Recent Posts
Recent Posts Tagged With 'polytheism'
Googling Odin
Odin seems to be better known than Máni, though there are still a couple of surprises when you Google him: #Odin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThis is the article about the chief god in North Germanic tradition; for other uses see Odin (disambig...
Kalle Runristare (the runecarver)
I came upon this site today while searching for something else on the web, and I am sharing it here because I not only thought it was very nice to see somebody carving runestones, but because the site is attractive, and because Kalle shares his recip...
Animal Sacrifice
This has already spawned a great deal of controversy. Even in principle, animal rights activists oppose it, but in polytheistic religions, blood sacrifice is the highest form of sacrifice. We are talking religious rights here. And religious rights ar...
Heathens and the Environment
I recently read James Hoggan's Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming (2009) and am about to begin Stephen H. Schneider's Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate (2009). These, and all this talk about the b...
Hammer Time!
The sign of the hammer, that is, using the hammer for ritual purposes, is widely associated with Heathen practice. Modern Heathenry even has a specific "Hammer Rite," created by Edred Thorsson (Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic 1984), and of course, ...
American Shibboleth: The New Republicanism and the Heart of Totalitarianism
It is possible to find a wide diversity of views coming from the left of the political spectrum. As we move right, diversity dries up and is replaced by sameness, by orthodoxy. It is still possible to find moderate Democrats; the moderate Republican ...
American Shibboleth: The New Republicanism and the Heart of Totalitarianism
It is possible to find a wide diversity of views coming from the left of the political spectrum. As we move right, diversity dries up and is replaced by sameness, by orthodoxy. It is still possible to find moderate Democrats; the moderate Republican ...
Why fundamentalism will fail - The Boston Globe
Why fundamentalism will fail - The Boston GlobePosted using ShareThisFTA: IN 1910, A COHORT of ultra-conservative American Protestants drew up a list of non-negotiable beliefs they insisted any genuine Christian must subscribe to. They published thes...
Why fundamentalism will fail - The Boston Globe
Why fundamentalism will fail - The Boston GlobePosted using ShareThisFTA: IN 1910, A COHORT of ultra-conservative American Protestants drew up a list of non-negotiable beliefs they insisted any genuine Christian must subscribe to. They published thes...
Poll Results (at last!)
Here (belatedly) are the results of the latest poll. The question was: "If you are a Pagan, what is your approach to Paganism? Using a model by Bil Linzie, who in turn worked from a model created by Garman Lord, we will look for answers based on “c...
Poll Results (at last!)
Here (belatedly) are the results of the latest poll. The question was: "If you are a Pagan, what is your approach to Paganism? Using a model by Bil Linzie, who in turn worked from a model created by Garman Lord, we will look for answers based on “c...
"Keeping it Real" - Old School Heathen Style
"You cannot untangle the truth from the lie without exposing the lie." - Hrafnkell HaraldssonI'm quite often told that I shouldn't be so hard on monotheism, or particularly on Christianity. "You should not talk like that," one said. "Pagans don't att...
"Keeping it Real" - Old School Heathen Style
"You cannot untangle the truth from the lie without exposing the lie." - Hrafnkell HaraldssonI'm quite often told that I shouldn't be so hard on monotheism, or particularly on Christianity. "You should not talk like that," one said. "Pagans don't att...
The Solution to the Problem of Monotheism
"Atheism is an extreme solution to the problem of monotheism."That is pretty much all I have to say about atheism, not being an atheist myself. I don't think atheism is an unexpected or surprising solution to the problem of monotheism. After all, it ...
The Solution to the Problem of Monotheism
"Atheism is an extreme solution to the problem of monotheism."That is pretty much all I have to say about atheism, not being an atheist myself. I don't think atheism is an unexpected or surprising solution to the problem of monotheism. After all, it ...
Calling on Oðinn Valfoðr
I had some strange dreams last night - one of those "wee hour of the morning" things. I don't know what they were about, exactly, because that knowledge usually fades from my mind about the instant my eyes open. But I do remember the stark terror I w...
Calling on Oðinn Valfoðr
I had some strange dreams last night - one of those "wee hour of the morning" things. I don't know what they were about, exactly, because that knowledge usually fades from my mind about the instant my eyes open. But I do remember the stark terror I w...
Letting Religion Divide
"I always felt he picked religion over me."NATHAN HALBACH, on his father, a Roman Catholic priest.This shouldn't even be an issue in religion. It's not one that ever plagued polytheistic cultures. Religion should unite people, not tear them apart, br...
Letting Religion Divide
"I always felt he picked religion over me."NATHAN HALBACH, on his father, a Roman Catholic priest.This shouldn't even be an issue in religion. It's not one that ever plagued polytheistic cultures. Religion should unite people, not tear them apart, br...
One Heathen\'s (Very) Personal Manifesto
The fall has always been a time of introspection for me. There is something about the dying of the season, of the fading of the year, the leeching of life by the coming cold, that turns my thoughts inward. Falling leaves, the mist, the cold, swirling...
One Heathen's (Very) Personal Manifesto
The fall has always been a time of introspection for me. There is something about the dying of the season, of the fading of the year, the leeching of life by the coming cold, that turns my thoughts inward. Falling leaves, the mist, the cold, swirling...
Tiw's Day Thoughts (and some violations of nature)
I went outside this weekend and watched my neighbor annihilating the trees behind his house. I do mean that literally.I had been enjoying fall immensely. As anyone who knows me knows (and I've said it here before) fall is my favorite time of year. It...
Paganism in Speculative Fiction: A Case Study
I am a big fan of S.M. Stirling’s “Emberverse” series, which is part of the “Change” series (though I do not much care for the related Nantucket subset). There are (currently) six books recording the events of the survivors (and their desce...
A TAPESTRY OF LIES
I am going to critique a review. Well, to put it more bluntly, I am going to tear it apart. The review in question, by Kate Kirkpatrick, appearing in Christianity Today's September 2009 issue, is of a book of pious fiction called:Atheist Delusions: T...
Trying to Understand Extremism
Since I have talked about moderation, making an argument for moderation and for a middle path, it since this discussion caused such controversy, I thought it best I attempt to come to grips with extremism. After all, if there are two extremes, there ...
Extremist Scholarship
I started reading archaeologist Willim G. Dever's Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, and immediately came upon some thoughts of his that touched upon the points I was trying to make here with regards to feminist sch...
Elements of Historical Paganism
And What They Mean To Us1. OutlineReligion, like individuals, should be introspective. The words of Apollo, “Know Thyself” are applicable across the landscape of human experience. Religion should look at itself and it should know what it is about...
Polytheism's Tradition of Moderation
Anyone who knows me is familiar with my belief that the middle way is best. Extremes are not only unappealing, they're unhealthy. Extremes are for fanatics and ideologues who cannot see any other way than their own. For those on the extreme, the "Oth...
Our Missing Mythology...And Why We Need to Find It
“Old myths, old gods, old heroes have never died. They are only sleeping at the bottom of our mind, waiting for our call.” - poet Stanley KunitzPeople have a great many ideas about myth: what myth is, what it means (if it means anything). It is ...
Women, Sex, and Sexuality
I was talking to a wonderfully insightful Pagan gal about women and sexuality and celibacy and that chat gave me the idea for this post. We're being torn apart as a society arguing about these things, not really because we want the fight but because ...
