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Coming Out as a Heathen

Coming Out as a Heathen

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When I’m talking about “coming out,” I’m using the term as it relates to letting loved ones know that you’re a Heathen.  I can’t speak in terms of homosexuality because I am very heterosexual, but telling a loved one that I’m a Heathen was harder than you can ever imagine.  If you’re a closet heathen as I was, perhaps you will glean something useful about announcing to your family you are pagan.

Source: Magickal Graphics

A Little Background

Those who have read my posts know I was raised Roman Catholic.  In retrospect, I recognize that Roman Catholicism is closer to paganism than a lot of Christianity, but it isn’t heathenism by a long stretch. I even went to parochial school for a while, which in the long run made me less Christian as I started going beyond the fear of hell and damnation. Religion, in one form or another, is a method of control, in my not so humble opinion. While I am far from communist, I do think that Marx did hit it on the head that religion is an opiate of the masses.

So. with these beliefs, how could I possibly be a theist, let alone a heathen? As they say on the Facebook relationship status, “It’s complicated.” Tyr and Thor pretty much drove me back to the theist realm, even if at times I appear agnostic. 

Source: Magickal Graphics

Announcing my Heathenism

It took years for me to tell my husband I was a heathen. It was hard.  Very hard.  Even though he wasn’t surprised, he was puzzled why I didn’t tell him before.  It’s hard to express the feelings: worry that he’ll think I’m crazy, worried that he’ll find my beliefs too weird, and a concern about what happens next.  I should have spoken sooner, but I didn’t.  I told him the story and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.  I supplied my own condemnation.

In the end, his response was more wait and see.  Basically, he had no way to judge heathenism except through my behavior.  So, I relaxed a bit and decided I was far too anxious about it. I realized that being heathen hadn’t changed who I was.  I am who I am.  I still celebrate the secular version of holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving, but I can now add Yule and other holidays to the mix. I’m pretty toned down when it comes to religion, so that aspect is private. (Yeah, me.  Go figure.)

My response to those who say I’m going to be burning in their hell.

Some Practical Advice

If you’re a heathen who hasn’t told your family about your change, take a deep breath and think about it. Not everyone is going to have a open mind like my husband.  If, for example, you come from a Bible-belt family who is staunchly Christian, you’re probably not going to get much support from them by announcing you’re heathen. Only you can decide if it is the right thing to do, or whether they’ll ostracize you. I’d like to say it doesn’t happen, but obviously, it does. If you’re going to make the announcement, find someone in your family whom you can trust, who can also be sympathetic and helpful. If they have advice, listen. Maybe your older sister is good with you being pagan, but she knows darn well that your parents couldn’t deal with it. Maybe it’s not that important to tell them and estrange your family members.

If you don’t have a person in your family who wouldn’t be shocked by your change in religion and who can’t help you and give you good advice, ask yourself honestly what you hope to gain by letting your family know of your heathenism.  It sounds harsh, but you have to understand what you hope to gain by it.  Put aside the feelings of guilt that you inherited from Christianity and look logically at the best (and worst) outcomes. Will your family tell you that you are going to burn in hell for eternity and make your life hell on earth? Or are they more relaxed and open-minded?  Knowing where your loved ones stand is important when it comes to whether to tell them or not.

Be Yourself

Source: Magickal Graphics

If your family does accept your newfound faith, don’t weird them out.  Instead, be yourself as you have in the past. Maybe they’re curious as to what holidays you celebrate. Don’t put their religion down when you talk to them; instead, consider drawing the parallels between the two religions. One easy time to deal with is Yule. You can point out all the similarities of Yule and Christmas and your family will enjoy learning about Yule. You can incorporate whatever you and your family have celebrated in the past while still adding pagan twists. This isn’t a particularly dogmatic religion here.  Heathens have and do incorporate other traditions in our religion.

For example, I love Christmas carols. There’s no good reason for me to give them up.  My husband loves medieval music, so it’s no big deal for us to incorporate seasonal music with Christmas carols.  Yule and Christmas just means we have more feasts and more celebrations. I know of at least one heathen who celebrates Mother’s Night and secular Christmas. All good, in my opinion.

Being a Solitary Heathen

Telling or not telling may put you in the role of a solitary heathen. It can be lonely choosing that, but since you may be the only one in your family, whether you announce your heathenism or not, it’s pretty much the road you’re traveling. I would recommend seeking out other heathens in your community or online in order to have someone to talk to about it. There are plenty of heathens willing to talk to you and give advice. Want face-to-face time?  I run into heathens all the time at science fiction conventions. Yes, you will find heathens there as well as the various gatherings for pagans.

The main thing is to keep your perspective on things. I believe strongly that your beliefs are your own, and it is yours to share or keep as you see fit.  With the Internet comes groups of heathens who are willing to reach out to you as surely as the gods reached out to you.  It’s your choice to decide whether to tell or not tell your family and friends.  Just choose wisely.

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When Did the AFA Join the Westboro Baptist Church?

When Did the AFA Join the Westboro Baptist Church?

