A Heathen's Day | The Life and Thoughts of a Modern Day American Heathen

Posted by Hrafnkell on May 2, 2012

Odin’s Ravens!

Every Heathen worth his hammer knows Huginn (Old Norse ”thought”) and Muninn (Old Norse “mind”) and Odin’s Day seems a good day as any to bring them up. They are ravens, a bird that still inspires an air of mystery in the modern world. These particular ravens daily fly all over the world and return to Odin with up-to-date information, keeping him informed as to the facts on the...

Posted by Hrafnkell on May 1, 2012

From hlautbolli to Chocolate Bowl

We can deny the modern world or somehow accommodate it. Heathenism has changed quite a bit from the turn of the first millennium of the Common Era. This probably comes as a surprise to some very staunch traditionalists but it’s evident to many. The world – and our religion – used to be quite a bloody affair, full of death, both of animals and of men. We are informed of the configuration...

Posted by Hrafnkell on Mar 20, 2012

Welcoming Ostara

I n the long history of Pagan religion, the reclaiming our ancient beliefs and traditions will not be least of the tales to be told. Ostara (Eostre) stands out in this regard, a goddess we still celebrate but know almost nothing about. Most people remember this time of year for the Christian Easter, and it is through a Christian author, Bede, that we know of this connection. But when should we celebrate...

Posted by Hrafnkell on Mar 12, 2012

Heathens and the Culture War

A s a Heathen, I have been doing a great deal of thinking about the “culture war” being waged in America. What is a Heathen to make of all this culture-war rhetoric arising from the so-called right of the political spectrum, of culture warriors like Rick Santorum? Marriage equality is presented as religious by Republicans, anxious to keep it from being understood as a human rights issue, but so much...

Posted by Hrafnkell on Mar 12, 2012

What is Fate to a Heathen?

M ost people are likely aware, at least superficially, of the importance of fate in the Germanic worldview. Unfortunately, the concept of faith is also possibly the most often misunderstood aspect of modern Heathenism, taken to be something negative, with fate as something inescapable. This idea is reflected in the words the character Herger the Joyous is made to speak in Michael Crichton’s 13th...

Posted by Hrafnkell on Mar 5, 2012

It’s Time for the Pope And His Church to Shut Up

L ook, I don’t want to sound too medieval here myself, but the more I hear from the Catholic Church and the Pope, the more I understand the predilection of my ancestors to sack monasteries and churches. I mean, who can blame them when their lands were being overrun by zealous missionaries? If ever there was a threat to religious freedom in the medieval world, it was the Catholic Church and the Pope....

Posted by Hrafnkell on Mar 4, 2012

Rush Limbaugh’s Hypocrisy-Laden Apology

I wrote here the other day about Rush Limbaugh’s scurrilous attack on Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke, naming him Nithing of the Month. From a Heathen perspective (Rush pretends to speak from an outraged Christian perspective but who knows…could be an Oxycontin perspective), I was and remain outraged by his words and he has done nothing since to convince me that he was not sincere...

Posted by Hrafnkell on Mar 2, 2012

Rush Limbaugh: Nithing of the Month

Awhile back I came up with something I called the Nithing of the Week, a sort of anti-award for those who by their heinous words or deeds so richly deserved condemnation. Eventually, A Heathen’s Day became difficult to keep up with what with things going on in my life, heart surgery, recovery, moving and various other family-related events including my son’s Gaucher Disease and a new focus on politics...