Hearthside

It is not uncommon for me to pull from other sources for my Heathenry, looking at Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Baltic, or Slavic traditions to see if I can fill in some of the missing gaps in the Nordic sources. My interest lately has been going into pre-history, looking at the Proto-Indo-European root myths. In this case, I want to try to flesh out the Nordic “goddess.” There is so little preserved about goddesses, because I believe the Christians tried to intentionally erase them to take power away from Nordic women. Now I cannot reconstruct every goddess this way but I feel it is a solid way to construct the mother goddess, the earth goddess. In the Hellenic tradition she is the one known as Gaia. In Nordic traditions I would see her as Nerthus, and also as Jörð. Over time they became separate deities, but I think their roots both lie in the Proto-Indo-European goddess, Dʰéǵʰōm (earth) or Pleth₂wih (broad one). There is a huge problem in the Lore with goddesses being labelled as Jötunn, in ...

I was rabbit-holing a bit lately on what deities are associated with Yule, and Winter, and the Dark Time. Holda, Ska ð i, Ullr, Odin, Frigg, Thor… perhaps Freyr? Sol? Baldr? … Hel?! We right away stumble across the same issue I addressed with Skaði, is Hel worshipful? Hel does not seem to be named among the Asynjur, although many modern heathens seem to place her among them anyways. This doesn’t necessarily mean she was not worshipped or at least appeased by the elder heathens.  In the Lore, Odin does not let Hel remain among the Æsir, but the gods are not afraid of her in the same way as her brothers. She is given Helheim as her own realm to rule over, so it seems the gods respected her even if they considered her “other.” They even try to negotiate with her for the return of Baldr, and she makes them a deal, even if it is not one they are able to collect on.  Some scholars think she is more of a personification of the grave, than a deity, much in the same way that Sol and Ma...

Historically, Midwinter or Jól would have been celebrated according to the lunisolar calendar, so the date of the Midwinter moon would have been in January. Jól traditions were moved after the introduction of christianity to fall around Christmas, which had been influenced in its date by the solstice practices of other pagan groups. In modern times, many heathens celebrate Midwinter at the solstice. That is not my own tradition, but I do recognize the solstice as an important day in the heathen calendar. To me the Yule month (December) and the Midwinter month (January) are ripe with festivity. The Wild Hunt is shrieking through the night skies, the frost and snow is settling everywhere, and the dark time extends itself over everything. The urge to retreat from the busyness of the rest of the year is strong. It is time to slow down the pace, and enjoy the warmth of hearth and home. Still, the Solstice day is a day to be outside, hailing Sol, knowing the light will be returning.  It ...

Whenever the icy winds roar across the prairies and the temperatures drop I find myself thinking about Skaði. I imagine her standing out in some field among the snow drifts with snowflakes caught in her hair, laughing as the wind shrieks around her.  Nordic goddesses are all pretty tough, but Skaði is next level. Perhaps it is her Jötunn blood, or perhaps it is how she loves to be out on the land. I spend a lot of my time hiking in all seasons. My body quickly adapts to the temperatures, I know well when the weather will change and I am prepared for it. Many people I know complain when they have to go outside this time of year, but there is a certain satisfaction in victory over the elements, in surviving all of winter’s harshness, not just enjoying its sweetness through the window. The frigid temperatures remind us that it is a gift to be alive every day and that we should make the most of it. Skaði more than beats the elements, she thrives in them. And this is also metaphorically...

(Maybe not appropriate for children under 14, or whatever. That is up to your discretion.) What is Freyja’s association with fire, or does she have one at all? This is what I will (mostly) be exploring today in this blog, but there is a lot about Freyja to unpack, and honestly, it starts with just trying to clear up what exactly she is associated with in a more broad sense. If we let this narrative be told through a christian lens we would probably say that Freyja is the Nordic Aphrodite, the goddess of love (or lust?) and beauty. I take issue with this. At least insofar as that Freyja’s nature is much more complicated than just those elements. It seems like there is a lot of dismissiveness of the importance of goddesses in Nordic mythologies, and I attribute this largely to an attempt at erasure of the power of the feminine by the church. Most goddesses were minimalized, but Freyja, and Frigg, were too big to erase. Instead the tactic was to make Freyja appear as some lustful sorc...