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With all the Asatru Folk Assembly crap being flung around, you’re probably wondering what The Rational Heathen has to say.  Well, if you haven’t read my posts before, now is the time.  But I digress…

Before we get started, I must point out that I didn’t mean to insult the Westboro Baptist Church…Oh fuck, who am I kidding?  I most certainly did.  In a stunt that could only be pulled by people of that kind of caliber, the Asatru Folk Assembly, has determined that straight whites who uphold what I can only consider “traditional” Christian roles are allowed in their group.  That means, my friends, that “blacks need not apply” and that LGBTs and other minorities aren’t allowed to join in their goosestepping sessions.  Hel’s bells, I don’t fit the submissive, subservient woman, so you can betcha I am most certainly not welcome.  But I may try to get in just for a laugh and to spy on them until they kick me out.

Can you imagine me on their boards?

We hates Nazis, precious.  We hates it forever!

Tolerance: We’re Not Asking Them to Get Married to a Minority

Thanks to Huginn’s Heathen Hof for this clip.

In the words of the AFA states:

“…we believe gender is not a social construct, it is a beautiful gift from the holy powers and from our ancestors. The AFA celebrates our feminine ladies, our masculine gentlemen and, above all, our beautiful white children…”[emphasis mine]

Well, okay then.  Whether or not you agree with the LGBT lifestyle, whether you believe gender is a social construct or nature, whether or not you choose to marry a person of the color of your skin,  whether you prefer powerful or demur women or men, the reality is that we must live honorably.  That means living to a moral code that honors our ancestors and our gods. We are not judged like Christians are with their god, but we ARE judged by our actions.  Were they honorable? Did they uphold the heathen codes of conduct?

People are many things in this world.  They are husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, Christians, Heathens, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, atheists, daughters, sons, soldiers, doctors, dentists, plumbers, scientists, unemployed, teachers, friends, volunteers, firefighters, EMTs…the list goes on and on.  But the first thing every person is, is a human being. Judging a person by the color of their skin is a stupid, meaningless exercise since we’re so closely related, we’re basically a bunch of inbred primates. In fact, race is a construct. Judging the person by their sexual orientation is beyond idiotic.  If you have cancer, you don’t tell the greatest cancer surgeon that you don’t want him to operate on you because he’s gay.  You don’t ask the airlines about the pilots who fly you somewhere if they are your color or if they are straight.  You don’t stop depositing money in your bank account because the teller is Muslim.  Chances are  you don’t even know those facts about those people.  You just hope the doctor is good, the pilots will get you where you need to go safely, and the teller inputs the right information.  Why is this so hard for some people?

Treat the people with respect that are trying to help you.  Treat everyone as the human beings they are and if they prove not worthy of your respect by their actions, you can modify it.  It’s that simple.

Thanks to Xan of HHH for this

The Dirty Laundry — or Toleration for Goosesteppers  

It’s no secret that Heathenry has its share of dirty laundry.  Most is in the form of white supremacists and Nazis who think that by worshiping our Northern gods, we automatically cut out other races and minorities. The truth, however, is far from what the goosestepping crowd wants people to believe. The Northern peoples didn’t care about the color of your skin. They were an inclusive group who married into other cultures and fought beside those who considered them allies, regardless of their perceived orientation.  In fact, there were “black” Vikings.  No, kids, we aren’t pure.  Deal with it.

We have plenty of folks in Heathenry who dismiss the white supremacists as not being true heathens, and because they are not part of their kindred they aren’t a problem, but the reality is that if we have one group who tolerates bigoted behavior, it casts a bad light on all of us. You might as well be called a racist or intolerant bigot, yourself. No matter what you think or believe, if the AFA insists that unless you fit their bigoted criteria, you can’t join, you can bet the public and the media are going to color us all in that light.

It’s not enough to say you are against racism, bigotry, and chauvinism.  The fact that AFA promotes those “values” is enough to make you look racist, bigoted, and chauvinistic to the rest of the world.  Because our religion has such small numbers, we can’t afford to have these people among us.

Our Stories Do Not Support the AFA Stance

My good friends at the American Asatru Association drew up this little statement that brings our
religion into perspective.  Throughout our stories, our gods and goddesses prove time and again that they don’t behave anything like what the AFA wants to see in terms of traditional gender roles.  Our gods have had interracial relationships, have changed genders, and have crossdressed.   If you need to look for goddesses who are not overly feminine, we can point to Skadi and Freyja. Any women who handle weapons are not “traditional.”

The gods have had children with Frost Giants, Humans, and even a horse.  I am not saying that I approve of incest and bestiality (I most certainly do not), but we can’t point to our religion and claim that there is a basis for exclusion when it comes to people of other ethnicities and other sexual orientations.

Heathenry Should Be Open to All, Not Just White, Heterosexual Bigots

The reality is that Heathenry should be open to all except bigots, whether they are of a different ethnic background or have ancestry from Northern peoples, whether they are gay or straight, or whether they are crossdressers or dress according to whatever custom society expects. I have often said that we need to keep our doors open to everyone, and to make Heathenry a big tent, whether or not the person is of a different skin color or ethnicity, whether they are LGBT or heterosexual, and whether they have beliefs that shift toward Wiccan and Recon. There are places for these people within Heathenry.  Opening our doors to those who are different, but are not Nazis or white supremacists, means that we allow our religion to thrive and grow.  Staying in lock step with those who would exclude them makes absolutely no sense.

