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#inclusive heathenry
w-y-r-d · 9 months
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broomsick · 6 months
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Always remember that the world is full of magic and the Gods watch over you. Hope is hard to find in this day and age but once you get ahold of it, you must protect it, and it will protect you back.
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viking-illustrator · 10 months
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Odin protects trans rights
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Trans pride colored Mjolnir 🏳️‍⚧️
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samwisethewitch · 4 months
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What Non-Pagans Need to Know About Fiction Featuring Pagan Gods
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In light of Marvel's Loki show dropping a second season and a new Percy Jackson series on the horizon, I want to say some things about how fandom spaces can be respectful of real-life pagan religion.
Let's get one thing out of the way: literally no one is saying you can't enjoy fiction that uses pagan gods and heroes as characters. No one is saying, "Stop writing stories about our gods." In fact, many ancient cultures wrote fiction about their gods -- look at Greek theater or the Norse Eddas. The act of writing fiction about the gods is not offensive in itself.
But please remember that this is someone's religion.
The gods are not "just archetypes." Their myths are not "just stories." Their personalities are not a matter of artistic interpretation. For many pagans, the gods are very much real in a literal sense. I don't think Thor is a metaphor or a symbol -- for me, Thor is a real, autonomous spiritual being who exists outside of human perceptions of him, and who I have chosen to build a relationship with. Even if you are a hardcore atheist, I would hope you could at least be respectful of the fact that, to many modern pagans, the gods are both very real and very important.
When authors are not respectful of this fact, they reduce the gods, these very real objects of worship, to fictional characters. And here's the thing about fictional characters: they are fundamentally tools for authors to use to draw a desired emotional response from an audience.
Dracula's personality and behavior is wildly different depending on who is writing him, because different authors use Dracula to create different reactions in their audiences. In the 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi, he's equal parts alluring and disturbing, a symbol of America's mixed desire and disdain for foreigners. In Nosferatu, he's more strictly frightening and disgusting. In Francis Ford Coppola's movie, he's a tragic, romantic figure clinging to the last scraps of his humanity. In Netflix's Castlevania, he's an incredibly powerful being who has grown bitter and apathetic in his immortality. All of this is Dracula, and all of it is fine, because Dracula is not and never has been a central figure in anyone's religion.
Let's take a look at what happens when authors give this same treatment to real gods:
In Hellenic polytheism, Apollo is one of the most beloved gods, both historically and today. Apollo loves humanity, and humanity loves him back. He is the god of sunlight and of medicine, but also of poetry and song. He is one of humanity's most consistent defenders when one of the other gods gets wrathful. And while he does have dangerous or wrathful aspects of his own (he's also the god of disease, after all), he's also kind and soft with humanity in a way other gods often aren't, at least in some historic sources.
In the Lore Olympus comic series, Apollo is a villain. He's characterized as an abuser, a manipulator, and a violent man child. LO!Apollo is downright hateful, because the author wants us to hate him. Lore Olympus is a retelling of a myth about an abduction and forced marriage. Lore Olympus is also a romance. In order to get the audience to sympathize with Hades and root for his relationship with Persephone, Rachel Smythe needed to make someone else the villain. Apollo is the most obvious and extreme character assassination in Smythe's work, but several other gods (notably Demeter) also get the asshole makeover to tell the story Smythe wants to tell.
Here's where this becomes a problem: Hellenic polytheism is a fairly small religious community, while Lore Olympus is a massively popular webtoon with 1.3 billion views as of August 2023, print books available from major retailers, a TV adaptation in the works, and a very active online fandom. Rachel Smythe currently has a MUCH bigger platform than any Hellenic polytheism practitioner. Smythe and other authors are shaping how modern culture views the Hellenic gods, and that has a very real impact on their worshipers.
This means "Apollo is an abusive asshole" is becoming a popular take online, and is even creeping into pagan communities. I've personally seen people be harassed for worshiping Apollo because of it. I've seen new pagans and pagan-curious folks who totally misunderstand the roles Apollo, Hades, and Persephone play in the Hellenic pantheon because of Lore Olympus and other modern works of fiction.
There are tons of other examples of this in modern pop culture, but I'll just rattle off a few of the ones that annoy me most: Rick Riordan depicting Ares/Mars as a brutish asshole hyped up on toxic masculinity; Rick Riordan depicting Athena as a mother goddess; Marvel depicting Thor as a dumb jock; Marvel depicting Odin as a cold, uncaring father; DC depicting Ares as purely evil; whatever the fuck the Vikings TV show was trying to do with seidr; the list goes on.
All of these are examples of religious appropriation. Religious appropriation is when sacred symbols are taken out of their original religious context by outsiders, so that the original meaning is lost or changed. It requires a power imbalance -- the person taking the symbols is usually part of a dominant religious culture. In many cases, the person doing the appropriation has a much bigger platform than anyone who has the knowledge to correct them.
