Hearthside

It is Remembrance Day. I am tired. I have been very over-taxed with work lately and was looking forward to the day off. I would do a little Remembrance Day rite in my Hearth cult, watch the Remembrance Day ceremony on CBC, read a little, and take a nap. Perfect. Unfortunately, it can’t be that simple these days. I was watching the CBC live on my phone and couldn’t figure out how to hide the comments. They were pretty bad… anti-LGBTQ+ and racist. I was shocked people would type such things while the veterans and soldiers were standing there at attention. I tried to report a few people, but, as usual that was fruitless. Hate speech is allowed these days apparently. Anyways, shortly afterwards I was watching a video talking about the new Remembrance Day stamp released by Canada Post and the pieces fell into place in my mind. Here was a picture of a Sikh veteran… and people were mad. “When did Remembrance Day become woke?” Well, sir… when those people you hate fought for your freedom. Whic...

I have not forgotten about this blog. I want to write in it frequently, but I am currently upgrading for work and don’t have much free time. That said, I want to talk about this because it is relevant in my life this past year and has been resurfacing again in the past month.  How do we grieve as Heathens, and how does that differ from the over-culture? Do our beliefs alienate us from the community at large, or actually help in the grieving process? Let’s start with the basics though. What do Heathens believe about death, dying, and the afterlife? Wow, so that is a tough one! Heathens often don’t have the same ideas about things, especially something as big as this topic. It can differ between Kindreds or even individuals within Heathenry as to what they believe about death.  What most Heathens can agree on is the importance of family, which can be biological, adoptive, or chosen family (kin). So when it comes to death Heathens focus on family and the well-being of family as w...

I am afraid it is a bit of unfortunate business that sparked me on this thought train, but just the same, the idea is still a useful one and something worth sharing. I have been thinking a lot about ancestor veneration lately, but not on the individual level, on the community level.  A tribe that shares frith, shares ancestors. Our lives are irrefutably linked. But our ancestors help to create cohesion and belonging within the group. They seek to make us better and improve our luck. They seek to help us heal what needs to be healed, so that we can grow as a community. Even on the larger community level there are shared ancestors. These take the form of local folk heroes or ancestors of place that are publicly venerated. (Often without all the members of the community who are venerating them really understanding what they are doing.) For people who are not familiar with ancestor veneration as a common practice, they don’t recognize it, and yet feel drawn to participate in it, even w...

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...

This one is not going to be super exciting. I have other stuff in the works, but this weekend my schedule has been a bit crazy. (Not that I have promised to adhere to any sort of schedule for posting anyways.) I have been coming back to this topic a lot lately, so let’s see if we can unpack it. Do you honour the ancestors in your personal practice? If so, who are you honouring? This seems like it should be fairly easy to answer on first glance, but it really isn’t.  Most people in heathenry seem to honour their recent dead primarily in their ancestor practice. I know that a lot of my ancestor practice is based on honouring and maintaining relationships with recent dead. It makes sense. Presumably, you knew them in life and then wanted to continue your relationship with them in death. That makes perfect sense. It is also very healthy to do in order to accept their passing.  Things get very complicated fast though. Ancestors aren’t just the recent dead. You may be doing lineage ...