Man Against Time

Often, you will hear "get with the times!". This is usually when you speak a traditional idea or promote a philosophy that isn't politically correct. These people will automatically shut you down for your heretical view, and declare that you are not up to the standard of the 21st century.

Yet you are a Heathen. Can a Heathen really be "with the times"? And should a Heathen care? What is the Heathen reaction to the "It's 2013, get over it" mentality?

Let us take a look back about 1000 years. In Scandinavia, Christianization accelerated after stiff resistance. Converted Christians bore their death pendants (also known as the crucifix) to display their faith in adverse to the Heathens. Now, Scandinavia remains an anomaly - not only did Christianization take very long, it also occurred at the dawn of the late Middle Ages, a period where historical documentation due to literacy was increasing. Moreover, the Heathen Scandinavians stood like stones in the ground against the tide of Christianity and donned their Mjolnirs in reaction to the crucifix.

What did the Christians say to them? Now, we do not know exactly of course, but as a historian, my guess would be something along the lines of "Get with the times".

The times were changing in Scandinavia, Europe and the world. Christianity had come and all European Kings would bow to the Pope for the next several hundred years. The last of Scandinavia to hold out would be Sweden - but they too would become so Christianized that they would "Crusade" in neighboring Finland and convert all of the Finno-Ugric folk that they could. The old ways never truly died of course - old Gods continued to be worshiped in the forms of spirits, Saints or even still called Gods in very rural areas. The more important myths would be recorded and preserved, a great deal of folklore would remain folklore whilst myths embellished it. But that's the upside, if there can be an upside to this story. The temples were converted into churches, the 'idols" were smashed, anyone who refused to convert was murdered, the old way was taught to children as something evil and a great mistake of their ancestors (original sin).

Yet some Heathens did stand up to this, even for a short while. They bore their Mjolnir's with pride. They were men against the times.

And here we are today, commemorating their effort. Thus they are immortal, because we honor them, the nameless many, of who's graves we dig and find their Mjolnirs and other remnants of Paganism (such as ring with inscriptions). We honor them, though we must honor all of our ancestors. But their effort had not been in vain. We again are Heathens. Our folk return to our Gods, and not just our Scandinavian folk, but all of European folk. The Volga's tied to stakes at low tied and left to drown have been vindicated.

Again, we stand as men against time. Just how many Heathens are there? Sure, it's steadily rising, but just how many of these people are Heathens? How many are hobbyists? How many are Wiccatru? How many are wishy-washy fluffy bunnies? How many weave in and out of Heathenism and Christianity? How many act more like Christians than Heathens? How many don't take it seriously and are more akin to role players than actual Heathens? How many are just metal heads wearing a Mjolnir because their favorite band does?

Worse, just who are we up against? Who must we compete against? Christianity is still alive, in all of its tendrils, constricting our folk into a superstitious death cult for 1500 years now. For every Heathen, how many Christians are there? Hell, what about Islam? By Gods - Christianity has somewhat preserved our Paganism, our indigenous European traditions, since Europe Europeanized Christianity - but Islam is a different beast. Islam is Arabic cultural imperialism. Islam demands you pray in Arabic. Islam demands you smash all idols. An Islamic world would erase all traces of indigenous faith of all peoples. Worried about the pyramids in Egypt? What do you think will happen to Stonehenge if Britain was a Muslim domain? Do you think you'd be allowed to celebrate your summer solstices there then?

Moreover, why should we be concerned with "getting with the times"? "The times" dictate that everything and everyone, groups and individuals, have the same potential because we're all born as blank slates (tabula rosa), disregarding all biological evidence on the contrary. "The times" tells us that a man can become a woman if he chops his genitals and ingests some drugs, despite all common sense. "The times" is what is poisoning us with fluoride in the water and GMOs and we're called "conspiracy theorists" if we point out this may not be a good idea. "The times" demands that it's better to not defend yourself if you are attacked, but beg for them to stop and then hide and call the police. "The times" has turned men into emasculated, soft, hairless, shy, awkward, TV-friendly lap-dogs that would die in days if they were dropped off in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. "The times" has turned women into sad, miserable parodies of men. "The times" makes hundreds of millions of dollars off of turning the Gods of our ancestors into comic book characters. "The times" thinks it's perfectly OK to spy on each and every citizen of its country as if we are all criminals. "The times" insists that Heathenism is outdated and that we should be Christians, Muslims, Atheists/Nihilists or some bastardized, white-washed version of a Buddhist.

If that is what 2013 is, then I am proud of standing against such a degenerate, depraved, loathsome time. I will stand against it until my legs fall out from under me.

A Heathen does not care what "the times" dictate, or that you are supposed to act a certain way or believe in a certain something in 2013. A Heathen is a free man. A Heathen is in tune with his ancestors. He is their descendant whether this is 2013 or 1013 or 2013 BC or 20013 AD. We Heathens stand against the times, like a mountainside:  immovable!

When Islam shouts it will dominate the world, we bare our Mjolnirs. We are men against time.

When Christianity gloats it destroyed our Gods, and we shout our Gods have never died, because we are men against time.

When they say that your ideas are outdated or you are just a romanticist, we are men against time.

When they demand us men must not be men because "gender doesn't exist", we laugh, because we are men against time.

When they insist violence is not the solution from one side of their mouth and sell us violent video games, television shows and movies. We are men against time.

When they tell us we should be ashamed of our heritage, we shout we are prideful, because we are men against time.

Do not fret. We are Europeans, and we are Heathens. We have been through much worse. Heathenism never died, it had been dormant in us, and we have reawakened it. We must also reawaken the European within us. We are Western European Pagans, we have a glorious civilization granted to us by our Indo-European ancestors, who gave us a culture we still possess today. Victory will come from our re-awakening  to our Gods. Remember who you are, and remember your Gods. Nothing is more fearsome and ferocious than a man who knows who he is and what he believes in. May Woden give you fury on that day.

