Hearthside

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...

Tonight is Mother’s Night, or at least it is when I celebrate it within my hearth. Bede recorded it as being the Eve of December 25th, or Christmas Eve. However, it likely shifted to that date after the introduction of Christianity. Some modern heathens celebrate Mother’s Night on the Eve of the Winter Solstice, and some celebrate it on December 24th. Others don’t celebrate it at all. So what is Mother’s Night? It is the celebration of the female ancestors, or Disir. It is similar to, or may be the same celebration as Disting of Disablot, which doesn’t seem to have a set date in the sources. Some modern heathens celebrate both separately, with Disting usually falling somewhere between January 31st and mid-February. Others celebrate one or the other, and some celebrate neither. The truth is modern heathens don’t really agree much on what holidays to celebrate other than the major 3: Sigrblot, Winter Nights, and Yule. (And often with the addition of a 4th at Midsummer.) It is up to the t...

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 ...

*** 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...

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 ...