Hamingja – The Embodiment of Luck
The Norse embodied the idea of personal luck in a spirit called a hamingja. (It’s pronounced HA-ming-yah; thanks to Alda Villiljós for the correct pronunciation!) Each person has their own hamingja following them around, and just like some people have stronger muscles than others, some people’s hamingjas are stronger than others. Nobody’s hamingja wishes them...
St. Nicholas and His “Damned” Friends: Alpine Winter Traditions
Some friends of ours are hosting a shin-dig tonight with a jocular Krampus theme. “Krampus?,” you might ask (like I did), “what on earth is that?” Krampus is a character in winter stories told to children in parts of Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. More than a character, he’s a creature, a demon — and a...
Ancestor Veneration in Practice
As I wrote a couple weeks ago, ancestor veneration is a part of many faiths, including several branches of Paganism. Anyone can set an altar up, and for a lot of people, myself included, regularly renewing our connection to the past through the practice of ancestor veneration is not only comforting, but powerful. Ancestors are there...
Forgiveness May be a Virtue Among Pagans But It Is Not a Pagan Edict
I have pondered forgiveness from a Pagan perspective for several years because holding a grudge is a family trait I have to resist. I started thinking about it again last week when I outed myself as leaving an oath unfulfilled.* I find myself in a position of having to either set things right or make...
The Power of an Oath
I consider myself a newbie to Heathenry and am trying to learn from others as I move towards Heathen practice. One way I learn from others is from email lists where like minded people (or sometimes unlike minded people) share experiences, knowledge and personal beliefs about a topic. The topic of oaths recently emerged on...
Ancestor Veneration – A World Tradition
One of the rituals I have engaged in since I became a Heathen is ancestor veneration (also called ancestor worship or ancestor reverence). Ancestor veneration (to save space I’ll call it AV in this article) is practiced around the world and has been for thousands of years in native cultures from Asia to the Americas...
Human Sacrifice Pt. 2: The Stories
Happy Dia de los Muertos! Before I get started, I do want to clarify that DdlM has NOTHING to do with human sacrifice. It’s a day to celebrate your ancestors and other people who have passed on.There is nothing violent about it. And once again I will state for any new to the realm that...
Human Sacrifice Pt 1: What Is It? Who Did It? And Why Does the Definition Matter?
It starts today: a modern Pagan’s take on religion’s sordid past of death and dismemberment in the name of a god. This post’s not so gruesome (yet!)...
Finding My Heathen Goddesses
I am a feminist. And by feminist, I mean I believe (or rather insist) men and women should be treated equally.* Equal rights. Equal pay. Equal value. And that’s that. No man-hating, bra-burning, anti-feminine business for me. *nose wrinkle and grin* That was a bad joke; those are feminist stereotypes. I recognize, though, that some...
Oh, Behave! – Wyrd, Frith, and the Social Contract
One of the most common defenses people give for religion is that it brings order to society. People look to their faith to tell them how to be good people, and because of their fear of God, Hell, or even the punishing power of priests, people choose to behave...
Defining a Heathen
As a writer, specificity in the meaning of the words we use is important to me. I think a lot of miscommunication happens because people have a different idea of what a word means, which can lead to misunderstanding and even arguments. We should know what we mean when we use a word, and our...
Group Practice in Paganism: One size does not fit all
**Don’t forget our 1st Anniversary Happy Hour is this Friday from 5-7 at Butterfly Bar! Everyone’s welcome! RSVP here.** Jax has written about group practice a few times recently. This week, she wrote about us visiting a kindred this weekend, which I am excited about, and last month she posted about the challenges of celebrating...
