Hearthside

These posts are sometimes the hardest to keep up with, since it is a long-term project that may or may not yield anything interesting. In addition, I have found this year particularly difficult, at first due to personal time constraints, but also because this year has been surprising me! Rune Rasmussen talks of a 19 year cycle which he associates each year with a rune in the Swedish rune poem. What I am doing each year is looking at the rune poems, plus historical data, to see if I can predict trends for the year. Think of it as a Heathen Farmer’s Almanac or something.  I had initial thoughts based on the rune Sol as to what that might mean for 2024, and went to historical data to see if I might be correct. The year 2005 was marked by drought and wildfires across much of Canada and Northwestern Europe. There was also a tendency towards large winter storms in Eastern Canada. Similarly, in 1986 Winnipeg was hit by a massive blizzard and in 1967 New Brunswick was hit by a huge winter ...

I have been trying to write about modern Heathen history and its ties to racism for some time now, but as you can imagine there is no easy way to approach it. However, recently something happened in my classroom which might shed some light on the topic and how to approach it. Some of you may know I am an educator by profession. I work in a grade 4-6 Montessori classroom. Recently we told the 3rd Great Story. The Great Stories are about the big questions. The 3rd Great Story is about the evolution of humankind, the advent of technology, the start of agriculture, and all such things. My director asked me to make a work for our Art shelf on Paleolithic painting so that the students could really experience something of what it would be like for early humans. The work included using mortar and pestle to grind up paint into powder, then mix it with water to get the correct consistency. The students were able to paint on stone and also try painting a huge brown paper attached to the wall usin...

I am of a few minds about Jotunn women in the Lore. To me the Jotunn represent a different tribe from the Aesir and Vanir, for better or for worse. They are often “othered” because their ways are different. (Then again, the Aesir and Vanir did not always get along either.) The Aesir have a tendency to marry or court Jotunn women, and fight with Jotunn men. So are the Jotunn really as monstrous as they are made out to be? It seems like if a Jotunn woman marries an Aesir then she becomes an Aesir.  Many have argued that the Jotunn are the raw forces of nature, that are to be respected and feared but not worshipped, but that also seems a bit reductive, like saying Thor is only the God of Thunder. Angrboða faces the same reductionist logic, with some people having suggested she is one and the same figure as Gullveig/Heiðr. They have even gone as far as to equate her with Gerðr’s mother, Aurboða, presumably just because their names are similar. My interest in Jotunn largely is surroundi...

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...