This year, I decided to make a Väntljusstaken / Sunwait Candles arrangement for the Yule Holiday. Yes, I am already a few weeks late, but I plan to do a few weeks all at once this upcoming weekend. I think it turned out pretty good 🙂
For more info this is a solid link.
Question
What do you feel the future holds for you in regard to your path?
Answer:
I don’t have too much to say that hasn’t already been addressed, but I can put my three hopes for myself and my path on here to finish this out.
That’s it folks, its been a wild 30 days. I’m not going to lie, blogging every day is pretty rough – I may not do another challenge like this for a while, but we’ll see LOL.
Question:
Do you feel that others have misconceptions when it comes to your faith?
Answers:
OHHHHH YESSSS LOL
I could probably write a book about this, but here are some that always make me chuckle. In no particular order.
I am not wearing this because I love a show from History Channel – I already touched on this one on a previous post, but its too good to ignore – One of my clerks (I’m a supervisor in my office) would ask me weird questions about various thigs pertaining to a shirt I was wearing, or some jewelry, etc without actually coming out and asking if I was Pagan which I know he was hinting at. This man was VERY Christian and obviously was trying not to offend me, but it was funny to see him root around the elephant in the room without addressing it. My job (prior to a big layoff) actually had a large number of Pagans working there, so it is a healthy place for me despite the occasional Christian zealot that I can easily stay clear of.
The best part of it was when he decided that I must be a HUGE fan of the TV show The Vikings on US TV via The History Channel. Truthfully, I have watched about three seasons of the show, but I watched it before I was a Pagan and it did not cause me to switch teams in any way. Most days would be like “Hey, have you seen season six of Vikings?” to which I’d be like “nah, I’m really behind on that show, I have to be in the mood to watch it.” This would shake him, “huh, I figured you were into that”.
No, I don’t worship snakes – This actually comes from my days as a Gnostic, but it still stands. I sometimes wear an ouroboros pendant around my neck as a symbol of my never-ending quest for knowledge, this has become somewhat of a personal motif of mine throughout the years. Now that I am a Norse Pagan, it could symbolize Jörmungandr, but I have not come to terms with the implication of the symbol on my faith.
A LOOOONG time ago, somebody once asked me about the significance of my necklace, and I basically said “just like you wear a cross, I wear this ouroboros”, to which they replied “So, uh…..you worship snakes?”. Yes my Child, as a priest of temple of Set, me and Thulsa Doom from Conan go way back…..I didn’t say that because I am not a jerk, but I always imagine James Earl Jones when telling this story lol
I am not LARPing – Here’s a fun one, just because I am Norse Pagan, that doesn’t mean that I think I’m a Viking, I am not LARPing my religion any more than a Christian would be, separated by even more time from their own religion. I have friends that are into medieval martial arts, they are not LARPing either – to insinuate it as such is honestly asinine.
I see this a lot of pseudo-intellectual Christian neckbeards a lot. They wade into a discussion on something they have no understanding on, to try to paint entire swaths of practicing Pagans as Avid Lord of the Rings fans or something. I’ve also seen this sentiment a lot from the more Racist heathens out there, they like to dismiss anyone not into Folkish ideas as being LARPers. Honestly people need to cut the crap – if your religion isn’t brand new or anything, of course people are emulating the past – that’s kind of how it works. I guess everyone’s a LARPer by that argument 
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 1 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 2 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 3 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 4 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 5 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 6 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 7 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 8 | 30 days of Heathenry – Day 9 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 10 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 11 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 12 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 13 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 14 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 15 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 16 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 17 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 18 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 19 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 20 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 21 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 22 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 23 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 24 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 25 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 26 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 27 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 28 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 29 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 30 |
Question:
What would your current self like to tell the younger you about Heathenry?