At this point, I applaud those groups who have taken a stance against bigotry and chauvinism.  While I don’t necessarily agree with all their beliefs, I must say that they are awesome groups who are willing to stand up against what is obviously wrong.  To the Asatru Folk Assembly, I would say that if you insist on being bigoted and upholding false, and ultimately Christian, beliefs by insisting on being racist, misogynistic, and homophobic, then I denounce you.  You are not Heathens, even if you claim to worship our gods.

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Yeah, Well, I’m not into “Frith”

Yeah, Well, I’m not into “Frith”

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“Frith” and “Troth.”  If you hang around with Heathens and Asatruans, inevitably you hear those words.  Those silly, archaic, bizarre words.  Every time I see those words, I want to roll my eyes and sigh.  Or laugh.  Or puke.  Or something.  It’s not that I disagree with the concepts, per se, I just have a tough time with silly archaics.

And I know at least two “dead” languages.

What the Fuck is Frith and Troth?

First, I need to get the definitions out of the way to ensure the recon rabble will find something to argue or poke fun about.  So, let’s look at frith.  My understanding is that it is tied to the “inner yard” or Innangarth which makes up the kindred.  If you look it up under Wikipedia (and you recons are welcome to fix their definitions, by the way), it points out a state of peace that has to do with relationships. Frith encompasses fealty to lords as well.  Basically, it is peace that occurs to those who belong to a certain unit, let’s say “family.” But family is more like The Godfather’s family — extended and has those who must swear loyalty of some variety. When you’re offered sanctuary, that’s frith working.  Got it?

Troth is loyalty and truth.  If you look up the word in Merriam-Webster’s, you’ll see loyalty or pledged faithfulness.  Basically, it’s an archaic term for “truth” or “oath,” depending on its context.

So Why the Fuck do I Have a Problem with them?

Other than the names and usage instead of modern English, you probably are wondering what is wrong with using them today.  Glad you asked that.  I’m going to address the whole Innangarth/Utanngarth and the concept of frith (crap, I keep typing “firth” because my mind and fingers rebel against this silly word.)  Basically, the idea comes down to an early form of feudalism that we got away from a long time ago. 

Frithering Heights

Let’s talk frith.  Back in the olden days, you had to have scores of relatives, friends, and whomever else in your Inner-yard because, quite frankly, the world was a dangerous place (it’s still dangerous, but not quite that level in Western societies) and if you didn’t have allies close at hand, you had everything taken from you by force.  Warfare was common back then, and it was the equivalent of living in street gangs, but without police to really turn to.  It’s no surprise that I likened the Inner-yard to the Mafia in the Godfather.  Hels Bells, where do you think the Sicilians learned this behavior?  Try the Norse and the Normans. There’s a reason why there are red and blond Sicilians.

“But Tyra,” you say, “we’re using frith to mean a safe space for our family and friends.”  I would argue that that’s fine, but be aware it is much different than the historical frithering something or other.  Yes, it can evolve over time — I’m not as pedantic as some — but change the term.  Tell us what it is.  “Safety,” “Safe space,” or whatever.  You’re using an anachronistic word here.

Frith, like many things, is conceptually an attractive idea, but in the end really offers a lot up for abuse of power.  People swear fealty to that particular lord and support him.  Peace (lack of warfare) occurs between members, though there are always disagreements.  Basically, you trade your loyalty for protection.  Feudalism, to sum it up succinctly. 

I grew up in a Frith-type household.  It sucked.  Not because of any physical abuse (although I could make the case for verbal abuse), but because there were things you never went to the Utanngarth over.  And quite honestly, there should have been more Outer-Yard interaction.  There were too many “secrets” that shouldn’t have been, and too many issues that later on caused problems that could have been addressed early on and avoided.

By the way, the Heathens of old weren’t the only ones who had the concept of Inner/Outer-Yard.  That concept is alive and well with the Japanese and other Asian ethnicities. In fact, the Japanese have one set of words for family members that are only used among family members versus a more formal set of words for “outsiders.” In many ways, Heathen culture mimics Japanese culture and Shinto: concept of inner/outer yard, ancestor worship, local kami/wight worship, female sun goddess, highly ritualized ceremonies with drink, warrior class which required fealty for protection, thegns/daimyo…I could go on and on.

I can see Frith being used as an excuse to hide addictions, sexual abuse, law breaking, and other terrible things, because it’s all too easy to insist on loyalty for “protection.”  Look at how feudalism was abused.  Look, our ancestors thought it sucked enough to get rid of it.  Now, I can hear the recons arguing with me on this.  Guess what?  I don’t give a shit.  The fact that it CAN be abused, suggests it WILL be abused.  Power, my friend, corrupts.

What About Troth?