"Confidence is the key to victory." - my late father, a Pagan-Atheist.

And if we fail, then may our descendants in 1000 years remember those men who stood against time.

Thor's Hammer excavated from Yorkshire, circa 10th century. These men who wore these did so in defiance of the times. Their grandchildren or great-grandchildren probably were buried with crucifixes  I am sure their grandchildren thought Thor was gone forever and no one would ever wear his hammer again. Yet here we are, a millennium later, as Germanic Heathens, wearing Mjolnir and worshiping Father Thor.

On Embracing Life and the Necessity of sacrificing to Hel

Hel by an unknown artist. She is both life and death because both are two aspects of something inseparable. Though she is not depicted with a baby in the Eddas, I feel that her carrying a baby is an appropriate metaphor. The baby will replace the parents when the parents die. In order for newborn children to live, the older must die to make space and allow the child to consume limited resources. Thus an infant is symbolic of both life and death, as is Hel. 

In order to fully understand our ancestral faith, we must take on the philosophy that our ancestors followed. While we do have to adapt our Germanic religion into the modern world, we also have to adapt their philosophy in order to appreciate our religion and our Gods in their entirety.

This is no easy task. Unlike the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans, we do not have philosophical works by our ancestors until well into the Christian eras. Moreover, our philosophers were oral philosophers - they passed down their wisdom from adept to adept, father to son, teacher to pupil through oral traditions, often in the form of poetry. The Druids are a famous example: they studied the arcane arts for 20 years before having the title of Druid bestowed upon them. And everything they learned (philosophy, theology, medicine, warcraft, politics, et cetera) was orally passed down. Our European brothers - the Greeks and Romans, and our Indo-European cousins, the Persians, Indians and others (Hittites) had a natural literacy develop where their oral traditions were gradually turned into written works (Homeric poetry). Barbarian Europe, on the other hand, had literacy forced upon it when Christianity was forced upon it, thus our earliest Germanic literature is largely the Bible or heavily Christianized, with some exceptions (the Poetic Edda). As a result of this cultural upheaval, the majority of the wisdom of our bards, scalds, and Druids have been lost.

The philosophy of life for our ancestors has not been lost, though.

Keep in mind when I say philosophy, I do not necessarily mean Greco-Roman philosophy, where educated men think and discuss all aspects imaginable. When I speak of the philosophical life of our ancestors, I speak of their outlook and view on the world around them. This is discernible from the way they viewed their Gods.

Our Gods and Goddesses are every aspect of the world around us.

When we worship life, we worship "Rosy-fingered Dawn" or the Divine Crone/All-Mother (Hera, Frigga...). We worship fertility in the form of both male (Freyr) and female (Freyja), and their mother manifested as Spring itself (Eostre). We worship the Sun (Sunna or Sol Invictis). We worship the All-Father (Odin) and Sky-Father (Tyr). We celebrate life through festivals, marriage, games, feasts, and through sacrifice (where we give a part of us - our time) to the Gods in thanks.

We also, as a result, must celebrate death.

To celebrate life is to embrace all aspects of life. When the ancient Greeks made libations to Ares, the "blood-stained God", they did not because they thought war was a good thing. They did not worship Ares, but they recognized him and made sacrifice to him, because he represented a natural part of life - war. Our ancestors accepted war as a part of life, and recognized it for what life is, and thus embraced Ares and war. They did not "pray for world peace", they did not pray against Ares or wish for Ares to go away. The ancient Greeks understood that hopeless dreaming in life is pointless. They accepted that war is part of life, and thus war must be embraced. So they sacrificed to Ares, even though they did not worship him.

The ancient Greeks also made libations to Hades. Though the Romans did worship the War God (proudly declaring themselves Mars's descendants through Romulus), no Greco-Roman actually worshiped Hades. Yet Hades received a libation - with the conductor's head turned away to the side for the libation. Because in order to celebrate life, death must also be celebrated.

Today, we still celebrate death. The modern European and European-diaspora funeral, shelled in a Victorian casing, superficially Christian and fringed with modernity, is a testament to the European celebration of life. Yes, there is mourning - crying, wailing, screaming, perhaps even guilt or fighting among the guests - it still is a celebration of the life of the person who died. And in order to have that celebration, that person must die, thus death is celebrated.

Think about the modern Catholic wake and funeral. Family, friends and even acquaintances gather together in the room of the body. Kin that have not spoken in years are brought together, friendships are rekindled and bonds are strengthened. When I was a teenager, mired in atheism and degeneracy, I scoffed at this - I said once "People are mingling, but there's a corpse in the room!". But it's not a corpse. The person in the casket is a reminder of life. We are celebrating that person by "mingling", by laughing, joking, and later and traditionally, by feasting and drinking. I remember at one funeral, at the procession afterwards, we tossing around the children between the tables, vaulting them up into the air and catching them. It was a joyous outburst, so delightful that we probably would have started dancing had there been music! Yet someone had died, and we were celebrating their life, and their death.

Our ancient ancestors knew that, too, which is why there were not only feasting and drinking at Pagan European funerals, but also evidence that they held athletic competitions in the name of the deceased. If one were to excavate an Etruscan or Roman tomb, they would find strighe - iron blades used to scrap off oil and sweat from the skin of the athletes. For Germanic and Slavic funerals, often there would be mock fights between youths with swords and shields as the body burned upon the pyres, the warriors clashing in the smoke as women sang and men shouted in glory.

We as Germanic and European Heathens must recognize that though Christianized, we still have pulses of our Pagan past, especially during traditional processions such as funerals. A classmate of mine, a sociology major, once remarked to me, "When I die, I do not want a white [European diaspora] funeral where people talk and gab. I would rather have a non-white funeral where it's more solemn and respectful." She of course could not realize that it is in European spirit to talk and mingle at the body of the deceased (since we can no longer hold athletic games or sword and shield competitions!). Despite her ignorance and her willingness to forsake her heritage, this is our unique European heritage, and I stress, something so unique that others cannot comprehend why we would do such a thing such as talk in front of a corpse.