Answer:
Perhaps, one of the best bits of advice I’d give myself is to just drop Abrahamic religion entirely. I drifted so far from my Catholic upbringing, to a point where I was completely against YHWH and a practicing Gnostic, believing “God” to be a charlatan at best, perhaps almost on the evil side at worst. I was starting yo begin leaning towards the understanding that maybe the whole thing was a colossal misunderstanding, and that parts of Judeo-Christian lore were legit frauds. Instead of clinging to “here’s what Christians REALLY did back them, as a way to call out fundamentalism, I honestly should have listened to my heart and left it for good about a decade before I did. And that is in all its flavors, not even Lucerfianism Gnosticism etc.
I had a few bad experiences in the past with friends that were Wiccans not taking stuff seriously, and basically using it as a way to be hateful against others without actually practicing any Wicca at all. I should have realized they were bogus, and to not judge “PAGAMISM” as a whole based on them. Just like having to endure fake Heathens nowadays that watched The Vikings, and have based their entire woldview on that, I assume there was an explosion back then Due to the popular film The Craft. Learning to separate these fringe elements from the greater body of the Pagan Community has helped me a lot.
I also would have re-assured myself that there are still practicing Norse Pagans out there despite what the Christians want one to believe. Its kind of like how many people talk about Native Americans as a historical footnote – especially with Thanksgiving and all (which is why this comes to mind). Hey guys, they’re still here, and tired of being marginalized. Same for Pagans, people like to act like Paganism was “barbaric” and that “we’ve evolved past it, to the reeeaaal religion” or some nonsense. Separating oneself from that idea is the first step at de-colonizing oneself from it entirely.
So basically, Younger me: drop the Jesus talk, be more like your ancestors, and don’t be so judgmental to others that may be unexperienced. Yeah, pop culture religious types exist, but cut them some slack.
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 1 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 2 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 3 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 4 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 5 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 6 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 7 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 8 | 30 days of Heathenry – Day 9 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 10 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 11 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 12 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 13 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 14 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 15 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 16 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 17 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 18 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 19 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 20 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 21 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 22 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 23 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 24 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 25 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 26 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 27 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 28 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 29 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 30 |
Question:
Do you do any divination? Have you ever had any done for you? Do you have any interest in this realm? What is your relationship with the runes?
Answer:
Not much unfortunately. I learned how to read tea leaves a couple of years ago – it was pretty cool, but I don’t have much experience with it, so I’d like to try it again. To get more specifically close to Heathenry, I have read a number of books on Runes, but have yet to be able to set aside time to learn rune meanings and the like. With me currently trying to learn Norwegian, I don’t have enough time to devote to it right now.
Last year, when I attended Pagan Pride Day in Kansas City, I did pick up a starter divination kit from a merchant that was basically small sticks that had been painted in different ways. The caster would throw these, and depending on how they fall, there was chart for the result corresponding to an answer to a question one might ask. Perhaps I will start with these and move forward.
My girlfriend is much better with this sort of stuff, as she has done Tarot cards for a number of years, its just not simply anything I’m too experienced in, but am willing to learn.
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 1 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 2 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 3 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 4 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 5 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 6 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 7 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 8 | 30 days of Heathenry – Day 9 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 10 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 11 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 12 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 13 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 14 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 15 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 16 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 17 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 18 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 19 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 20 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 21 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 22 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 23 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 24 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 25 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 26 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 27 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 28 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 29 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 30 |
Question:
Share a picture of something meaningful to you.
Answer:
I could post all sorts of stuff for this, pictures of family, ancestors etc. but I figured a picture of something that actually ties into Heathenry would be a good idea. Also a lot of those things were addressed in previous prompts. This is me, and was taken at a vetrnaetr celebration in 2019, I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I didn’t want to be inappropriate in any way. I felt like this ritual was perhaps one of the first times I truly felt like I had experienced a REAL ritual. Yeah, the old Kindred I was in did things, but it was really informal and the actual religious side of things always took a back seat to everyone talking about Football or something that sort of skewed the whole experience.