Being a follower of Tyr, I do have some thoughts about Troth. You may guess by my crazy blog posts I tend to be a little on the brutally honest side.  Being honest and forthright is best, In My Not So Humble Opinion (IMNSHO), but I am quick to avoid oaths.  Oaths are solemn things, and yes, the gods will hold you accountable to them. So, swearing loyalty, except maybe in marriage, scares the bejesus (heh!) out of me.  Fail that oath, and you’re dealing with an ugly situation both here and in the afterlife, such as it may be.  Plus pledging Troth to anyone in terms of fealty, takes us right into the (not so) good-old-days of feudalism.

So, Where does that Leave us?

By now, I can feel all the recon rage.  Look, I really don’t care if you frither and troth all you want. I get the concepts, and I get you want to go back to the Bad Old Days.  Or maybe you think you can do a better job incorporating them into your family, kith and kin. Far be it from me to tell you how to live your life, as long as it doesn’t affect me. I’m not saying don’t respect your elders, and don’t respect your family, but families aren’t perfect, and no matter how much you’d like your Hof, Kindred, or whatever you call your group to be, to be perfect, it isn’t going to be that way.

I’d argue too that our Inner-Yard versus Outer-Yard has grown substantially. One could make the argument that our Inner-Yard encompasses our community, our state, or even our nation.  I haven’t gone so far as to say it encompasses our world, but maybe if we discover other life forms, that might be a real possibility.  (Someday, I’m going to write something about if Thor is on other planets, but this post is long enough.)

Anyway, use frith and troth around me, and I’ll laugh.  If for the silliness of the words, if nothing else.

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The Gods are Not Your Bitches

The Gods are Not Your Bitches

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It’s nice to see someone in the pagan community agree with me, even though they said it nicer than I did.  The gods, whether you think of them as people or metaphors, don’t necessarily jump when you ask them to jump.  They don’t necessarily do things because you whined at them.  And they certainly aren’t our bitches who show up because we called to them.

Connecting with Gods

Connecting with the gods is a personal thing, In My Not So Humble Opinion (IMNSHO), and each connection is as different as it is for each individual to be different.  How you related to one god isn’t necessarily how I relate to him.  I think it has to do with who we are and how we got to this point. Tyr, for example, doesn’t really pop in, raid the refrigerator, and open up a bottle of mead on the counter at my house.   If he does at your house, please tell me.  I’d be mighty curious about that.  I’d be surprised.  (Now, if it were Loki, I’d expect that.) Some folks claim to have real life experiences.  I’ve only had one, and that made me question my sanity.  (Meeting Odin on the street — seriously.)

It’s not my place to tell you how to connect with gods, but I might offer some advice: They aren’t your bitches, and most aren’t interested in you unless you bring something to the table.  Occasionally, a few of us hear the call and say “what the fuck?” That happened to me, but I realize that having such experiences can be uncommon, not the rule when it comes to the gods.

My Own (Limited) Experience

I think the gods tend to be a bit more mindful about our pasts when we “connect” with them. As a follower of Tyr, he’s my main go-to god for just about everything.  That being said, sometimes I realize that other gods are more suitable to my petitions, but I really don’t know them that well.

Tyr knows I have a lot of baggage from religion and childhood. If I have a fault, it is I lean pretty heavily on him from time to time. It’s mostly just moral support, but occasionally it’s a “I need this” kind of request.  Yeah, it comes from growing up Roman Catholic and being shoved into the “pray to god to help you” mentality.  Realistically, I know that Tyr is not the god for that sort of thing, but when I have shit raining down, he gets an earful.  Because I look at him like a friend.  Sometimes I just get a sympathetic ear and not much more. Sometimes I get help.  Sometimes another god pops into my life because he or she is better at helping me.  If anything, I now have five gods/goddesses that I offer blots and talk to.

That’s how I relate to the gods.  I wasn’t looking to go back to being a theist, so I kind of have the opinion that because they found me, they knew what kind of package they were picking up.  Lately, when I bemoaned not being able to talk to the wights with someone who actually does a fair amount of work with them, I learned some things and actually got some positive things happen.  Okay, so I’m a bit agnostic on them still, but they’re included.  And I get a more positive feeling from them.

Why We Demand Help

I often talk about Christianity, mainly because I can’t get away from my Christian upbringing.  If you were raised Heathen, Pagan, or with another religion that wasn’t derived from the Abrahamic religions, you probably don’t have the same reliance that many who have left those faiths have to their gods. We’ve been spoon fed a pack of lies since we could understand words. It’s not our parents’ faults, per se, they’ve been as brainwashed as we have since their childhood. There’s a good reason for them to teach us Christianity’s teachings, too. The fear of their hell and eternal torment makes even the toughest guy in the room quake.

So, we’re taught very early on that god will provide. That god will care for us. That everything will work out to god’s plan.  And when stuff goes our way, we praise god.  When shit happens — and it does happen to good people, and even the best followers of the Christian god — we tell ourselves that it was god’s plan, or maybe they weren’t really that good.  Because a kind and just god wouldn’t allow that to happen, would he?

So, we beg for good things to happen to us.  That we get that raise, get accepted to that school, get a job, find a significant other, heal someone or ourselves, or win the lottery. The reality is that unless we get off our butts and do something, it’s unlikely we’re going to see positive results.  That’s where that old saying “god helps those who help themselves” most likely got started.  Well, whether you should maybe claim it as a god’s victory is questionable.  I’d argue that every victory is your own, and if the gods help you out, you should be thankful for their aid, but you’re the one who really made it happen.