Thus when we celebrate at a funeral, whether by quiet talking or feasting afterwards, we are in fact worshiping death. Death is hailed and championed, whether you personify Death as Hades, Hel or the Grim Reaper, Death is being worshiped. But we do not like death just like we do not like war. But like war, death is a part of life. We must celebrate death.

Thus we have our Goddess Hel. There are no known monuments to her. There is no eponymy. Her cognates such as Hades too had no temples or busts in his image.Thus we do not worship Hel (or Hades) the same way we worship Thor, with our boasts and our bearing of his hammer. We do not worship her the same we worship Freyja, with an appreciation of all that is beauty, and our lust of beautiful, fertile women. We do not worship Hel in the same vein as we worship Odin, by pondering the cosmos and standing in awe of his power.

When we sacrifice to Hel, we take a glass of wine and we pour it into the Earth. We turn our heads away as we pour it, because death is something undesirable. We must hail Hel out of necessity and respect. We say, "And to Hel, who is Death, we recognize you as a necessity of our life. Someday we will meet in the underworld. Hail Hel, Goddess of Death." Do this in the fall after the death of summer, but sacrifice to Hel any time you feel is appropriate, since death is omnipotent.

Germanic Heathenry FAQs part 1

This is a short answer Q&A on Germanic Heathenry for newcomers. As stated in this blog preiviously, this blog is for newcomers interested in Germanic Heathenry, and thus a quick reference guide to common questions is necessary. Some of the topics mentioned here are worthy of elaboration (such as the afterlife), and I intend to elaborate on them in the future. 

What is Germanic Heathenry?

Germanic Heathenry is various parts of Germanic culture grouped together as religious beliefs. In other words, it is the ethnic religion of Germanic people. Some of these beliefs were whitewashed into parts of Germanic Christianity, evolved into folklore, or carried on status quo, other parts of these beliefs were eradicated by Christianity. The beliefs that have been eradicated is what constitutes Germanic reconstruction.

So which beliefs need to be reconstructed?

Germanic Heathenry is the practice of pure Germanic culture, and that includes practice of worship of Germanic deities. The worship of Germanic major deities such as Gods and Goddesses, was vanquished among the Germanic people between the 5th-14th centuries. Belief and worship of minor deities (beings such as elves, trolls, kobolds, wights, etc) was never uprooted.

So what Gods are we talking about here?

The major Germanic Gods are best known by their Old Norse names: Thor, Odin, Freyja, Freyr Njodr, Balder, Heimdall, Tyr, Loki are a few you may have heard of.

So this is Norse Mythology?

Yes and no. Norse mythology is a subset of Germanic Paganism. All Norse mythology is Germanic, but not all Germanic mythology is Norse. The Norse people, linguistically, culturally and ethnically, are Germanic. On a greater level, they are European, and an even greater and more older identity, Indo-European.

The reason why Norse Mythology is central to Germanic Heathenry is because Norse Mythology had been recorded the most extensive in the form of the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. Though there are other sources on Germanic mythology, such as Beowulf, the Eddas have ensured that Norse Mythology receives the most attention by Germanic Heathens.


But mythology says Thor literally flies through the air riding a chariot pulled by goats! How can you believe this?

We, as Germanic heathens, do not take our mythology literally. Taking mythology literally conflicts with science. Since Germanic Heathenry, and indeed, Indo-European Heathenry never called for dogmatic belief, and historically never contradicted itself with science, there is no reason for us to disbelieve science due to our religious beliefs. Moreover, our cousins and fellow Indo-Europeans, the Greeks and Romans, recognized mythology as mythology (see Plato's The Republic, for example).

What is the purpose of mythology?

The purpose of mythology is to take it metaphorically and apply it to your daily life. Mythology is timeless wisdom.

What is the purpose of worshiping the Germanic Gods?

The purpose is to honor your ancestors and to feel as close as you can to your own heritage. This is by uprooting all foreign and alien influence. If you honor your heritage, you take your entire heritage for what it is for. You don't get to pick and choose what parts of it to honor.

The reason why we honor our Germanic Gods is because they are our Gods, as much as our grandfathers are our grandfathers. When our ancestors worshiped these Gods, they worshiped them as ancestors, and thus as extensions of themselves. In other words, to honor your own Gods is to honor your own heritage.

On a more practical side, practicing Germanic Heathenry is good for you. It conditions you for discipline, respect and piety. It keeps you in tune with your heritage, and thus yourself. A sacrifice, in Indo-European tradition, was never to empower the God being sacrificed to, but to show a willingness to give up a piece of your hard work. Put it this way: imagine everything you eat as part of the time you worked. Let's say you worked for one hour making 10$. You buy a steak for 1$. After cooking the steak, you cut let's say, 1/10th of a piece of that steak and burn it in honor of Odin. You have just sacrificed 1/10th of your time or accurately 6 minutes of your time to the Gods. This shows you are willing to sacrifice, and to sacrifice is noble. This is self-empowering.

Why not just be Christians?

Because Christianity is an alien faith for an alien people. Christianity makes demands of Europeans that is unreasonable for Europeans to meet, and thus beats them down into feeling guilty. A European is prideful - but pride is a sin. The European is warlike, aggressive and craves power - but this is a sin, and we are supposed to be pacifists according to Christianity.

Granted, there is a lot of Christianity that is indeed European due to European Pagan influence on both the ancient Israelites (Samson was probably a Semitic Hecules), the Judeans (Christ was very much a prototype of a Greek hero in some ways), The Roman Catholic Church (also known as the former Pagan Roman Empire), and the European Christians as they absorbed Pagan beliefs and adopted them into their own (such as our Spring and Winter festivals, called Easter and Christmas). But at its core, Christianity is alien and Semitic, and Semitic philosophy must be uprooted from Europeans for Europeans to be as close to their natural state as possible.

