There is a trend that I've noticed within the Heathen community, but it applies to most pagans as well. Basically, many pagan paths today (particularly reconstructions) that are disconnected from their original historical ways of life often substitute the practitioner's current values, beliefs, and way of life to 'fill in' for the ones of the ( Read more... )

I was driving by a Catholic school today, that still had Easter stuff on their electronic sign. It mentioned 'He is Risen'. In a sense, they're right ( Read more... )

In doing some research on dance, an interesting question occurred. In Heathenry, what god is associated with or represents dance? It's a bit strange that, although dancing at feasts and celebrations is common, we never really hear about a god involved in dancing, or influencing dancing, or anything similar. So as UPG, a couple of ideas come to mind ( Read more... )

I've got a number of friends, online and IRL, who fall into the category of 'loveable ditz'. That is to say, they are good-hearted people who blindly follow an extreme ideology, because they substitute good intentions for critical thinking skills. No, this isn't limited to a single ideology, and this does not include people who actually think about ( Read more... )

Some people who have dug themselves into a hole just don't know when to stop digging. As some of you can guess, I've been in a flamewar with a notable Stav practitioner, who displays a stunning combination of historical ignorance, scientific ignorance, juvenile straw-man arguments, and attacks on integrity. Rather than admit the reality of the ( Read more... )

I originally didn't want to make this post, but some things have changed. So here goes.

( Click for a realistic critique on Stav )

( Thoughts about religion and its purpose in Heathenry )

From time to time, I've been looking up stuff on different Heathen activities, including games and other pastimes. A while back I mentioned Glima, as it was apparently practiced everywhere, as the sport form is quite safe to do. There are a couple of other interesting finds along those lines ( Read more... )

As I've been studying more and more historical swordsmanship and European martial arts, I find more and more how drastically wrong public perceptions are on these things. For martial arts in general, and swordfighting in particular, the vast majority of practitioners and 'experts' don't really know the facts about the arts they study. This is ( Read more... )

Yes, I'm on Facebook along with every other netizen on the planet, and I play some of the games on there, including Viking Clan and Fairlyland. Something I've noticed is that Heathens who have an idea on what Heathenry 'should' be end up gravitating toward a Facebook game that reflects their view of the world. Granted, many people simply play the ( Read more... )