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Generosity - October 10, 2007
Unintentional Sacrilege? - September 30, 2007
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - April 26, 2007
Commonwealth Day - April 16, 2007
Retrograde- PHS Again - March 23, 2007
What's in a Name? - February 23, 2007
PHS - November 22, 2006
Coincidence? I Don't Think So - July 28, 2006
Authentication - December 28, 2005
Generosity
October 10, 2007
I'm a big believer in that item from the Nine Noble Virtues, Self-Reliance. I also believe very strongly in the power of the old Germanic concept that "a gift looks to a gift". So I'm not comfortable receiving a gift without some way to give back or to repay the favour. But just because generosity doesn't show up on that list of nine doesn't make it any less of a wonderful Heathen thing to do, and sometimes I just have to shut up and accept it.
Right now, money is tight. I'm a stay-at-home Dad to an very active little guy, and my wife's is the only income. There's not a lot of room in the budget for extras or luxuries. So I'd decided to let my membership in The Troth lapse, since my renewal time was coming up and I couldn't really justify the expense to myself.
I sent a message to the members' e-mail list, saying as much. I knew my renewal time was coming up soon, before the next issue of the Troth magazine, Idunna, came out (an issue in which I've a substantial article, the first time I've had my work in print there--the magazine comes with your membership, so I wasn't even going to see it in print), but I wasn't sure when it would ship, and therefore when my e-list membership woudl be cut off. So I wanted to tell everyone now, while I had the chance, how much I'd enjoyed conversing with them, how much I'd miss them over the next little while, and that I hoped they enjoyed my article when they saw it.
I figured I'd probably see a few responses like, "that's too bad; sorry to see you go; hope you come back next year". I wasn't prepared for the responses that actually came.
Two people stepped up to say they'd be happy to donate some money toward my year's membership dues, because they didn't want to lose me and my contributions to the list and the magazine. Two people wrote to me off-list to tell me that they were prepared to cover my whole year themselves, for the same reason. I wrote on the list, thanking everyone for their generosity, but advising them that I couldn't in all good conscience accept without us working out some way I could repay these favours. More people then wrote to me off-list to encourage me to just accept and let them help. Then finally someone wrote on-list that he had just sent off a payment to the Troth in my stead for my entire year's membership dues--he had already done it, I couldn't turn him down. This, then, led to a discussion of setting up a fund, perhaps started by some of those first $5 and $10 offers, for situations just like this, and many have come out in support of the idea. I have also pledged to support the fund when my means allow it.
I have promised a few favours to those who made such offers to me, and promised to continue working on more articles for Idunna, since they are appreciated and valued. I can only hope to come close to repaying the wonderful gifts I've received recently from some very kind and honourable members of the Troth. But, repaid or not, I stand in awe of the wonderful generosity, without desire for recompense, that I have seen this past week. It says great things about Heathens, and it makes me feel good about how I am perceived in my community.
I'm making sure to write this, partly to acknowledge this wonderful event, but also to have something to remind myself of the next time PHS hits. ;-)
Unintentional Sacrilege?
September 30, 2007
Some of you might find this humourous; some might even find it fittingly appropriate.
I performed a wedding recently at an historic inn in Toronto. Great old place, lots of character, been there forever; lots of separate buildings now joined, easy to get lost. It was a Heathen ceremony, complete with an exchange of swords, one of which was actually an ancestral blade, very nice touch, and sprinkling of blessed wine. I'd been down there for the rehearsal the previous day. We were planning to be on one of the patios, just outside the big glass doors of the hall where the reception was to be. I was under the impression that our "rain plans" were to simply move into that hall if the weather wasn't cooperative.
Well, the weather wasn't entirely cooperative. Threatening rain all day, I spoke a few words to Thor on my way there in the afternoon and made a quick offering when I arrived, asking him to hold off the rain for the wedding. I've made such arrangements with Thor before, though he has made it clear that I shouldn't ask such favours often, and I must be sure to be very specific about my request. He came through for me, but with his customary broad sense of humour.
The rain held off for the wedding--exactly. Headed to my car directly afterwards, I got out of the room, across the hall, out the door, out from under the awning and about three steps before it started to come down in buckets. But in the meantime, the rain had held off--but not anything else. Gusting wind, dark clouds, you name it--it looked all the way along like the storm could start any moment. So the decision was made to switch to our rain plan and move indoors.