Moreover, Christianity is a universal religion. Everyone can be a Christian. Despite what some so-called Heathens say, not everyone can be a Germanic Pagan. You cannot convert to Germanic Heathenry - you are either Germanic or you are not. If you are Germanic, you are a Heathen. As Germanic Heathens, we must be weary of foreign influence and thus foreigners into our culture. Greco-Romans, Slavs, Celts, and Balts, are our cousins, however.

So wait, not anyone can be a Germanic Heathen?

No. You have to be Germanic to be a Germanic Pagan.

Who is Germanic?

The native speakers of German, Scandinavian languages, English, Frisian, and Dutch/Flemish. Germanic diaspora and Euromutts that are Germanic cultured (White Americans, Australians, South Africans, etc) are also included, for the most part.

So what if I'm half Polish, half German?

In the case of European mutts, especially in White diaspora, it is what you identify with the most. It's really on a case by case basis. For example, many Irish-Americans (or partially Irish in America) identify strongly with their Irish heritage. Chances are, they identify with it over their German or English. Therefore, these Irish-Americans are more suited for Celtic Paganism than Germanic Paganism, because they do not identify with Germanic culture. But if there is a Germanically cultured individual that happens to have some Irish blood that he doesn't really identify with, that's fine.

Again, it depends on the individual. If you are half Polish but with a German surname, you grew up speaking English in Wisconsin and you never felt like a "Polish-American", then you are Germanic. 

You must make a decision, and a sacrifice, however, if you are to be a Germanic Heathen. Identifying as Germanic means you do not identify as anything else. You do not have to dishonor any part of your heritage, but you must revere the Germanic side above all.

What if I'm insert half non-European ethnic group here and half Germanic?

Other European admixture is acceptable because they are closely related to Germanics not only genetically, but ethnically, culturally, linguistically and of course, religiously. All others are not acceptable.

But I want to be a Germanic Heathen, who are you to tell me no?

Who are you to tell us that we have to accept you? We are Germanic Heathens because we care about our heritage, and we must protect our heritage. If you are Germanic, you are a Germanic Heathen whether you raise your arms to Thor, bend your knee to Allah or proclaim yourself above all religions. If you are not Germanic, then you are not a Germanic Heathen, but you are a Heathen of whatever ethnicity you are. If you are so mixed that you have no identity, well then, it is not our fault you were born into this world, and we should not have to accommodate you.

What justification do you have to be so exclusive?

 The Germanic Gods are part of our Germanic culture. They sprang up naturally, as natural as our language or the concept of treating a guest well when he enters your home. The Gods of the Germanic people represent the Germanics firstly, secondly the Europeans, and thirdly the Indo-Europeans. They represent no one else.

There is no stopping anyone from worshiping the Germanic Gods, of course. Every individual is free to do what he or she pleases, and we do not need an inquisition. However, a Germanic man must be weary and mindful of others that try to appropriate his own heritage.

Let's put it this way. Say you are at your father's funeral. You yourself knew your father, and your bond between him is stronger than the bonds of anyone else and your father, because he is your father. Others may come and honor him at his funeral - strangers, cousins, friends, co-workers. That is fine. But the moment that your father's co-worker tells you that he has just a much of a right to honor your father's memory as you do, or insists he sits up front at the procession, is the moment he is wrong, and is appropriating what is rightfully yours.

It is the same with ethnic religions. If you are Germanic, you can only be a Germanic Heathen, or enter one of the universal religions such as Christianity or Islam. A Japanese person claiming to be as much of a Germanic Heathen as you is insulting you, and practicing cultural imperialism. Likewise, a Germanic man practicing Shintoism (the Japanese ethnic religion) is insulting the Japanese man and practicing cultural imperialism.
 
Do you have anything like the Bible? Or the Ten Commandments?

No. Germanic Heathenry is not dogmatic. There is no dogmatic beliefs in Germanic Heathenry or any Indo-European Heathenry. Law and society is for man to decide.

However, if you want a guide on how one should (note the word should) behave, I suggest the Hamaval, a poem recorded in the Poetic Edda attributed to Odin. There is also the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Riveda. Though these aren't Germanic texts, they are Indo-European texts and poetic, mythological and cultural cognates with the Germanic peoples. In other words, the ancient Greeks, ancient Germanics, and ancient Indians all descend from the same Indo-European ancestral people. Since we have such little left of our Germanic mythology, it is fine to look towards our cognates to embellish our own. Historical linguists, archaeologists and folklorists frequently do.

That is it for now. There will be more FAQs to come.

Politics and Heathenry (Why we have so many Gods)

In our reconstruction movement, one only has to look for mere moments to find someone, somewhere, proclaiming that politics and Heathenry should not mix. Usually, this comes from the "universalists" or the leftists that denounce the rightists as caring more about politics than Heathenry. Usually, the folkists take the same stance, denouncing both the right and the left, while they themselves are not guilt-free of political leanings, either.

I am writing this post because over the summer, I had the opportunity to visit a Heathen/metal bar in Italy. I was quite impressed by the knowledge of Heathenry of the bartender, and as typical with the Italian people, honored by their hospitality and friendliness. On one of the walls in the bar, a printout of a poem along with a depiction of a Nidstang1, and the bartender touted this paper so proud, proclaiming that it is a curse against those that mix Heathenry with politics.

Recently, during my studies, particularly during my studies of ancient Greek religion, it struck me about how wrong the notion of mixing Heathenry with politics is against Heathenry. 

Heathenry should be mixed with politics. As I Heathen, I will say that this notion of not mixing politics and Heathenry is absolutely wrong, and those that rally against mixing the two do not understand Heathenry. I will also say that our Heathenic ancestors would laugh at this notion, and I can prove it.2

The answer is a simple but much overlooked aspect of the nature of Germanic (and Indo-European) Heathenry.

Heathenry is political.

Heathenry is everything.