The Gods are Not Our Bitches

If we look at the gods as strictly archetypes or metaphors for the universe that surrounds us, we can pretty much deduce they don’t need us, although we’re already heavily reliant on them.  We rely on Sif and Freyr for growing things, Thor for our thunderstorms (i.e. rain), Sunna for our light, Mani for more than just a shining orb above us at night, but may have had to do with actual life, Tyr for our laws, both human made and natural, Odin for our creation, and so forth.  My point is we rely on them for a lot already, so calling them down to aid us, especially when we have no rapport with them, seems a little self centered.  If we consider them entities, so much more so.

If you have a relationship with a god or gods, chances are you already know your boundaries. If you’re looking for help and you only have relationship with one or two gods, maybe they’re the first should hear your plea and then see what they say.  Other gods most likely need some type of introduction and probably a pretty decent relationship before one can ask for things from them.

When we understand that they’re entities (or at least metaphors) with their own agendas, we can see that our gods aren’t the Christian vending machine that our society has come to expect.

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Is There Such a Thing as Good and Evil in Heathen Belief? (Part Two)

Is There Such a Thing as Good and Evil in Heathen Belief? (Part Two)

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The previous week, I talked about good and evil in folk tales, which is a window into our pagan past. Now, I’m going to address the concept of good and evil as it pertains to the heathen gods, jotnar, and wights.  It’s not as far fetched as many people will make us believe.

Let’s Get Christianity Out of the Way First

Before I start, I’m going to have to address Christianity, the 800-pound gorilla in the room.

Christianity and other Abrahamic religions have a bunch of rules that you have to follow in order to reach heaven.  Depending on your form of Christianity, it is belief based, but it is often rule based too.  In Catholicism which I grew up in, it wasn’t enough to believe in Christ to be saved.  You also had to not sin. God kept a running tally of sins on you, both mortal and venial. Mortal sins were those sins that sent you straight to the Christian hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Venial sins were considered minor (telling white lies, not listening to your parents, etc) and you wound up in a cheery place called purgatory to spend your time until god thought you suffered long enough to go to heaven or until the second coming of Christ.

Good and evil in Christianity and other Abrahamic religions is defined by a moral code given by their god. They define evil as rebelling or turning away from their god. Evil is not defined as the act, but rather what the god says it is.  So, for example, eating meat (but somehow fish and seafood are not meat) on Fridays during lent is a sin, even though eating meat is not a sin.  Murder is wrong, but taking your homeland away from Canaanites and putting everyone to the sword is okay, even though they did nothing wrong because your god said it was okay.  In the end, evil is looked at as rebellion against their god (hence the reason Satan is evil).  You figure that four of the ten commandments has to do with their god and not rules to live by and get along with each other.

Heathenry is not Christianity and the concept of tallying every little mistake we make in life and paying for it for eternity is ludicrous at best. In the Abrahamic religions, list of potential sins easily outweigh what isn’t a sin, and quite frankly there’s no way you can ever get to heaven with that laundry list. Some of the sins ban things in human nature such as sexual acts, masturbation, swearing, and even challenging your parents when you’re a teenager. Some are just plain made up so it forces you to become indoctrinated. You can go straight to hell for not attending church on Sundays, for example.

Oh Hell

It’s funny because the concept of hell is relatively new and is not part of Old Testament scripture. The Jewish people believed in sheol which is much like our Helheim, which was simply a place for the dead. Even the word, Gehenna, was used to suggest an underworld and not hell.

We see the word Gehenna used thirteen times in the New Testament which was actually a place outside of Jerusalem where they burned their garbage and unclean bodies. We can safely assume this is the Christian hell because it is a “unquenchable fire.”  Still, we know that the earliest part of the New Testament was written by Paul around 50 CE (Common Era) or 50 AD (Anno Domini), if you use the old nomenclature. The Gospel of Matthew, which is the oldest Gospel, is thought to have been written around 80 to 90 CE, some 50+ years after Jesus supposedly died. For the sake of argument, scholars accept the range of 70 to 110 CE for when it might have been penned. We know that there was a fair amount of Greek and Roman influence in early Christianity.  It would not be surprising if they adopted Tartarus from the Greeks. More on this later.

Thoughts on Heathenry Hell

As heathens, we don’t believe in sin, but we clearly can see both good and evil deeds. Our judgment of what is good and what is evil can sometimes be in flux, given the situation, but I would propose that there are rules to this and they’re not as flexible as you might think. The other side of the coin is that we do have a type of hell for the really bad people.  That is Náströnd where Níðhöggr chews on the corpses of the evil doers: the oath breakers, the adulterers, and the murderers. You might point at that and say that this is from Christianity, but I don’t think so. Other religions with afterlifes often have some sort of place for punishing those who offend the gods. The ancient Egyptians had a place of punishment for the wicked in the cult of Osiris, Buddhism has an afterlife which has much suffering (although you don’t stay there for eternity), and Naraka in Asian cultures. So, enough religions do seem to have concepts of a place of punishment, even if some don’t.