This is when I found out that the rain plans didn't have us setting up in the reception hall, but actually down the hall in the chapel--yes, the hotel has it's own chapel and chaplain for doing weddings and such.
Well, it was a small affair, pews for perhaps eighty people, tops. The dais at the front wasn't large, either, and I had to share half of it with the string trio who was playing the couple in and out. Also, I needed room for the signing table, because off the dais to either side would be the bride's and groom's parties, since there was no room for them up there with us. The Christian altar, with a big, brass cross on the front of it, occupied the central area of what was left. Told in no uncertain terms that it was not to be moved, I had no choices but to either work from behind it, with the couple in front of it, or have all three of us in front of it, with barely enough room for us to stand there. Well, I wasn't about to perform a holy ceremony of my faith from behind a Christian altar, with that big cross between myself and the couple, staring out at the throng, so I opted to work from in front of it, choosing to put the horn, wine, blessing bowl and accoutrements on top of it. But as I said, this left the spacing pretty close.
It wasn't until I was on my way home afterward (in the rain) that I realized something. I was pressed right up against the altar, my lower back against its edge. It suddenly occurred to me where that left that big, brass cross. If you haven't already guessed... well, if I were to have made the motion of sitting down, I'd have only moved about two inches before the top of that cross would have been up... well, I'll leave it for you to figure out. I wonder how the chaplain would have felt about that, had she stayed to see the ceremony? Probably about the same as she'd have felt to see what is essentially the holy water of a Pagan faith being sprinkled around her altar and chapel.
It's not my fault, it wasn't my choice. It was too late to try to take anyone else's sensibilities into account, we had a wedding to do, we were already running late and there would be another wedding in there in twenty minutes. If that's a problem... they can take it up with Thor. ;-)
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
April 26, 2007
I have had a run-in recently with a long-time Heathen who has a little more attitude, it seems, than he has a right to. On a certain e-mail list (so many of my little stories start this way!), he posted something related to a recent news item, about Christians and Christianity in none-too-flattering terms. Not anything like frustration at his own personal experiences, though that could have been the motivation behind his anger, but generalizations and insults, like calling them all "Poper-dopes" and so on. I made a simple comment that, "On the other hand, there are many of us who feel that showing a basic level of respect and neighbourliness to other faiths is one of the best ways to earn the same for ourselves." I have seen sentiments like his spoken many times before, and I have made the same sort of comment myself. Every time, people either on-list or off congratulate me for saying what they're thinking, and agree with me.
But this time, this long-term Heathen (whose name I'm keeping quiet because, although he's behaving foolishly, he perhaps doesn't deserve the embarassment of making this all public) more than took exception to my comment. He said I was being sanctimonious (Interesting side point: Although mainly used to mean "feigning piety or righteousness", this word used to mean "holy, sacred". True. Look it up.), and reminded me that this was a Heathen forum, not one for all religions, as if to say that what we said behind their backs didn't matter. I responded by saying that, "Sometimes what we do when no one is looking is just as important as what we do in public. But each to their own."
Well, that's what he said on-list. Off-list, he chose to really turn on the charm. "Just another yapping voice in the Heathen community", "squander[ing myself] on trivialities", and being "a trivial guy on a small forum for a tiny region". I have chosen to let both on- and off-list messages go unanswered, as they don't really deserve a response.
Well, this isn't really about him or his words to me, but both the topic that brought those words on as well as a natural topic choice after reading those words: Respect.
Lots of Heathens all over the place complain that we don't get enough respect as a legitimate religious path. I feel (and I'm not alone) that, among other ways, one thing we must do in order to earn respect is to give it. A gift looks to a gift, and hospitality is a virtue -- do we not all spout these words, often enough? Do we mean them? Or do we mean them only when it comes to other Heathens?
Even the little things, like whispering nasty jokes about Christians when they aren't around, or intentionally decapitalizing their words, spelling things like "christian". These petty, small-minded little actions can add up. They all go into our own personal "bank accounts" in the Well of Wyrd and help to form our future and destiny. Doing well by others that they might do well by you is not just a Christian idea.