That sounds abstract, I'm sure, and I do not want my readers to think I'm going off into some fluffy tangent, so I will end this cryptic prose.

Remember, our ancestors did not have a name for their religion. They did not have a mythical conversion date for their people, and they did not understand the notion of conversion. They did not understand what Christianity (or Islam) was, which is why that some Heathens agreed to honor the Christian God alongside their own Gods. Heathenry is an ancestral religion, like Hinduism,3 (our far-distant, twice removed, half cousin at this point) or Shintoism. You are born into it, and you can convert away from it, but you can never convert to it.

They didn't have a name for their religion or a conversion process because their religion is everything.

How so, you may ask? One big hangups new "converts" to Heathenry may have is the notion of so many different Gods. Sure, there's the Allfather God--then there's the God of light, his son, then there's the elements--thunder, fire, water. There's the Sun and the Moon, there's the Earth Mother, there's the Goddess of sex and the God of plenty, there's the divine twins--then we have Gods of music, Gods of hunting--it goes on. Truth be told, there are more Gods than that, and the Germanic pantheon as we know is not complete and never will be. But our brothers, the Greco-Romans, have a religion far more recorded than ours... and how many Gods are there? Hundreds. How many different functions do these Gods have? Thousands. Some of these functions are glorious--Victory! Courage! Honor!

But then there's Venus, who aside from being the Goddess of love, sex and fertility, is also the Goddess of sewers.4

That doesn't sound too glorious, does it?

It's a hard concept to wrap your head around if you grew up Christian, and probably harder if you have no knowledge of Greco-Roman history.

For the Romans, Venus was also a Goddess of purification and cleanliness. The Romans honored Venus to give thanks for purifying the city.

In other words, Indo-European Heathens such as the Romans, and our Germanic ancestors, had a deity for every single human function, no matter how glamorous or mundane that function may be. Our Heathen ancestors believed that every action you make is a tribute to the Gods. Therefore, in order to honor the Gods, you take care to make every action--no matter what that action be--an action worthy of their reverence.

This is the reason for many Gods--and Goddesses, and Heroes, and God-like beings such as elves and wights, that total into the thousands.There are these deities everywhere--not just in the sky and under the ground, or in the boulder and in the tree, but also in the walls, in your chair, and yes, in your toilet, as silly as the latter may sound to read.

What this translates into is that our Heathen ancestors believed in taking pride in what you do. Every action you do is tribute to the Gods, because you are only trekking Midgard for one lifetime. Make each and every action count.

Thus, when you engage in politics, you are also paying tribute to the Gods.

Politics and Heathenry are therefore inseparable. When an individual is mixing Heathenry and politics, they are paying tribute to their Gods. Regardless of their politics, and regardless of what you think of their politics--to ask a Heathen to separate his Gods from politics is akin to ask him to separate his Gods from his spirituality.

There is no "separation of church and state" with the Heathen, because you cannot separate "the church" from the Heathen, just as you cannot separate the Olympian athlete's foot stepping on the track or his breath being drawn from Zeus.5 The notion of being able to separate your religion from everything you do is an Abrahamic religious concept.6 Of course, there is no dogma with Heathenry--that is another facet of our nature that I am pleased to say most do adhere to--so there is no threat of a theocracy.

Let every action, whether physical or mental, whether through arm or tongue, whether at the spur of the moment or at the end of a plan, be a tribute to your Gods. Honor each and every deity wherever they hail, and that includes the spirits within the political world. Do not be afraid to mix Heathenry with whatever you wish--Heathenry is everything you do, and every facet of your life, and that includes politics. Do not let those who proclaim the two should not be mixed intimidate you with their misinformed opinions and silly little curses (remember, Thor protects!), as they too, usually have an agenda.7


Footnotes:

1 A Nidstang was a horse skull or decapitated head propped on top of a stake and left outside the door of someone that the perpetrator of the grisly decoration is cursing. Sometimes, runes were present, or insults were scribbled on the stake.

2 I'm willing to cite my sources on this if anyone inquires or is interested, but this is basic knowledge of Classical civilization.

3 Hinduism is a blanket term for many different traditions that as we know it today are a mixture between the Indo-European Rigvedic religion and the indigenous religions of the Indus valley, along with whatever else they have absorbed over time.

4 Venus of the Sewer is best known for having a sanctuary in the Roman forum. If you visit the Roman forum, you can see what remains of it today.

5 During the Olympics of ancient Greece, every single movement and even thought was a tribute to Zeus.

6 Ironic, isn't it?

7 Usually, when someone is against "heathenism and politics" it is usually against the politics that the person is personally not fond of.

Memorial Day Ritual

In the United States of America, on the last Monday of May, we have a holiday called Memorial Day.

On this day, Americans tribute the fallen U.S soldiers that died in battle.

Though most Americans today do so by barbequing and "celebrating" the day, without so much of an utterance on why the post office is closed and why a great deal of people are off from work, Memorial Day is something that America has done right. To honor those that fell in battle is a pillar stone of Germanic--nay, Indo-European, culture and tradition.

Today, my friends, is an important solemn day, and here is one American export I support for the European and European descendant folk.

While you may not agree with the wars that are being conducted by the Federal Government*, the soldier should always be honored. The soldier is the epitome of a man. He is disciplined. He is brave. He fights. He is ready to die on the field of battle. Such an ideal should be the pride of any nation.

No, this day wasn't on the Heathen calender, but it is in tune with our Heathen philosophy. For the man who dies in battle is who achieves the highest. The battle-slain is the only one that can cross the rainbow bridge. The Valkyrie's prey is the one that dines in the hall with all of the finest warriors and Odin himself. He is the one that flirts with the serving wenches and feeds the dog scraps. And after he is done feasting on pork and beer, he slumbers, and in the morning, he is woken up to fight and die again, and resurrect, and he will repeat this cycle until the end of the cosmos.

