green centres that were set into his tanned skin, the deep brown of his cloak and cream of the fur and the sandy, light brown strands of hair. Not to mention the dark tattoos across the bridge of his nose.

The jet lag had made Castiel's eyes feel heavy but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep yet so he opened one of the books he had brought with him and found the page with the image of Deån on and his title. Picking up the figure again, he began sanding it down and filing it where necessary.

This went on for a couple more hours before Castiel could feel himself falling asleep where he sat. After quickly changing and putting the old book away, Castiel glanced at the clock before climbing into the bed: 19:00, ah well, it looked like he was having an early night.

"Gedvangal druxgongisgrapha, Deån." he smiled, patting the small statue on his night stand; testing how the Enochian sounded, even if it was with his mangled pronunciation.

Castiel put it down to the low light and his sleep-deprived brain, but he swore, as he turned out the light, that the statue's smirk turned into an actual smile.

~x~x~x~

The next day was mostly spent sleeping and planning out his next week in the town whilst Thursday, however, was when he finally rented a car and drove out to the circles. It took him an hour and a half to reach them but Cas barely noticed; a small smile placing itself on his face for the entire journey while excitement tugged at his mind.

The Wiescheste circle was closest to the main road; only a mile walk from the small tourist hut next to the car park. The map then showed two different roots branching off, one went to the Kambeyl circle and the other went to Häreviel which had two other stones placed close to it marked at 'Schinga' and 'Vietzgerald'.

Each sign along the path was written in a number of languages and Castiel smiled a little at how he could read them all; he wasn't just fluent in dead languages, after all. The route through the trees had been dry, the clouds only pale smudges in the sky that were quickly being hurried along by the wind.

Along the way, there had been small picnic areas branching off of the trail, families beginning to sit down and eat at them.

It was just passed noon when Castiel arrived at the Wiescheste circle and, after glancing around him, he realised that he was the only one still around that particular rune site, the voices of a tour group fading as they disappeared between the trees lining the route.

First things first, Castiel reasoned, he'd place his 'offering' next to Deån's rune stone.

It didn't take much effort to locate the elder brother's stone: it was one of the largest, to the left of Djohhan's while Samuel's was to the right of Mærie's.

Castiel took his, now finished, carving from his pocket and compared it to the stone before him. The Deån carved into stone looked foreboding, his hood off of his head which was raised high and appeared to be staring down at Cas. In his left hand he appeared to be clutching a dagger whilst his right was curled around a jumble of lines that gave the impression that he was holding fire.

He then looked at his own carving. Deån appeared... Okay, 'cute' wasn't exactly what Cas thought he should use for an old god but that was exactly how Deån looked, with his hands clutched in front of him and his head mostly hidden by the thick fur of his hood.

Castiel had ended up not painting the wooden sculpture and - although he knew it could be seen as a silly thing to do - had decided to leave it at Deån's rune.

The blue eyed man crouched and placed the figure at the base of the stone. "For you, Deån." He murmured, patting the small statue lightly.

A sudden clap of thunder made Castiel jump and he almost fell over but froze as he saw a hand beside him reaching for the figure he had just set down.

"Huh, it looks good." a voice said from just behind him. Turning slowly, he took in what he was seeing; Deån was holding the figure.

Wait, Castiel's brain screeched. What?!

A/N: so much for 'I'm not going to write this until everything else is finished', huh?

anyway, this story is based upon Diminuel's wonderful artwork on the pagangoddean blog on tumblr, I seriously advise that you check it out.

thank you to infinitejellybean for beta-ing and getting me to the post it instead of just letting it sit around in my documents.

this is also posting on AO3 under the same name, LJ posting may occur in the future.

my tumblr is bakura-reads-yaoi, come say hi!