Let’s look at the classic Greeks’ (and ultimately the Romans’) ideas of the underworld.  They’re remarkably like ours with some differences. The Greeks had Hades, the place of where the dead resided similar to Helheim. They also had their own version of hell called Tartarus which is where evildoers went, those who ticked off the gods went, and was the place where the Greek version of the Jotnar resided.  Those Jotnar were called Titans who were overthrown by Zeus and the Greek gods. Our Helheim is guarded by Garm; the gates of the classic Greek underworld are guarded by a magical hound, Kerberos. You cross a river to get to the underworld: the Greeks required Charon; the Norse figured someone could have built a bridge.

I bring this up because there’s enough similarity between the two afterlifes to point at them and say at one time, our common knowledge fuels our collective unconscious. I suspect it is because we pretty much came from one set of humans that didn’t go extinct when the universe was trying to end us in some fashion.  Our stories changed over time, but they’re still recognizable, to the point where Tacitus was calling Thor the name of Jupiter and Tyr the name of Mars, when explaining the religion of the Germanic tribes.

Good and Evil with the Gods and Jotnar

So, if we look at the Aesir, Vanir, and Jotnar, we get an idea of what is good and what is evil. I would argue that what makes an Aesir and not a Jotnar is their attitude toward humans.  We can look at our gods and point to their Jotnar roots.  Some of the Aesir were even considered Jotnar until they were accepted into the Aesir clan.  I’m think Skadi, in particular.

Jotnar, by their very nature, do not care about humans. They are, in many cases, natural forces, including forces of chaos. In some cases, the Jotnar may be outright antagonistic to humans. They’re given some pretty nasty names such as “Evil Striker” and “She who brings grief” — not the kind of names you’d associate with helpful critters.  One may be able to make the case for Loki not being fully Jotnar in nature because he doesn’t always do evil.  He may cause trouble, being the trickster that he is, but until he causes Baldur’s death, he’s more just a pest and not necessarily an evil god.

So, a heathen should probably look at that which hurts people as being evil, as opposed to that which has the interests of humans at heart.  “But wait!” you say, “Even the gods have harmed people.” Yup.  You’re right.  And that is what we consider evil acts, even if the god can be considered mostly good.

Ethics of Reciprocity

So, I’m going back to the old ethics of reciprocity rule I’ve mentioned in my post Are the Gods

People? Sometimes called “The Golden Rule” in Christianity, this rule shows up time and time again in other religions that have had nothing to do with the white Christ. Whether you believe it is ordained by some deity, or whether you think it is some in our nature, I think it likely that this rule — and this rule alone — governs our existence.  Whether you want to follow the Nine Noble Virtues,  the Havamal, or some other rule book, if it isn’t some weird text, chances are it is based on the ethics of reciprocity.

Good and Evil in the Myths

Let’s take a look at the creation myth in some detail. To quote:

Ymir was a frost-giant, but not a god, and eventually he turned to evil.

Well, okay then.  We can point to Snorri Sturluson’s Christianity as a reason for this value judgment, but I have my doubts.  More on this:

After a struggle between the giant and the young gods, Bor’s three sons killed Ymir. So much blood flowed from his wounds that all the frost-giants were drowned but one, who survived only by building an ark for himself and his family. Bor’s sons dragged Ymir’s immense body to the center of Ginnungagap, and from him they made the earth. Ymir’s blood became the sea, his bones became the rocks and crags, and his hair became the trees. Bor’s sons took Ymir’s skull and with it made the sky. In it they fixed sparks and molten slag from Muspell to make the stars, and other sparks they set to move in paths just below the sky. They threw Ymir’s brains into the sky and made the clouds. The earth is a disk, and they set up Ymir’s eyelashes to keep the giants at the edges of that disk.

The reason Ymir is judged evil is because he fought with the young gods.  About what and why, we don’t know.  And that is often the problems with losing so much of our stories. We don’t know why he is evil, only that he is.  Which means people understood the concept of good and evil right there. We don’t have to ask why Ymir is evil.  He is evil because he is. It may be because he is not of the gods and therefore against them.

As an aside, you’ll note the flood story in the middle of this.  Interestingly enough, it is a Jotnar family that survives and not humans (who haven’t been created yet) or gods (who are apparently elsewhere).  I can’t say whether this is a Snorri Sturluson’s nod to the Noah story or whether this is really a flood story of our own.  Given that most cultures seem to have flood stories in their mythos, it’s conceivable that we had it too.

So, What Have I Decided?

It’s hard to completely get away from the concept of good and evil in Heathenry. I think that is because we do have a concept of good and evil, albeit not the same list of rules that the Abrahamic religions have. I suspect that people who follow the Northern religions do so because there is a sense of honor in them, and a lack of cookbook salvation. In the end, we go to Helheim, Valhalla, Fólkvangr, or one of the other gods halls. None of them are bad save Náströnd where the really evil people go.