Some argue that our soldiers are nothing but mercenaries or worse, whores who have given their loyalty for confusing or obscure ideals and goals. Whether you believe that or not is irrelevant. Only those that die in battle see Valhalla. It's not, "Only those that fight for a good cause see Valhalla". The brave and the bold need not ideology or even morals. Soldiers are soldiers, warriors are warriors; Valkyries fly over every battlefield. Regardless if their cause is just (and who are you to judge that), soldiers should be revered.

Our ancestors certainly revered them.

So on this day, exalt the soldier. Champion the man brave enough to stare death in the eyes and charge head on. Revere the mean that died, sword in hand, prideful, honor in tact, carried up to the halls of Odin or Freyja by the Valkyries. They are great men.

The ritual today will be for Thor, God of the common soldier, and Tyr, God of single combat. The Valkyries will also be honored today. Today is not Odin's day--he is the God of war, not warriors; Veteran's day is his. Finally, the fallen warrior receives the highest honor.

Take your Mjolnir, and consecrate yourself, hailing Thor like you would any other day. Thank Thor for granting the fallen soldiers strength in both life and death. Now, fire nine shots from your gun, dedicating each bullet to Thor. If the former is not possible, go to Thor's oak and stab the Earth 9 times (remember, Thor's mother is the Earth!), near the trunk of the tree, but do not damage the roots. Pour beer or mead into the cuts, dedicating it to Thor.

Now, you will honor Tyr. Take a glove, which will symbolize Tyr's dismembered hand, and burn it, dedicating it to Tyr. Thank him for granting the soldiers honor in both life and death. If you have a sword, carve a Tyr rune into the ground and dedicate it to Tyr. You can also paint or draw the Tyr rune on the glove that you will burn.

The Valkyries, the glorious battle maidens that are sworn to ferry the fallen warriors to Valhalla, will be honored now. Thank the Valkyries for their commitment and duty to your fallen heroes. Picture those beautiful shield-maidens in your mind, wondering if some day, you will have the honor of meeting one. Take some old meat or rotten food and toss it out somewhere, away from your house. Valkyries are associated with ravens and crows, so it is fitting to offer food only a scavenger will eat to them. With some luck, the blackbirds will pick at your offering.

Finally, take some alcohol, preferably beer or mead. Red wine, the color of blood, is also fitting. Say something such as:

"On this day, May 28th, I honor Valhalla's chosen."

Now, you shall repeat this from the Sayings of the High One*:


Cattle die, kinsmen die,
the self must also die;
but glory never dies,
for the man who is able to achieve it.


Cattle die, kinsmen die,
the self must also die;
I know one thing which never dies:
the reputation of each dead man.

Now say: "Glory to those that fell in battle! Glory to Valhalla's chosen! The hero is immortal! Hail to the dead warrior!".

Pour your libation.

That is the end.

*1 I do not agree with the USA's current wars.

*2 From The Poetic Edda, translation by Carolyne Larrington, page 24, stanzas 76 and 77.

Why are you a Heathen?

Though I do not post on Heathen forums or partake in Heathenic discussions on Facebook or other social media avenues, I do read them from time to time. One of the common tropes I come across is that people say they are Heathens because it is what "feels right", and worse, they say their patron deity is their patron because it is what they feel most connected to.

A glaring problem in Western society today is that young people in their late teens and early twenties enter college and major in "What I feel is best". What is the result? The young people end up getting a degree what "feels" best, which usually ends up being something non-practical or a field with low prospects, and they end up with a mountain of debt and not a good enough job to work off their voluntary indentured servitude.

I am absolutely against discerning who is a Germanic Heathen by who "feels" like a Heathen or who "feels" like they are close to Freya or any other deity. Sure, you don't end up with a mountain of debt by worshiping a God outside of your heritage as you do when majoring in your hobby in college, but it's making a mockery out of your ancestors and what they believed in.

I will go on record to say that a Heathen that follows the footsteps of his ancestors because it "feels right" is not much a Heathen at all.

Just because something feels right, does not mean that it is the best for you. Feelings are whimsical, they come and go as the wind. Feelings cannot be trusted, even deep feelings. Sometimes you feel deeply good about a member of the opposite sex, where you feel romantic feelings towards them. Sometimes, this is good, but other times, your "good feelings" can end up hurting you. The person you have "good feelings" for can be absolutely wrong for you. Sometimes they lie and cheat on you, but no matter how much they hurt you, you still "have feelings for them".

That is when any logical person puts their feelings aside. That's right. You put your feelings aside, and you act logical. You analyze. You use interpretation. You come to a conclusion. You deal with the person in the correct manner, based on what you know is right, not what you feel is right. Your feelings come second to your logic.

In these modern times, we often forget that the idea of romantic marriage is a very new thing, especially outside of the upper classes. For the greater part of our history, fathers married their daughters off. But they didn't just marry them off to just anyone. The marriage had to make sense. Marriages were used to secure business deals, dowries, or link family-guilds together for the purpose of expanding a guild. At the higher levels, they were used for diplomatic relations. These marriages made sense.

But in these modern times, marriages don't always make sense. They are not logical. They are based on feelings, and feelings as whimsical. Look at your grandparents--chances are, they are still married if they're not dead. Why is this?

Because their marriage made sense. Their marriages conformed to societal norms (oh, the horror!). The man was the man, the woman was the woman. The man was masculine, and the woman was feminine, and both of them found each other attractive as a result. The marriage also made sense, because the man was always financially well-off and the woman was willing to rear a family. They didn't need to like the same movies or music, as they were not looking for best friends as life-partners. They were looking for a marriage that made sense. Yes, they had romance and they fell in love, but logic also dictated that the marry.

This may sound to you, the modern human, as something horrific and down right conservative, but it's true. And guess what? They're married, faithful, loyal, and they have pride in their marriage. They honor their oath they swore to one another decades ago. This is Heathen.

The same is true about how you carry yourself as a Heathen, and how you look at your faith. If you're a Heathen because it "feels right", then that tells me that somewhere down the line, it may "feel wrong", just like your last relationship all of a sudden "felt wrong".

