fornsidramerica

[fornsidramerica]

May Freyja's fury find those who oppose bodily autonomy.

May she stand with us as we defend ourselves from the evils of tyrants and cowards.

[fornsidramerica]

Forn Sidr of America stands in firm support of bodily autonomy, healthcare privacy, and abortion rights. We will continue to maintain a safe and supportive environment for all, Heathen or not, who need support during this tumultuous time.

Read our full statement on our blog.

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Creating community goes beyond just getting a bunch of people together from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. It's only when we have a sense of belonging that we feel connected to a community. Forn Sidr is a perspective that holds belonging and community central to our successes and failures. When the future is uncertain, it's our forged connections that give us a sense of stability. In Heathenry, those connections are often begun by passing the horn.  

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#Yule Blessings from Forn Sidr of America Whether it's Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Yule, waiting for Odin or making wishes to Santa Clause; we hope that blessings of the season find all who call themselves #Heathen. #AmericanFornSidr #FornSidr #Norse #norsepagan https://www.instagram.com/p/CX1dxyjLMT1/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Yggdrasil Fest is a blend of traditional practices from our Danish lineage and Scandinavian-American May Day celebrations.

Get ready to light some May Day fires and celebrate the beginning of Summer!

Happy Yggdrasil Fest!

[fornsidramerica]

Hail Loki

Hail to the Sky-Treader Hail to the Bale-Worker’s blood brother Hail to the Friend of the Raven-God Bless and walk with us this day

[fornsidramerica]

what the fuck

[fornsidramerica]

Loki Fest brings pranks jokes, and more! Forn Sidr of America would like to wish everyone a fun (and safe!) Loki Fest! To read more about this holiday and how to celebrate check out our blog post!

We wanna hear from you!

Tell us how you celebrate the topsy turvy energy of our most complex and beloved trickster we'll share it!

Be sure to @FornSidrAmerica and tag your post #LokiFest!

[fornsidramerica]

On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day we are honored to announce the new name of our social action initiative and its mission. Please take a few moments to read our post honoring Dr. King and the associated announcement regarding the shape and direction of our action on inclusion and equity.

[fornsidramerica]

An open letter from our Chairperson in regards to ways forward following the Attack on the Capitol last week.

In regards to the attack on the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021: 

I’ve been on hiatus from Tumblr while I focus on finishing college and managing a nonprofit, but I feel called to comment on this situation and how it affects me, my religious community, and other communities that I’m a part of. 

Last week many Americans woke up to a reality where alt-right extremists are able to carry out an agenda of terror to usurp the free and democratic norms of our culture. For people such as myself, this isn’t new. As a queer Heathen, I’ve been contending with alt-right infiltration and recruitment in my communities for years. Such experiences prompted me to become a security studies major and to involve myself in community-led education on extremist methodologies for the last 4 years.

The violence carried out last Wed is the culmination of successfully coordinated efforts by the alt-right for far longer. While many of us have rolled our eyes and mocked the most radical actors as ‘NeoNazis’, we’ve been unwitting participants in minimizing the threat they posed until it was too late. They planned it this way.  They played the long game with the goal of shifting cultural norms ever closer to promoting neofascist ideologies or, at the very least, inserting ideologies of cultural purism and exclusionism into communities that might inhibit their goals. Such efforts have included infiltrating religious communities, hobby communities, and co-opting cultural norms and language.

It’s this last part that is particularly insidious and why decent well-meaning people have been ineffective thus far in inhibiting the alt-right’s momentum. We’ve seen a lot of activism in the last few years of openly calling out racist rhetoric, refusing “nazis” entry to our spaces, and making it part of our rally cries that we will not stand idle while they co-opt our communities, religions, and symbols. But while call-out language, exclusionary policies, and antagonizing the alt-right may be the most natural reactionary response -

It’s also, unfortunately, the most divisive and fulfills the alt-right’s following goals:

They keep themselves at the center of our activism which prevents us from prioritizing the people and identities they pose the greatest danger to (BIPOC, LGBTQA+, and people with disabilities).

They remain an elusive and abstract enemy that keeps us distrustful of our allies and in a reactionary state of shutting out anyone who might have begun to be sucked into their propaganda, which just helps drive their radicalization and recruitment.