The person I've run afoul of this time is a very long-time Heathen, like twenty-plus years. Old enough to know better.
Commonwealth Day
April 16, 2007
March 12 each year is Commonwealth Day in Canada and around the world in the nations of and formerly of the British Commonwealth. It is a day when we honour the British crown and celebrate the idea that our diverse countries share common goals and values, and that the Commonwealth exists to enable a closer relationship between us. But here in Canada, we seem to have forgotten it.
I certainly had, and I didn't see any mention of it on the news. No flag-raising, no words from the Prime Minister, no anything. I wouldn't even have realized it, if not for the fact that I was researching something regarding the British crown and was in e-mail communication with the office of our Governor General. (For those of you outside Canada, that's the Queen's representative in Canada, our official tie to Britain. It is the Governor General who dissolves parliament and calls a general election, and performs many diplomatic and social functions. In some ways, the office might be compared to a combination of the Americans' Speaker of the House of Representatives and Secretary of State.)
As part of this communication, I was directed to a website with a copy of the Queen's message to the Commonwealth on the occasion. I also found the same from our Governor General. As I read them, I was struck at how applicable the sentiments could be to our sometimes fragmented Cyberheathen communities. Give them a read, and let me know if you see what I see in them.
Text of The Queen's message to the Commonwealth, 12 March 2007
Today's Commonwealth is home to nearly a third of the world's population. Its almost two billion citizens come from so many faiths, races, cultures and traditions.
I think that one of the reasons for the success of this organisation is that it draws not only on certain shared values, but also from the principles and practices of everyday life, which can be observed day after day in the cities, towns and villages of our 53 member countries.
Over thousands of years, the very basis of community life has been the pooling together by individuals of their resources and skills. Rather than having to be good at everything, people were able to practise their own skill or craft. The lesson of community life is that to flourish we must help each other. To do this, there has to be a sense of fairness, a real understanding of others' needs and aspirations, and a willingness to contribute.
Despite its size and scale, the Commonwealth to me is still at heart a collection of villages. In close-knit communities like these, there are beliefs and values we share and cherish. We know that helping others will lead to greater security and prosperity for ourselves.
Because we feel this way, our governments and peoples aim to work even more closely together. And as individuals, we find that taking part in Commonwealth activities can be inspirational and personally rewarding.
In today's difficult and sometimes divided world, I believe that it is more important than ever to keep trying to respect and understand each other better. Each and every one of us has hopes, needs, and priorities. Each of us is an individual, with ties of emotion and bonds of obligation - to culture, religion, community, country and beyond. In short, each of us is special.
The more we see others in this way, the more we can understand them and their points of view. In what we think and say and do, let us as individuals actively seek out the views of others; let us make the best use of what our beliefs and history teach us; let us have open minds and hearts; and let us, like the Commonwealth, find our diversity a cause for celebration and a source of strength and unity.
This is a thought worth bearing in mind as we gather on Commonwealth Day: we are a thriving community; we value our past; we make the most of our present; and we are working together to build our future. By respecting difference and promoting understanding, that future will be a better one for us all.
Message from Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, on the occasion of Commonwealth Day March 12, 2007 (message dated March 9, 2007)
I am thrilled to join Canadians in celebrating Commonwealth Day, whose theme, “Respecting Difference, Promoting Understanding,” encourages reflection. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to support the spirit of fellowship and solidarity that motivates women and men of all ages all across Canada.
We are incredibly lucky to live in a generous country where equality, democracy and human rights are essential values. People from all over the world come to Canada to build on its foundation and share in the ideal of a society based on justice and freedom. Of course, this privilege also comes with responsibilities.
Even in a progressive society like ours, we are not immune to exclusion and indifference. I believe that every action, every word, counts. I am absolutely certain that by working together, we can break down barriers of language, race and religion and build the better world we all hope for.
Today we honour cultural diversity and all the differences that make each and every one of us unique. In striving for tolerance, may we inspire those beyond our borders to help and share with one another, and to start conversations that could make a world of difference.
Michaëlle Jean
I think it's a shame that we tend to forget Commonwealth Day in Canada, particularly if it could and should engender sentiments such as these. I agree with Her Majesty and Her Excellency that breaking down barriers and coming together in understanding is something we could all use more of. In particular, I'd like to see more of it happening in the world of modern Heathenry, especially in the Cyber-realm where we can all be so quick to snipe and jab at each other and pay so much attention to our differences.
