Hearthside

Okay, I have been sitting on this one for quite some time because I just wasn't sure I was doing my best work with it, and I want to do it justice. That said, the issue is timely, so I am going to attempt to put it out there. I would love to hear from you on Facebook or Instagram if you have something to add or if you think I didn't quite get something right. Honouring the Land and building relationships with the landvaettir is an important part of heathen practice. The Book of Settlements provides examples of actual laws pertaining to the landvaettir, which emphasizes their importance.There are also numerous mentions of the landvaettir in the Prose Edda and multiple sages. It would seem on the surface level we should have some idea how to approach these beings with so many sources available to us, and we do, but there is room for improvement. Something I spend a lot of time thinking about in my personal practice is the correct way to honour the land in a somewhat traditional ...

Happy Solstice, all! Hope it is treating you well, and Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there! I actually wrote the text for this blog a few weeks ago, but I felt my last post needed a bit of space before I posted something new. So here goes: My fiancé and I have been talking about starting a family for a long time. Due to the pandemic this plan and many plans within our household have been postponed. This has allowed me more than ample time to think about the household traditions I want to share with our future child. My current job is working with children, and between this and our inter-faith hearth I have been thinking long and hard about what is best when raising a child who is given a mixed spiritual education in hopes that they can make an informed decision about their faith when they are older. It is important to me that my fiancé and I can both share with our child our favourite holidays and traditions from growing up as well as the traditions that we each subscri...

*** Okay so I better start this off with a trigger warning and maybe a parental advisory notice. This has to do with the murder of children so use your discretion. *** Like many of my fellow Canadians, I am still processing the news of the 215 children found in the mass grave at the residential school in Kamloops. I wish that I could say I expressed shock at this number, but I did not. Perhaps that is the mark that I have some understanding of this topic though. I think the people expressing shock are largely those who just don't know a lot about the treatment of indigenous peoples in Canada. (And to be honest, this is very applicable to the treatment of indigenous peoples around the world, so if you aren’t Canadian, stick around.)  There are so many layers to this politically and also personally for me. I am sure there are a lot of people who can relate to that feeling in some way or another. I have been very privileged in my life to be friends with and learn from a number of peop...