Hearthside

I have been thinking about Canadian heathenry, and both the challenges and strengths to having a heathen worldview in the Canadian landscape, as well as abroad. It can be tricky to quite fit in with the dominant christian over-culture. There is certainly a lot of room for misunderstandings. Of course, being raised in that culture, it is possible to blend in unnoticed the majority of the time. All of that is what it is though, and we have to work within that framework. More interesting perhaps, is looking at how heathen worldview can actually be a strength in our interactions with other individuals and groups. I have been blessed in my life with many mothers. There is of course, my birth mother, who helped to shape me into the strong woman that I am today, but my heathen worldview has also led me to forge many reciprocal bonds with people of other cultural groups that are more familiar with bonds of reciprocity than mainstream Canadian culture. One such special bond that I formed was...

So, this is not my regularly scheduled content (what schedule, you ask?) but it is heathen and Canadian, so that makes it apt content for this blog. If you aren’t from Canada, that is okay. It might interest you too, or you might want to skip this one, your choice.  What is the Heathen Confederation of Canada (HCC)? It is a newly formed organization in Canada that advocates on behalf of Canadian heathens. But before I get into the how, I want to be transparent here. I am running for the National Council. However, this isn’t a political post. I am not trying to gain any votes here. In fact, if you aren’t already a member, the cut off has passed for being eligible to vote in this first election. Instead, this post is to tell you more about this organization and why I think it is beneficial to all Canadian heathens, and why you should check it out for yourself. If this is your first time visiting my blog and you followed the link in my candidacy bio, you are probably already a member....

This is going to be something a bit different. I have been stuck on this thought lately. A sort of ancient thought half-formed in the collective consciousness of the ancestors, thousands of years ago. Before the beginning of agriculture. Or perhaps it was the beginning of agriculture. The awareness that a seed when planted in the belly of the earth would grow. But just a single seed from a single plant. Before the thought had been realized that the same could be done with a whole field of seeds. Perhaps the knowing that if you planted one of the berries instead of eating them all there would be more berries the following year. If you planted one seed of a plant for medicine then the medicine would be greater that next summer. The magic of the belly of Jord.  Before the thought of Jord by that name, but she had a name even then. Those ancient minds knew the power of the Earth, they knew her and venerated her. But Jord's belly did not just spark new life. It was the place where life ...