Retrograde - PHS Again
March 23, 2007
Well, it looks like it's that time of the month again (PHS).
I don't pay any attention to astrology, but I know people who do. They say that when Mercury is retrograde, communication snags are common, as well as misunderstandings between friends. In the past, I have occasionally asked them when things like this were happening to me whether Mercury was retrograde, and I've been right. I suspect in may be that time again. One of these days, I'll find some little widget to put on my desktop that will tell me when Mercury is retrograde, and when it is, I just won't even look at my e-mail for a few days.
I'm getting very tired of having to pull up stakes and leave an e-mail list or other cybercommunity because of butting heads with some jerk.
Last time, it was because someone made a blanket statement about all Pagans and Heathens which, by its own logic which the author couldn't even see, basically disrespected half of them. I calmly and rationally pointed it out, making sure to say things like, "I'm sure you didn't intend to say this, but perhaps you didn't realize that..." Not good enough for this guy. He flies off the handle and goes off on me publically. He's one mod on that list; another mod starts going off on me for being rude--essentially suggesting that it is rude to politely point out when someone is stepping on your rights and insulting you, even when saying that they may be doing so inadvertently. Disappointed with that community's general support for such behaviour because he was someone they knew better than I, I left.
The time before that, I had to take over doing all the work in a particular cybercommunity, and everyone agreed I should make the decisions. One guy joined and wanted his web site listed. I told him I'd given it a quick look and would list him for now, but I'd have a better look at the site later. When I did, I saw comments about race and ethnicity that did not sit well with me, and I chose to remove his listing--after all, it was in all senses now my website, with my name all over it, so anything listed there would be linked with me. He claimed that I had promised him he'd be listed and even selectively quoted my message to him to try to prove it. I said I didn't want to be associated with the racial comments on his site, and he accused me of censoring him--obviously having no familarity with the definition of the word. Some came out to my defence, others to his. All in all, doing all the work and the fact that my name was on all of it didn't, in many of their eyes, give me the right to make my own choices about whom I'd be associated wit --I wasn't allowed to choose my own friends, as it were. Frustrated that all my work was for naught, I decided if they disliked the choices I was making, they could make those choices without me.
This time, it was classic troll behaviour. In a discussion on one particular list, this guy suggests a link to an article posted on the web site of his particular Heathen organization, explaining some particular concept that that org finds really important to their quite different version of Heathenry. Clicking over and reading it, it didn't make much sense. It didn't explain anything very well and sounded almost like some kind of New Age "Age of Aquarius" concept, which I hoped wasn't right, or perhaps something about reaching a critical mass in modern Heathenry whereupon Odin's "chosen people" would reclaim their status--I really hoped that wasn't right. Well, I put that more sinister idea out of my head and asked the guy for clarification, as I couldn't really figure out what the article was trying to explain. His response? To tell me that I was obviously just too dumb to get it. (Here's where the classic troll moment begins.) Then he obliquely suggests that he's been speaking to a new friend of mine from the list, offlist, and she agrees that I'm ridiculous. Of course, that's not exactly what he said, that's just what he suggested--that's part of the tactic. I didn't fall for it, I didn't think for a second that my friend actually said anything like that, and I called him on trying to drive a wedge between us. Well, this miscommunication caused my friend to think that I was the one saying that she'd talked about me behind my back, and the troll was successful in his attempt to drive a wedge between us. Now she's complaining about her honour being besmirched and calling on me for apologies publically on the list (which I've already left), our mutual friend is backing her up, and where is the troll? Just guess. Nowhere to be seen. He's sitting pretty, watching the chaos he has sown grow and flourish--smiling, I'm sure. So as I say, I've now left that list, too.
Hopefully, retrograde Mercury, or whatever the Hel makes it impossible for others to detect trolls at work and suspect that I'm somehow the source of the chaos they sow, will be over soon. For this month, at least.
What's in a Name?
February 23, 2007
There are innumerable Heathen groups, e-mail lists, organizations, kindreds, hearths, garths, theods, pub moots, and individuals which take some sort of name intending to evoke a sense of the elder days, or even to invoke a god or spirit as patron. This is natural and not uncommon in other faiths and groups. But do we have to be so unimaginative about it? I mean, how many groups named Wolf do we need?