I think living honorably is probably the best in determining whether we act good or evil. We can look at acts and say “this is good” or “this is evil” by looking at the amount of harm done to someone. A white lie might be a Christian sin, but we can look to see what the intent and the outcome is. If it causes positive things to happen, then how can it be a bad thing? Telling a loved one they look awesome, when maybe they just look cleaned up, is an exaggeration, but if it causes them to take care of themselves more or think more positively of themselves, we can’t consider that a wrong thing. While the ends do not justify the means, we can consider each action and what harm it will cause, if any, to guide us.

Again, if you act honorably, I believe no god or goddess will find fault with you.

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Intelligent Design and the Heathen

Intelligent Design and the Heathen

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Now it’s time to me go after the Intelligent Design folk.  Because basically, it annoys me.

The Set Up — Or Why I’ve Gone Off on a Rant Today…

A friend of mine on Facebook actually posted the gravity waves from two black holes swallowing each other up some billion years ago were translated into sound as C major was proof of the Christian god and also proof of intelligent design.  I almost made some sort of snide comment such as “Odin did an okay job, but if he really wanted to get our attention it should’ve belted out Beethoven’s 5th…”  But I didn’t, mainly because I still value the friendship enough to not be my normally snide self.   But I probably dinged the relationship a bit by calling bullshit.  Yeah, that just happens if you know me.

Proof of Intelligent Design?  Seriously?

Uh, does anyone really think that gravity waves making a “sound” is proof of a god, let alone the Christian god?  I guess being an engineer too long has jaded me to the thought that there is some intelligent design going on here.
Apart from the great scientific discovery of gravity waves that were theorized by Albert Einstein, which lends credence to a whole bunch of scientific theories, it doesn’t do anything to prove or disprove a god. You and I could argue the case of who created the cosmos and what portion at what time, but the simple translation of gravity waves to sound waves isn’t really much proof.  It proves that some electrical engineer, rightly or wrongly, when they hooked their machines up to the detector and decided to have it make a noise, came up with a scale for it to blip at.  C major was just the note it was programmed to chirp.  If it came up with a D or an A major, would it have been any less than a miracle?

This is what happens when you throw an engineer to look at what actually happened. I don’t pretend to be a physics geek (I have plenty of friends who are), but I do know that gravity waves and sound waves are different animals.  And you can’t hear sound in space because it’s a vacuum. At some point, somebody has to map what the gravity wave means in a way that people can understand them.  That would be like having a human look at the sun and call it “sun,” and then claim because the word “sun” means the bright thing up in the sky it means that a god created it.  Yes, you can believe Sunna is the sun, but to state that something humans used to define it means that there is a god is ludicrous at best.  Incidentally, my friend changed her post when I called her on it.

Faith Isn’t Facts

Sorry, kids, but just because you believe something that someone wrote down some umpty-ump years ago doesn’t make it fact. If we had long ago figured out that our sun was actually a star, we might have named her Stella.  But the name is a human construct. Sunna, Sol, or Stella or whatever you want to call our closest star doesn’t matter–because it’s a human construct designed for us to have a reference for that big bright thing up in the sky that causes it to be daytime here.  We needed a name so that we didn’t keep calling it “that big bright thing up in the sky that causes it to be daytime here.” Now, if you actually had a meeting with Sunna (and didn’t get burnt to a crisp) and had a UPG, assuming I didn’t think you’re psychotic, chances are you might actually have something that might be worth believing.  But it still isn’t facts.  You can choose to accept that the sun is a goddess (lots of people worship her, so why not?), but that’s faith and not science. Don’t expect me to take your word for it.

Odin Creating the World

So what about the Norse creation stories?  I personally believe that these are metaphors for how our ancestors explained the world. Some people might quibble that our creation stories are more accurate than bible stories.  Okay, they might be.  They might not be.  But I doubt seriously there was a gigantic cow licking the brine off a giant.  I doubt Odin and his brothers slew Ymir and created the world with Ymir’s body.  But I can kind of look at how things get recycled over time and wonder if there’s a metaphor there. We know our sun is at least a second or third generation star because of the heavier elements within it. We also know that the earth coalesced from debris that got pulled in due to the sun’s gravity but didn’t go into making the sun. So, is this Ymir’s “bones?”  Yeah, it has to leave you wondering.  More likely, we’re looking at these stories with the knowledge we have now and we’re trying to fit them all in the paradigm science created. Still, if you’re going to believe ancient writings, the Norse creation myths are certainly much more fun.

Did Odin create the Universe as we know it? We already know that in myth the constructs of the universe, the backbone, if you care to use that term, was already in existence, called the World Tree.  While our own home may have been created by Odin, there’s a big question mark when it comes to nine worlds. Then, there’s the issue of the Norns and the Wyrd. We know according to myth that there is a very cold, cloudy realm and a fire realm, from which Odin and his bros created the world. Who created that?  Why was it always in existence?  Where did the cow come from?

So What Exactly IS the Rational Heathen? 