They keep us focused on who and what we are against, instead of identifying our own values and identity. In this way they keep control of the narrative and prevent us unifying over anything other than our oppression, fear, and anger at them.

All of this prevents us from maintaining appropriate boundaries with racism and fascist values and replaces them with arbitrary ones. Instead of self-assessing they keep us focused on policing others. Instead of holding ourselves personally accountable for confronting our own racism, biases, and prejudices we become fixated on pointing out everyone else’s. 

While I don’t claim to have the solution to alt-right influence, it’s clear that our approach will need to be as multilayered and intentional as theirs has been. The attack on the Capitol have made the world aware of the urgency now and new voices will enter this conversation. We can’t keep promoting reactive action.

Whatever we do now, we need to start by addressing how to avoid these recurring obstacles and, most importantly, how we can prioritize BIPOC and other marginalized voices to guide the solutions.

Quinn

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Check out the article featuring Forn Sidr of America and our legal challenge to Norskk’s trademark in The Wild Hunt!

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🙌The Challenge to the ‘Forn Sidr’ Trademark Begins!

In just a week you helped us raise the $2500 of $3500 needed to file the initial challenge to the trademark application for ‘Forn Sidr.’

For those just coming in- Fragassi-Bjornson, the owner of the non-religious company Norskk (and various affiliates), has filed to trademark ‘Forn Sidr’ for commercial use in the US. His trademark will be approved unless we challenge it!

Fragassi-Bjornson has expressed his intent to use this trademark to target any Heathens that may use this term without his permission. It’s unprecedented for a commercial entity to use a trademark to target a religious faith.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Our legal representation files our challenge with the USPTO

We wait for a response from Norskk to see if he will revoke his trademark claim.

Legal representatives for both parties will gather relevant documentation to attempt to demonstrate that they have priority for their mark and then submit it to the USPTO. (This unfortunately takes time and billable legal hours).

USPTO will determine based on the documentation who’s trademark application has seniority under US trademark laws.

You can help us with this process! 💪

We still need to meet our goal of $3500 for the legal fees to defend our legal claim to this identity!

HOW TO JOIN THE FIGHT

Share and tell people about our Legal Challenge!

Share our posts across social media platforms!

Check out and share the article covering our fight in The Wild Hunt

Contribute whatever you can to help us cover our legal fees to our fundraiser. Any amount helps!

Like, comment, and share your reactions to this insanity! No, really. Increased activity on this helps our cause and exposure!

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Yes, @nordic-celt. We want to make sure that although this whole story is bizarre and pretty funny, he very well *could* succeed in doing exactly what he’s trying to do under current US Trademark laws unless we can challenge his application.

Because Forn Sidr doesn’t have the systemic protection of being a large colonizer monotheistic religion, the burden of protecting our rights lays on our community.

We are so appreciative of our community’s support; whether it’s donating, sharing our posts, or just expressing solidarity with the Heathen community.

Help the Heathen community defend their religious freedom!

Join the Heathen community in defending our religious terms from aggressive copyright and trademarking!

HEATHENS DON’T TAKE ADVERSITY LYING DOWN and we’re saying NO MORE!

We can’t do it without you!

SUPPORT THE ACTION

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Not our stuff but Spirits and Sunflowers is run by one of our amazing volunteers! If you’re looking for stickers or holiday cards, check out their gift items!

“Supporting Inclusive Heathenry” Stickers are available in my Etsy Shop now!

Let’s spread our encouragement of a compassionate and inclusive Heathen community across Midgard!

Remember, it’s with your support that I am able to share my message and continue to create. Liking and re-blogging really help!

[fornsidramerica]

Heck yeah!

yes i’m pagan, yes i got a ps4 Just to play assassin’s creed valhalla, yes we exist

[fornsidramerica]

Help the Heathen community defend their religious freedom!

Join the Heathen community in defending our religious terms from aggressive trademarking!

HEATHENS DON’T TAKE ADVERSITY LYING DOWN and we’re saying NO MORE!

We can’t do it without you!

SUPPORT THE ACTION