I'm working on a list of all of the names I can think of that have been used already to try to provide people with a resource of what has gone before, so that if they care to come up with something more original, they can check to see if their idea has already been used. Surely, it'll never be an exhaustive list and therefore won't ensure everyone going forward has a new name, but it'll be an effort in the right direction.
But that's going to take some time, even for just a first draft. In the meantime, here's a preliminary set of suggestions.
Don't choose a name using any form of "raven" or "wolf". The first few who used these names were tapping into deeply-important symbols from the art and poetry of the ancient Heathens. Anyone who does so today may be doing the same, but really just ends up looking terribly unimaginative. I'm sure we've all seen "Raven Wolfmoon-itis" on our own e-mail lists.
"North" is similarly to be avoided. Unless you have a sister kindred just to the south and you've both chosen the same name (hopefully in agreement with each other), you're just being redundant--we all know you are fond of the ways of the North, or you wouldn't be a Heathen in the first place. Now, I might be guilty of this one myself, in that I run an e-list called Northern Mysteries, but since it's not an exclusively Heathen list, but rather one specifically about magic in the northern traditions, I think I can be excused--the term is necessary to knowing what the list is about.
Skip "Odin" and "Thor", at least in the names. Pay them heed, certainly, but we don't need another "Thor's Kin"-type hearth. To be a hearth dedicated to Odin primarily, you needn't be named after him or his animals.
I suggest taking a name based on your location. If you really need to use an Old Norse or Anglo-Saxon word or two, think about things in your location or nearby area that you can translate (if you can't translate it yourself, ask around--lots of people on various e-mail lists can be helpful). My local group is named Grastó Hearth. The name means "grassy spot among the cliffs", or thereabouts, which describes the cliffside park where we held our first blót. It's certainly an original name, as far as I've ever Googled, and I think that's a good thing.
If you think of more that I should include in this quick "please skip" list, let me know at gonfannon(at)gmail(dot)com.
UPDATE (April 11, 2007): After just barely beginning to get the first version of the list together, I'm realizing just how much work this is going to take, and that I simply don't have the time. However, I think it's still a good idea to collect some of the way-overused words that people might begin to avoid them. If you think of any really obviously worn-out ones I haven't listed, let me know.
Raven
Wolf
Moon
Odin
Thor
North
PHS
November 22, 2006
I'm beginning to think there's such a thing as a Heathen Cycle, from which I periodically suffer some kind of Pre-Heathen Syndme (PHS) for about four days every month. Some months are worse, some not so bad -- this month's Heathen "period" was very tough.
On a pretty regular basis, events and conflicts conspire to pile up and cause me a few days of that "long, dark night of the soul" of which some speak. Heated arguments, stupid misunderstandings, pointless emotional debates, immature online behaviour... it all comes together to make me think about going "into the woods," as some Heathens say: to pack it in, to retreat from online life, and to some degree, from public Heathen life altogether for a while to recover one's emotional resources.
This time, in the space of about a week, I had philosophical differences and disappointments with Althing Canada, a budding Heathen organization I helped to found, precipitating my departure from the group; discovered that a Heathen I've known for years holds a stronger opinion on the subject of ethnicity in Ásatrú than I am comfortable with; had disagreements from old Althing Canada business dredged up and argued again, when nothing good could possibly come of it; and to top it all off, some guy... [sigh]
Some guy joins one of the Asatru lists I help moderate and posts about fifty images, files and links out of nowhere. Half of the images are about Satanism. The other half are actually Heathen-related, but one, very prominently in about 30-point font at the top, displays a website URL. Naturally curious, I check it out. Seems it's a totally in-your-face, "we love Hitler" site. Actually, I've never seen one this bold before. If their ISP saw it, they'd be shut down in seconds.
Well, anyone who knows Heathenry knows how hard we struggle against the "Nazi-tru" stereotype, and people believing that we're some kind of Satan- or demon-worshippers doesn't come that far behind. So I dumped the files, links and images, and banned the guy from the group. What he'd done so far, without a word to anyone, seemed to be trollish behaviour, just trying to stir up trouble.