So, now the fun part: trying to explain my beliefs and how the gods fit in.  I’ve already explained I think that the gods are more metaphors than physical beings. That they are constructs we use to wrap our brains around what the universe is doing. They are part of the universe as much as we are.  I suspect Odin encompasses creative energy, whether it’s the formation of the solar system and the earth, or whether it’s a book you just finished. He’s good and bad creative energy.  Tyr is laws, whether it is physical laws or laws created by humans.  Thor is the god of thunder, but also the protector of humans.  He is the one who keeps the frost giants in check.  Freyr and Freyja are more “personal” yet, with life, growth, and yes, sexuality. Frigga is the goddess of the home. Skadi and Ullr, the goddess and god of winter and the hunt. The frost giants are the embodiment of those things that harm humans. Loki is the god of chaos, including creative chaos.  I look at him as a god that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but often causes trouble, whether intended or not.

My point is that it’s okay to believe in the gods as long as you have a firm understanding what science

is, and that science doesn’t prove faith. Science proves facts. Faith is a belief in something which often cannot be proven. Science cannot prove a negative, although it can point out the probability of the thing not happening. That’s why many scientists are at least agnostic, if not atheists. It’s hard to believe in a god or gods when you just can’t measure them or use the scientific method to study them.  That’s why I often call myself an agnostic heathen, or even a heathen deist, although I’m pretty sure that Tyr and a number of the other gods do indeed exist. But their forms often aren’t forms we normally consider gods, but everyday things. How often have you looked and saw ravens and thought about Odin? How often have you seen lightning and thought about Thor? These are how the gods relate to us day-to-day. And that, my friends, is the magic.

So, when we look at scientific discoveries, no matter what faith we are, it’s great to marvel at the universe and even think about the god or gods that made it happen.  But don’t point at the natural phenomena as proof your god exists.  Or my gods exist.  That’s just silly, and you need to step back and think about what you believe and whether you’re comfortable with your belief, even if you have no scientific proof that your belief is fact.

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Some Recommendations to Those Starting Out in Heathenry

Some Recommendations to Those Starting Out in Heathenry

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I had a nice chat with a young man who has felt the pull of heathenry.  He’s an interesting person who isn’t of the traditional northern ethnicity and some things I said on this blog he felt that he could relate to.  I heard this from another reader, which suggests maybe the gods are looking for some folks with a little more brains–who are willing to question things and apply logic and deductive reasoning to it as well.

I Don’t Have All the Answers

I’ll be the first person to say that I don’t have all the answers, but I do know where I can at least find answers to questions to the best of my ability.  I am not the only person who has talked to the gods (I’m feeling kinda like I’m a crazy person here) — in fact, I’m really not that special and don’t hold long conversations with them.  I’m sure you could find someone who claims they have been skin-ridden (Xians call it “possessed,” but it encompasses different degrees), practice seidr,or who has studied all the Eddas all the time.  So, I’m not the one who has this shit completely wired.  But, I do try to use logic and reason here.

Science and How It Fits In with Heathenry

Understand that science is the way we investigate the world. It isn’t a belief system, which is what religion is. Our ancestors have a common heritage, whether we are northern European, southern European, Asian, or African, because humans nearly went extinct at least twice that scientists can figure out. So, in the past, we were all pretty much fighting for our survival, and also sharing a similar culture. We needed to understand how and why things happened, and whether inspired by the gods or not, we came up with explanations that our limited understanding of the cosmos could explain.

Oral Traditions and Written Works

So, our stories from our ancestors were first told in the oral tradition and then retold over time. These eventually became our myths and legends — even the ones about the northern gods. There are similarities in many of the gods — the Celts, Polish, Norse, German, and Saxons all had similar gods. Some had the same names; some did not.

But something interesting happened when those stories got written down. Many were written by historians and monks in a society that had been converted to Christianity and had been Christian for at least 100 to 200 or more years. It is natural that they would interject Christian thought into the stories, so you have to use your brain to decipher what is heathen versus what is Christian. And sometimes, it’s not clear.

Think of the stories as metaphors for the universe and the world. Think of the gods as forces that can be expressed through the laws of physics. That means that we see the gods in everyday things: the storms and lightning as Thor; the fire as Loki, laws of the universe as Tyr, etc. 

Using Science to Decipher Our Heritage

That being said, we can look at what archaeology has discovered and what geneticists and other scientists have discovered or what new theories they might have. We can then figure out what our ancestors may have known. We already know that some stories, especially fairy tales, go back thousands of years.

What About Magic and Gods Talking to Us?

I’m really not convinced magic exists.  But at the same time, there are things within my life that defy explanation. My connection with animals.  Dreams that sometimes come true and my ability to know about things before they happen (never the winning powerball numbers!). And yes, my occasional conversations with gods. I’m more likely to try to come up with some other rational explanation.  But just because we don’t understand the mechanism involved at this point doesn’t mean there isn’t a scientific reason it works the way it does.  Am I talking to the gods?  If I’m dealing with a metaphor for things, maybe they’re just in my mind.  Or maybe I am talking to them. Who knows?
If I am wrong and I’m a crazy woman, well, at least I’m sticking to science when it comes to choices. I figure that if a god is telling me to do crazy shit, then I’m probably crazy.  Logical, intelligent choices make more sense.  And my gods agree with me, so I’m good with that.

Some Interesting Resources for New Heathens

I was asked point blank what I will recommend when it comes to heathenry.  Here are my recommendations:

This is not a perfect nor exhaustive list.  Just some areas to poke around.  Maybe you’ll find something you like there.

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