SOURCES

From the Poetic Edda:

         (Othin said:)
"Say as the tenth,    since the sacred gods' fates
     thou, Vafthruthnir, dost wot:
whence came wise Njorth     among holy gods -
[temples and fanes     full many hath he -]
     yet was not begot among gods?"

          (Vafthruthnir said:)
"In Vanaheim     Vanir begat him,
     and gave him as hostage to the gods
at the world's last weird     he will wend again
     home to the wise Vanir."

Vafthrudhnismal 38 – 39. Poetic Edda, Hollander translation, page 49.

"Noatun the elventh,      where Njorth hath him
     reared his bright abode;
the sinless god     his seat there has
     and rules in high timbered hall."

Grimnismal 16. Poetic Edda, Hollander translation, page 57.

          (Njorth said:)
"Little sin me seemeth,      though beside her mate
     a wedded wife have a lover:
that the unclean As     with is should dwell,
     I wonder, who was a woman."

          (Loki said:)
"Hush thee, Njorth,     thou hence was sent
     as hostage for holy gods,
and Hymir's handmaids     had thee as pot,
     and used thy mouth as midden."

          (Njorth said:)
"My meed had I      that hence I was sent
     as hostage for holy gods:
a son I gat     on whom smile all wights,
     who is highest held among gods"

          (Loki said:)
"Have done now, Njorth,     thy darling to praise;
     I'll no longer let it be hidden:
with thy own sister    that son didst get -
     a wonder he is not worse."

Lokasenna 33 – 36. Poetic Edda, Hollander translation, page 97.

From the Prose Edda

The third As is the one called Niord. He lives in heaven in a place called Noatun. He rules over the motion of wind and moderates sea and fire. It is to him one must pray for voyages and fishing. He is so rich and wealthy that he can grant wealth of lands or possessions to those who pray to him for this. Niord is not of the race of the Aesir. He was brought up in the land of the Vanir, but the Vanir gave him as hostage to the gods and took in exchange as an Aesir-hostage the one called Hoenir. He came to be the pledge of truce between the gods and the Vanir.

Niord has a wife called Skadi, daughter of the giant Thiassi. Skadi wants to have the home her father had – this is in some mountains, a place called Thrymheim – but Niord wants to be near the sea. They agreed on this, that they should stay nine nights in Thrymheim and then alternate nines at Noatun. But when Niord came back to Noatun from the mountain he said this:

 "I hate mountains - not long was I there, just nine nights:
  wolves' howling I thought ugly compared with the swan's song."

Then Skadi said this:

 "I could not sleep on the sea's beds for the birds' screaming;
  he wakes me who comes out from sea every morning, that gull.

…Niord of Noatun had afterwards two children. The son was called Freyr and the daughter Freyia. They were beautiful in appearance and mighty….

Skaldskaparmal, Poetic Edda, Faulkes translation, pages 23-24.

…But Skadi, daughter of giant Thiassi, took helmet and mail-coat and all weapons of war and went to Asgard to avenge her father. But the Aesir offered her atonement and compensation, the first item of which was that she was to choose herself a husband out of the Aesir and choose by the feet and see nothing else of them. Then she saw one’s person’s feet that were exceptionally beautiful and said:

  "I choose that one; there can be little that is ugly about Baldr."

But it was Niord of Noatun.

Skaldsparmal, Poetic Edda, Faulkes translation, page 61.

How shall Niord be referred to? By calling him god of chariots or descendent of Vanir, or a Van and father of Freyr and Freyia, the giving god.

Skaldsparmal, Poetic Edda, Faulkes translation, page 75.

Other Sources:

May the Gods get rid
Of this ruling robber
Let the heavens hang him
For highway robbery!
May Odin and the others,
Frey and Njord, show their anger
To this enemy of ease
And order at assemblies.
Egil's Saga, chapter 56, Penguin edition.

And first Odin's goblet was emptied for victory and power
to his king; thereafter, Niord's and Freyja's goblets for
peace and a good season.  Then it was the custom of many to
empty the brage-goblet (1); and then the guests emptied a
goblet to the memory of departed friends, called the
remembrance goblet.
Heimskringla or The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway; Hakon the Good's Saga.

Text copied from the Online Medieval and Classical Library

OUR THOUGHTS

It has been our experience that Njordh is most often toasted at large gatherings or rituals to which people travel long ditances to attend. Libations are often made to Njordh before long trips, be they by land, sea or air. The most appropriate time and place to honor him would be at the beach in the late spring or summer, which is when Viking Age merchants would have found the seas easiest to travel, after the spring thaw.

Personally, for me (Joe Mandato), Njordh has always been a fatherly, protective figure. I believe this has something to do with the fact his wife is my patroness, but this has never been made overtly manifest. I tend to associate Njordh more with prosperity and travel than with the sea, preferring to associate oceans and seas with Aegir and Ran. Because of the historical importance of rivers to prosperity (whether its the Nile, or the Mississippi), I think Njordh has a particularly close tie with large rivers.

Ritual

One of the things we try to do in our rituals is customize a standard blot to suit the deity of occasion. To set the mood we did two things, first we decorated the altar with some seashells. Second, we changed our standard “Odin, Villi, Ve” chant to “Fehu, Laguz, Raidho”. We chose these three runes based on Njordhs major functions: that of god of prosperity, the sea, and of travel. During the blot proper, we performed a short guided meditation.