So then this guy writes me an e-mail offlist, from a different e-mail account, to a different account of mine, in a foam about this. Lots of ALL CAPS, lots of expletives and juvenile namecalling. He claims that Odinism is a form of Satanism, and gives me a quote from Anton LaVey of all people, as if that proves it. He claims he didn't notice the URL on that image when he Googled it up, and that I've publically called him a Nazi, he's filed a complaint against me with Yahoo, and is thinking of suing me or having me arrested, and ends off with some threats: "if you ever come into Hamilton..." He doesn't seem to know that I'm one of the most public and active Heathens in the area, particularly in Hamilton.
Three expletive-laden e-mails later, I've told him I've put both his e-mail accounts on the Blocked Senders lists of all of my accounts and washed my hands of it. I'm almost looking forward to him signing up for another free e-mail account somewhere to get around my Blocked Senders, because if it ever does come to a legal head, that behaviour won't be very defensible against charges of harrassment.
Now that I think of it, another such person is exactly the reason I've recently turned off comments here in my blog. Apparently, thanks to my post On Race, below, I'm a "traitor to my race." If you'd like to comment on anything I've written here, please feel free to e-mail me at gonfannon(at)gmail(dot)com--but that'll mean you'll have to show me an e-mail address and the accompanying tracing e-mail header information.
In short, I'd been having a Hel of a week, in a Heathen sense, making me think seriously for a few days about getting out of the public life completely. I'm not about to give up Ásatrú, my gods and I have too much invested in each other for that. But if I wasn't such a public target, maybe life would be a little smoother.
But some support from family and good friends helped a lot. That video on Iceland Online of this year's Haustblót with the Icelandic Ásatrúarfelagið, seeing that they don't do things so differently than I do--that helped and inspired me, too. Then another relatively local Heathen friend of mine phoned--he was behind in his e-mail, and so delivered a belated Happy Birthday, but also had seen some of the ridiculous goings-on I'd been involved with over the past week and he, too, wondered where all the nut jobs come from, why Ásatrú seemed to attract them so. Knowing that others also saw the things I did as crazy did a lot for my confidence, too (thank you, you know who you are).
Or maybe it's just that it's been a few days now, and I'm getting over my Heathen period for this month.
Coincidence? I Don't Think So
July 28, 2006
Sometimes a day comes along that just sort of restores your faith.
Recently, I've been feeling a little down. I've been trying to learn tablet weaving, an art known around the world but achieving great levels of artistry in the ancient Norse world. So far, I've been completely failing. The strings get tangled, it's always too tight or too loose, I can't get my head around how the patterns work. Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a long string of failures or disappointments where such ancient crafts are concerned. I never did pewter casting very well, every time I try woodworking it doesn't work out, when I try to sew something I botch it, and so far I haven't managed to brew mead, though I have come away with a drinkable cider, once you add sugar to it. I was beginning to think that I should just give up on all of these plans and dreams of mine and forget them, maybe even throw in my Old Norse language studies, my Authentication research and a whole lot of other projects. Which brings us to yesterday.
A Thursday, under an approaching thunderstorm.
I meet my friend Em, who is helping me get a couple of books from a library I don't have my own access to, books I've been seeking for some time. The main article I was looking for is not as helpful as I'd hoped, but the next article, all about Thor's Hammer, has some new insights and thoughts that I'd not come across before.
The bride-to-be of a wedding I'm going to be performing in September, an Ásatrú wedding, comes back to me with a date for us to get together for the planning meeting, at which we'll be going through my list of old customs and traditions and poetry I've written for such an occasion, to construct the actual ceremony itself. I must remember to ask the couple if they plan to have children, so I know whether laying the hammer in the bride's lap is appropriate.
My son Henry, now not quite eleven months old, has been standing with help for some time now. He has recently begun standing unassisted, much to the delight of his mother and I. He has even taken a couple of steps, but only two--and three, once. Today, he stands, claps his hands, and takes nine steps in a row without any help.
