Community in Modern Heathenry

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I should probably be sleeping, but instead I am writing a new blog. (Nevermind all the ones in draft that have been sitting there for weeks because I am not satisfied with them yet.) I was adding nutrients and other ingredients to my mead tonight, and that is a fairly meditative task. It got me thinking a lot about community in heathenry. 

Community is such a big deal to heathenry and vital to heathen worldview. Despite this, how we see people in our heathen communities is so different from how the elder heathens would’ve seen people in their communities. There is so much division between modern people. It is the western mindset to be individuals and to think about self first. That wasn’t the case in heathenry historically. And it isn’t the case in many cultures around the world still today. In North America the idea of individuality is taken to a whole new extreme in mainstream culture. And even within heathenry, although it is more community-minded, it is difficult to shake off that aspect of the broader culture.


Building frith bonds is deeply meaningful and leads to deeper, more well-rounded relationships, but still it is difficult sometimes to see members of our tribe as fully as the elder heathen would have seen their community members. This is largely due to separation. Historically, your community would live together and work together, and know all of each person’s family and friends. All these people would be an extension of that frith web. Today, we come together for ritual, and we meet with people in our tribes individually as well. But we don’t live together. We probably don’t work together. Do you really see your tribe members fully? Can you picture them in the roles you don’t see? Do you know them as daughter, uncle, employee? It is difficult. We are so connected and so separate at the same time.


This must impact the structure of our communities. It must impact the way we relate to each other. How we work together. How we perform ritual together. All of our worldview is affected. I don’t know if this is beneficial, or detrimental, or just different.  I do know that it is valuable to realize this difference exists, and that we must by necessity make changes to modern practice for it to fit and be livable in modern context. Just a little food for thought for tonight.


Happy Sigrblót.





Picture Source


Viking Longhouse. https://wn.com/ 2017.


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