During the ritual, one of the goði came around and drew runes on our foreheads with some ashen paint. I’m a sucker for symbolic stuff like that in any sort of ritual, so it was really cool.
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 1 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 2 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 3 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 4 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 5 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 6 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 7 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 8 | 30 days of Heathenry – Day 9 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 10 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 11 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 12 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 13 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 14 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 15 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 16 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 17 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 18 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 19 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 20 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 21 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 22 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 23 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 24 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 25 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 26 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 27 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 28 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 29 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 30 |
Question:
List three songs that strike you as particularly meaningful at this moment in regards to your practice. (Bonus points for links to YouTube, etc.)
Answer:
Heilung – Alfadhirhaiti
I could honestly post anything from Heilung here and it would click – this musical project does an amazing job of trying to recapture shamanic rituals of the pre-viking era. While nobody truly knows how close they are, they do an amazing job of staying believable and making amazing music all the same. This song is an Old Norse prayer of sorts to Odin, as most of the lyrics are the myriad of names that The Allfather is known by in the lore.
Wardruna – Lyfjaberg –
“Healing Mountain” is an amazing song and video, but the song itself chronicles a persons trek to said mountain, where a pilgrimage there can heal or comfort you as long as you place an appropriate offering. The lyrics are definitely taken from the Sagas themselves, and while I am not certain where Lyfjaberg stands today, its very fitting to listen to such a song in this Covid-19 soaked year.
TÝR – Hold The Heathen Hammer High –
An anthem of sorts. For too long us Pagans have hid in the shadows, too scared to be outed or to practice in the open. perhaps now, more any any time in history, we need to stand up for our beliefs and show everyone that we aren’t evil devil-worshippers like some think.
Bonus: Depeche Mode – Blasphemous Rumors –
I know what you’re thinking, this has nothing to do with Norse Paganism does it? No it does not, but it does remind me of the former life I led, as a follower of YHWH thinking that he had any love for anyone but himself. Perhaps my Gnostic tendencies are sneaking through here, but my inclination that Christians worship a God of evil makes me never want to go back in any way whatsoever. It also makes me highly cautious around his followers. Plus, Depeche Mode Rules!
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 1 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 2 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 3 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 4 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 5 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 6 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 7 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 8 | 30 days of Heathenry – Day 9 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 10 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 11 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 12 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 13 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 14 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 15 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 16 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 17 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 18 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 19 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 20 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 21 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 22 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 23 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 24 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 25 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 26 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 27 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 28 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 29 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 30 |
Question:
What are some blogs/sites/Tumblrs you’d recommend? (Not a popularity contest, just try to expose your readers to something they may not know about.)
Answer:
For this post, I wanted to post a few blogs/content creators that I regularly read or watch, especially ones on here that do a great job of being informative, fun or both! These aren’t in any order or anything, these are just ones that I greatly enjoy
This is easily one of the more well-written and informative blogs on heathenry on WordPress. Notable posts include this one on people misusing the term “Valknut”, and another on people that decry other Pagans for observing Ostara. Everything is highly researched and annotated, and the author really knows their stuff. One of these days, I strive to be as well-informed on this topic as the author.
I know Crawford is pretty well-known in Heathen circles as he is one of the foremost Old Norse professors outside of Europe at the moment. I think what I like the most about Crawford is that he does everything on a scholarly level rather than injecting personal biases into his videos. As far as I can tell, he’s not actually a Heathen, refuses to talk about modern politics, and keeps everything on track. A must watch!
Another big wealth of information on YouTube that never tries to inject his political beliefs into his videos. Skjalden is very informative, and likes to touch on more obscure subjects that most creators ignore, as well as keeping everyone up to speed on the latest archaeological news coming out of Northern Europe.
I don’t read too many travel blogs on here, but I definitely enjoy what I see from this one since the author usually takes great pictures of historical sites and various museums, which is exactly the sort of thing I do whenever I get a chance to travel. One of these days, I’d love to travel to Scandinavia, and this blog gives me many ideas on where I should go.
