Hearthside

I was recently talking to someone in the USA about how they were trying to find the meaning in American holidays from a Heathen perspective. They were trying to be mindful of the colonial history of America and working to moving past that. It got me thinking about how that might look in Canada. Holidays about belonging to a nation or group of people, but how do we feel that sense of belonging when we are ourselves outside of the over-culture? How do we reconcile our shared colonial history as modern inclusive Heathens in Canada? If you are not familiar with Canadian Holidays, there are very few, and even less which are actually days off of work. Some days are provincially recognized only or have different names in different provinces even if they fall on the same day. The majority of days are either Christian or colonial in origin. So let’s take a look: Remembrance Day - November 11th This is a day to honour those who died in war, and honour veterans. What some people may not know is t...

This is part 4 of my blog series on the Forest Commons of Northern Europe. The previous section was on how the Enclosure Movement affected colonization in Canada and elsewhere and how Canadians can ally with Indigenous peoples going forward. Previously we also talked about what the Forest Commons were and their History up to modern day. If you haven’t read those posts yet, you may want to loop back to them. This post will be about modern Heathenry in Canada and building grith with Indigenous Communities. In this post we will examine stories from Indigenous peoples of North America as well as Heathen stories, and attempt to create common ground. We will discuss: Spirits of Place 7 Generations philosophy and being good ancestors The importance of community Sacred Trees Ancestry and connection to land Gifting practices Ways to move forward An important part of Heathenry is the veneration of Spirits of Place. Understand this to be spirits who would aid humans, not malevolent spirits. He...

Welcome back to my blog series on the Forest Commons of Northern Europe and how they can inform modern Heathen practice. My focus in this blog is on Canada and the wide-reaching effects of the Enclosure Movement on colonization here, and how to move past that in a sensitive and informed manner. If you are not from Canada (or other post-colonial places globally) this may not apply to you, but I encourage you to read on anyways as it will perhaps help to inform why Heathenry is different between Europe and other places. If you have not read my previous two posts Introducing the Forest Commons and then talking about the History of the Forest Commons , I would encourage you to check those out first to give you a basis of understanding for this post.  I am going to focus broadly on the Canadian landscape in this post, and then narrow to implications for Canadian Heathens in the next post, but I must still discuss the way modern Heathenry evolved differently in North America compared to...