"Feeling" what your religion is or believing in the Gods because you "feel" them is not a Pagan concept at all, and it is a Christian one, at least a modern Christian one. Ask any Christians, particularly young ones or the Evangelical types. They will tell you they believe in Christ because they "feel" him, and probably will go on to make some inane analogy with the wind. There is no logic in their conclusion, it is purely emotional.

Of course, our Pagan ancestors did not "feel" their Gods. They used logical and rational to justify their belief in them. That is why modern philosophy and all Western philosophy, secular and Christian, and even Islamic philosophy, is rooted in Pagan Greek thought. Yes, filtered through Christianity in the West and Islam in the Middle-East and Persia, but underneath the dogma is Plato, a Pagan, and Aristotle, another Pagan, and underneath these great men is the Pagan society that produced them. Because we Pagans are logical and rational. We are able to separate our emotions from our beliefs. This is the difference between us and the Christians, even if we are both theists.

In other words, you need to use logic on why you are a Heathen. This is not Christianity. You don't "feel". Do you think the Spartans worshiped Hercules because it "felt right"? They worshiped Hercules because it made sense for them to. First of all, they believed they were the literal descendants of the demi-God. As the prideful sons of Hercules, they lived a Herculean life-style. Their rigid training, their strict discipline, their heroic philosophy of death before dishonor--this is what made them worship Hercules, to honor an ideal that they strive to be. It made sense to them. Looking back over 2000 years later, it makes sense to us. Hercules wasn't the philosopher's God, or an agricultural deity. Hercules fit the Spartans world-view and culture perfectly. It was rational and logical for them to worship Hercules.

So why are you a Heathen? I am a Heathen because my ancestors were Heathens when they stepped foot into recorded history. I am a Heathen because the Heathen mentality not only fits my own, it fits my people's, even if we're technically Christian. I am a Heathen because it is in my blood, it is in my veins, it is in my brain, and if we have souls, it is my soul. Germanic Paganism is uniquely mine. It is not inclusive. It is exclusive, and I am in this exclusive group. It is for me, and my ancestors, and my descendants. I am a Heathen because the Gods are ideals for me to strive to be.

While our Greek cousins are a good example, the same is true about the Germanic people. Do you think the ancient Germanic people fluffed around the forest going "Ohhh, Odin, I feel your love!"? They worshiped Odin by emulating Odin, who gave his wisdom to them through the Hamaval and the Runes. He was the Allfather God, and all peoples must pay tribute to their Allfather, just as you go to your Grandfather's funeral and respect him. But the people who worshiped Odin as a patron, ask yourself, who were they? They were Kings, because Odin was a leader. Generals, because Odin was a war-God. Poets, because Odin was a god of poetry.

Ask yourself, why do I worship Odin? Am I a leader? A poet? A general? Can you let Odin's wild fury inspire you into a berserker if needed? A politician too, as detestable as they are, have more of a claim to Odin-worship than the average so-called Heathen!

I see many people wearing Mjolnir these days, including weak, soft, beta, man-children. If you are not an alpha male, then you should not be wearing that hammer. They make a mockery out of Thor and of our ancestors that worshiped him.

Who has a right to worship Thor? Men who know they are men. Men who don't apologize for themselves or their gender or their race. Men who are not afraid to speak what is on their mind and do not fear meaningless buzz words such as "racist" or "homophobe". Men who fight back if someone attacks them. Men who have a sense of duty to protect the innocent and the weak with their lives.

In other words, your grandfathers. Your masculine, rugged, non-politically correct and brainwashed grandfathers. They are more Heathen than you, and neither of you know that.

If someone strikes you, and you do not defend yourself, you cannot worship Thor, regardless of how you "feel".

If you think being angry is "bad", then Thor is not your God.

Thor is the ultimate man. He is alpha. He is masculine. He protects what he loves with his life. He has a sense of duty that he fulfills. He defends his honor and the honor of his wife. He's willing to crush his enemies. He has a wife, and children, and his son follows in his footsteps. He is selfish as the alpha lion as takes his share. He's neither afraid to express his feelings, nor does he try to hide them. He's quick to anger, and quite stubborn, but our Gods are not perfect, and our ancestors never claimed them to be perfect. Nothing is perfect, despite what some other religions claim.

If you are not striving to be that man, then you are not worthy of Thor or his protection from his hammer.

I am not saying that you should not tribute the Gods regardless of who you are, but before you choose a patron, you have to know who you are, and who you are striving to be. Choosing a patron God is not something you take lightly. You can't switch them out like changing underwear. Your patron is going to be your patron for life. You choose your patron and you model yourself in your patron's footsteps. If you can't play a musical instrument, then why Forseti? If you're a fashion model, why Thor? If you're a pacifist, then who would you even worship in the Germanic Pantheon?

Of course, you don't want to ignore your feelings. You don't want to ignore your intuition. If something feels wrong, then it probably is wrong. But you have to put your feelings aside and think logically. I am not asking you to be robotic, but just as your marriage has to make sense, so does the faith you propose that you partake in, along with the patron God you are supposed to dedicate your life to.

Converting to Heathenry

A common concern those interested in practicing Heathenry along with newly initiated Heathens usually have is "How do I convert to Heathenism?"

The answer is quite simple: you cannot convert to Heathenism.

You are either a Heathen or you are not. But it is not as complicated as it sounds. Allow me to explain.

Enlightenment thinker Rousseau said that we are born free, it is society that puts us in chains. This is true. What is also true is that we are born Pagan, and it is society that puts us into Christianity.

In order to understand this, you must journey back with me to the days of Heathen ancestors.