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 1 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 2 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 3 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 4 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 5 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 6 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 7 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 8 | 30 days of Heathenry – Day 9 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 10 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 11 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 12 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 13 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 14 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 15 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 16 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 17 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 18 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 19 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 20 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 21 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 22 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 23 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 24 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 25 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 26 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 27 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 28 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 29 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 30 |
Question:
Tell us about a place that holds special spiritual significance for you.
Answer:
I don’t honestly have too many places that I see as spiritually sacred, however my trip to Europe in 2001 comes pretty close to mind, as I felt a HUGE spiritual significance there. More specifically, I feel that my days spent in the Austrian and Swiss Alps were amazing, no other place has led me to a feeling of sheer euphoria the entire time we were there. The beauty and majesty of climbing the trails onto a snowy path on a hot summer day was awesome, and some of the wildlife we saw such as goats and various birds was great for someone not used to seeing anything this side of squirrels and cows.
Perhaps, one day, I’ll get to go back, assuming we EVER get to travel again after Covid-19 has ripped that from our chests, and the cost isn’t too insane. Here are some pictures to show how awesome it was:
Question:
Any thoughts on Tumblr in relation to your heathen path? Do you document your practice in other ways?
Answer:
I am altering this a bit because otherwise it would be VERY short – I don’t really use Tumblr. I honestly find the community fairly toxic, or at least it was in the past. Most of the Pagan content I found appeared to directly stem from everyone being enamored with Tom Hiddleston from the Marvel Avengers movies, and thus creating like 1001 “I am the Godwife of Loki” pages, as well as weird devotionals that appear to be worshipping the fictional Marvel versions of the Aesir. It didn’t seem serious, and it wasn’t for me. Note: I’m not against those that take up the whole “God-wife” thing, I just felt that Tumblr presented a disingenuous version of it, much like their takes on intersectionalism and LGBT issues – immature folks not knowing what they are talking about muddying the waters. I technically have an account for this sites sister-blog that I started after I left blogging for a videogame website, but I honestly don’t update it. So, now the question is – what social media do I use for my Heathen path?
WordPress: WordPress is probably my primary Social media thing I used for my Pagan stuff, seeing that this very page is a WordPress publication. So far, the content is pretty good, and I rarely see too many overt hate sites or similar issues that I do on other sites such as Facebook. Perhaps the only issue I have is that you often get attacked or have tags hijacked by Christians and hardcore atheists alike, so that’s fun to deal with. although it seems to rarely happen as much as it used to. I only wish that commenting was a tad better on WordPress, as it seems like a number of creators don’t actually interact much with the rest of the community.
Facebook: Facebook has a more talkative community for sure, but that comes with a cost. If you have any sort of Norse Pagan or Heathen community on there, you better explicitly state your values on a gatekeeping page, otherwise it will soon be overrun by racists. I have watched a handful of pages get utterly destroyed by this, fault lying on both the general lack of moderation on a lot of these pages, or the utter impotence of Facebook’s reporting mechanisms. It seems that with any sort of Social Networking, racists aren’t content with just having their own place to sling bad ideas, they want to take over everyone else’s.
As you can see, my experience with these communities is fairly small at this point, but I may attempt to branch out at some point, perhaps the “conservative” exodus to Parler will help clean some of these pages up on Facebook, and I can enjoy it a bit more, or I can try to fins a dedicated Pagan community online. Either way, that might be a good topic for another day. If any of you have a better idea of a place I should seek out, let me know.
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 1 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 2 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 3 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 4 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 5 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 6 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 7 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 8 | 30 days of Heathenry – Day 9 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 10 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 11 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 12 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 13 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 14 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 15 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 16 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 17 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 18 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 19 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 20 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 21 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 22 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 23 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 24 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 25 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 26 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 27 |
| 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 28 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 29 | 30 Days of Heathenry – Day 30 |