I find myself in Ikea--the family needed to go for a walk, it's raining, and there's only so many times you can walk around the mall. Just as we're done and about to leave, as I'm sitting down with my 50¢ hot dogs and pop, upset that the tap for the lingonberry juice is out of order, a man walks up to me with his finger pointed at me. As he reaches me, he puts his finger on my chest, upper-right. I look down and see that I'm wearing the blue shirt I own on which I used fabric paint and a stamp I made to paint a Thor's hammer in a ring, and he's pointing right at the hammer. He says, "I know that shape," and pulls a hammer pendant from out of his shirt. "Like this?" I say, and pull out my own. He tells me that he got his in Denmark, and I tell him that I suppose we shouldn't be surprised to run into such a thing here in Ikea. He walked away before I had the chance to say anything more.
I don't get the impression that he was a Heathen, but rather had picked up the hammer simply as a tourist souvenir of his trip. Nonetheless, this series of synchronicity yesterday has done much to remind me that Thor is out there, and even if many of my craft experiments fail, one or two work out, and I should not stop trying.
Authentication
December 28, 2005
I've always known that many things typical of Heathen practice today were borrowings or adaptations from other paths. There are enough arguments about the authenticity of some particular things, like the Hammer Rite (calling out to each direction to "ward" the sacred space before beginning blót) and the Hammer Sign (a hand gesture not unlike making the Sign of the Cross, used to hallow something such as a horn of mead), that I couldn't be unaware, at least, that they were somewhat in question.
But I've recently learned that there are a great deal more borrowings involved in the typical modern practice and belief of Heathenry and Ásatrú than most of us are aware. At the beginning of the Heathen revival in the late sixties and early seventies, the leading lights of that era, such as McNallen, Thorsson, Gundarsson et al, felt that much was missing from our knowledge of how the ancient Heathens practiced, and that what we did know didn't make for very exciting rituals, especially when held up against Western Ceremonial Magic or Wicca, from which many of them had come. So they added a bit here, borrowed something there. Their goals were honest and respectable enough, to help to recreate a new Heathenry from what we knew of the old, filling in where necessary to make a full new tradition, and the very fact that we're here talking about this at all owes a great debt to them. But a lot of these additions have now been there for so long that most new Heathens today don't even know they are there, assuming that this is actually how things were done a thousand and more years ago. Until recently, on many points, I was one of them.
What's more, so much of what we know comes from translated material, much of it done during times in history when particular biases were in evidence. Some of these biases have subtly crept into modern Heathenry, too, since we often didn't know better when reading those sources. For example, in the way that the nine worlds of Yggdrasil are generally described and even depicted in attempts at visualizing them in three-dimensional space, there is an order to things, with Midgard in the centre and worlds above and below. But do we know that this was how things were supposed to be arranged, or could some of this nice, neat order have been imposed by translators looking to find that order, or to relate the old Norse model of the universe to those given in some of the occult traditions becoming popular at that time? This is still going on today. There are many books on the market created within the last generation that relate the nine worlds of Yggdrasil to the structure of the Tree of Life, from the traditions of Kabbalah. It is possible that there are some outward similarities, but to truly relate one to the other as nearly equivalent is simply incorrect.
Inspired by Heathen author Bil Linzie in his paper "Germanic Spirituality," I am undertaking a personal project to break down everything I do and think about Heathenry -- how blót is conducted, what the structure of the nine worlds is, how sumbl is done, etc. -- to strip it all down to its essence, and reconstruct it all from evidence I can find in the lore, linguistics, etc., or interpolating logically from what is known about the ancient Heathen worldview, without borrowing or adapting anything from anywhere else. In this way, I hope to develop my own personal practice of Heathenry into one that is as authentic as possible.
Whether I will write something about this, like a book, I don't know. I will, however, teach some classes and offer some rituals locally that demonstrate my findings. I do not intend in any way to say that what I'll develop is correct or the way one should practice -- this is a personal journey, meant for me to find my own truth, my own way. There will be places where I simply cannot find enough information, or even any at all, and others where, though I have information, I will have to knowingly make interpolations or even changes. As long as I know the basis from which I'm coming, make those choices consciously rather than by assumptions, and can explain my choices with some evidence and some logic but no glossing over of the rough spots, I'll have done what I set out to do.
I hereby oath that I will complete this project within the coming calendar year (2006). I can't promise that I will have definitive results, and I certainly would never promise that after the year is up, I'll stop seeking. But within the year, I will have some significant results, and will have presented them publicly, at least on a local basis.
©2007 Gary Penzler
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