When our ancestors, the Germanics, or even the Greeks and Latins, entered recorded history, they were not Christians. Their warriors swore oaths to the Allfather of battle. The poets heralded the ancient heroes that slayed the greedy and monstrous force of chaos known as the dragon--whether that hero bore the name of Beowulf, Perseus, Siegfried, Thor, or even Indra. The Goddess of sex and marriage blessed the bride at their weddings. Some of their practices today are still with us, such as the bride and groom exchanged oath rings at their wedding, after the father symbolically gives his daughter away. Nevertheless, they were Heathens through and through.

That changed. No one can deny that. But what also could never change is that our ancestors were Pagans. We know the reasons why the Christian conversion happened, and there is no gain in feeling bitter about it or wishing it didn't happen in the first place. What is to gain is recognizing our ancestors for what they were. If we recognize our ancestors for what they were naturally, before something was forced upon them for political reasons, then we can find the pure, true, traditional way of life that they followed.

Our ancestors had no name for their religion. You may hear this repeated a lot, but it's true. Asatru, Odinism, Heathenry, whatever you want to call it doesn't matter too much because Heathenism had no name. What an anthropologist would call their religion was indeed Heathenry, but they didn't see it as that. They simply saw it as a part of their lives. It was an inseparable part of them. They didn't worship the Odin because they read some myths or played a video game and "felt" that Odin is close to them, or some other weak reason, but because worshiping Odin was part of their lifestyle and their culture. They didn't stumble into an Odinist temple and then "testify" into the power of Odin or some other such nonsense. They worshiped Odin because he was their God as their fathers were their fathers.

If we are to be true Heathens, then that is the mentality that you must have. You cannot convert to Heathenry. You are born a Heathen if you are Germanic (and this is true for any tribal, traditional religion). There will be no special ceremony for you where you don white robes and jump in a river and declare your virginity. There will be no baptism, and no priest to guide you, and no one will care that you "convert". Once you recognize your rightful place as your ancestor's descendants, and your ancestral Gods as your Gods, then you have claimed your birthright. You are now a Heathen.

The Christians, particularly the Catholics, a religion that all Germanic people were under at one point or another, recognize this. This is where the concept of original sin comes from. The Biblical Israelites were "God's Chosen People", the Christians--mostly gentiles that converted to Christianity--had "original sin". Catholics (and other sects of Christianity) believe we, the moment we are conceived, the moment the sperm fertilizes the egg, are sinners. We are born sinners, and we must be baptized into the Catholic religion to atone for this. This is because they know we are born Pagans. We are naturally Pagans and must be "perfected" into Christians.

Sure, one can make the argument that we don't really know how the Heathen religions and practices came about in the days of pre-history. You can make the argument that European Paganism was a combined religion of Sky-Father worshiping Aryans and Earth-Mother worshiping Neolithic farmers in Europe, but there is no real proof of this, and there can't be. It's a "What-if" question. What is known and not a what-if question is that when our ancestors entered recorded history, they were Heathen, and they had a deep religious culture, rooted in tradition and rich in meaning as it was rich in mythology.

Germanic Heathenry is what came naturally to our ancestors. If you are to "convert" to Heathenism, you must let it come naturally out of you. It is there in you. Search for it and let it flourish.We are Heathens not because it's what "feels right", or at least not only so, but because it makes sense for us to be Heathen. We are our ancestors, and we follow in their footsteps, proudly and surely.

Remember and recognize that you are a Heathen. Now, you have "converted".

If you do wish to have a more formal introduction into Heathenry, here is something simple.

Get out of the city. Go into solitude, deep in the forest, the mountains, or even the desert if that's where you are. Make sure you have a clear view of the sky, preferably a scape of it. The sky is majestic in any weather and at any time. Being out in nature is the best way to do this. Though nature is around you regardless of the presence of trees, you want to be in solitude. No distractions such as car horns or other humans. Clear your mind. Focus. Now, stand erect, and firm; our Gods do not want you to grovel on your hands and knees like a slave. You are not submitting. You are not humiliating yourself. You are proud, and your ancestors are proud of you.

Stand tall. Lift your chin up. Put your chest out and your shoulders back. Keep your eyes open. Stare up at the endless sky. Marvel at its totality as your ancestors did thousands of years ago.

Now, you are to speak. Speak in confidence and with assertion. You are a man, not a slave. But you still are less than your Sky God, but neither you nor your God will openly recognize that. You are lesser to your God as you are lesser to an older, paternal figure that you admire, and look up to, but know you will never reach the same level as he. You feel less than he is, but there is never a need for you to say that to him, or for him to say that to you. Nevertheless, your respect for him is immense, and you mold yourself after him, even if its an unobtainable ideal.

That is the Sky God. Some people call him Thor. Some recognize him as Tyr. You can even talk to the Allfather instead.

Say something along these lines in your native language, and don't you dare speak in some pseudo-archaic form of your language:

Father Sky, I recognize you as my father,
Father Sky, I recognize you as my grandfather,
Father Sky, I have come home.
Father Sky, you have my oath, as your son, and as a man.

The Sky Father God for our ancestors was either Thor or Tyr, depending on which tribe and or period we are speaking about. I view Tyr as the Sky God. Call to the God that makes the most sense to you. You can even leave it at "Sky Father", or "Father Sky".

Do realize that a prayer like that is an oath. I will elaborate on oaths in this blog sometime, but for now I will say: do not take oaths lightly. Oath-breakers were viewed as the same level as thieves and liars by our forefathers. Think about it: what does a man have, aside from his word? Once a man breaks his word, he cannot be counted on. He cannot be relied on. He cannot be trusted. He now has nothing.

Now, will Thor strike you down with Mjolnir if you break an oath to him? Of course not. Are you going to be tortured in Helheim as suggested in the mythology? No. But what that makes you is a man that is not of his word. Even if no one else knows that you are an oath breaker, you yourself know, and that should be enough to cause you great shame. Furthermore, now that you are oath-conscious, the floodgates have been opened, you will not take oaths lightly, even if you don't realize it overt. One aspect of our mythology is that it was highly metaphorical. The oath-breakers suffer in Helheim because of their guilt.

Remember that next time you think about going back on your word.