When Rick Rioridan or Rachel Smythe totally mischaracterizes a Greek god to tell a story, and then actual Hellenic pagans get harassed for worshiping that god, that's religious appropriation.
Religious appropriation is a real issue. This isn't just pagans being sensitive. To use an extreme example: Richard Wagner and other German Romantic authors in the 19th century used the Norse gods and other Germanic deities as symbols in their work, which was a major influence on Nazi philosophy. Without Wagner, the Nazis would not have latched onto the Norse gods as symbols of their white supremacist agenda. To this day, there are white supremacist groups who claim to worship our gods or who use our religious imagery in their hate movement. We are still reckoning with the misinterpretation of our gods popularized by Wagner and other German Romantics almost 200 years ago.
Again, no one is saying you can't enjoy fiction based on pagan mythology. But there are a few things you can do to help prevent religious appropriation in fandom spaces:
Above all else, be mindful that while this may just be a story to you, it is someone's religion.
Recognize that enjoying fiction based on our gods does not mean you know our gods. You know fictional characters with the same names as our gods, who may or may not be accurate to real-life worship.
Do not argue with or try to correct pagans when we talk about our experience of our gods.
Don't invalidate or belittle pagan worship. Again, this mostly comes down to recognizing that our religion is totally separate from your fandom. We aren't LARPing or playing pretend. Our sacred traditions are real and valid.
If you see other people in your fandom engaging in religious appropriation, point out what they are doing and why it isn't okay.
Please tag your fandom content appropriately on social media. Always tag the show, movie, book, etc. that a post is about in addition to other relevant tags. This allows pagans to block these fandom tags if we don't want to see them and prevents fandom content showing up in religious tags.
For example, if I'm posting about Athena from the Percy Jackson books, I would tag the post #athena #athenapjo #percyjackson #pjo. You get the idea.
And if fiction sparks your interest and you want to learn more about the actual worship of the gods, you can always ask! Most pagans love talking about our gods and trading book recs.
If you are writing fiction based on real mythology, talk to people who worship those gods. Ask them what a respectful portrayal would look like. If possible, include a note in your finished work reminding audiences that it is a work of fiction and not meant to accurately portray these gods.
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fairy-gothparent · 5 months
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i usually try to pair up the donation portion of my clothing sales w/ a local cause, but like the rest of the world my attention is largely on what's taking place in Palestine so... my art is too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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this design features an interpretation of stanza 127 of the Hávamál inscribed across the Scar Dragon Plaque, a Viking-age artifact found near Orkney. it's available for pre-order until 11/17 on both t-shirts and hoodies in metallic silver ink
also,
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a little under a month ago i doodled up a golden shield in the sky w/ the Palestinian flag emblazoned upon it as a representation of my hope for a ceasefire. so in addition to the 10% coming from the hoodies and t-shirts, these stickers and pins will entirely benefit the Palestine Red Crescent Society
bc when Odin said "where you see evil call it out, and give your enemies no peace," i took that to heart. none of us are free til all of us are free.
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mannazandwyrd · 8 months
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Late August and early September in the Northern Hemisphere are packed with pagan harvest celebrations dating back several millennia: “First Fruits” festivals in valleys full of orchards; “Hops Hooding” shows where girls from brewing regions wear bowers of vines; competitions where ribbons are awarded for the biggest or least-blemished fruit; processions with hobby horses and elaborately-costumed dancers; rituals involving the last sheaf of grain and the alcohol made from the first of the harvest. In the early second millennium CE, among the city-dwelling early New Heathens of a pre-sea-swell late-capitalist society disconnected from the ancient agricultural calendar, a new harvest ritual spontaneously emerged that echoed prior lavish offerings of fruits and grains to the Elder Gods. It was called “Spongecake Day”. While its origins were lost with the drowning of the great digital libraries, in this essay, I shall discuss the
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studies-in-heathenry · 11 months
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I am definitely also implicating myself when I say that heathens, especially American heathens, need to be more active in opposing racism within the heathen community. Our symbols and gods are being used as signs of hate and if we want to avoid losing the entire practice to hate groups, we need to not just say we’re anti-racist but also demonstrate it.
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spaceforestart · 3 months
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I do have plans to paint them in many more aspects of them I get to see, but for now, have a s small collection of Loki being pretty
(and I do need to create a proper version of eggplant dress one)
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poeticnorth · 9 days
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Happy Spring!
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genderwyrd - a gender or gender expression related to seið, Heathen animist religious practice, and the concept of wyrd. exclusive to people practicing (inclusive) Heathenry.
includes wyrdfluid- a fluid gender in which one's sense of gender feels different when doing trance work. subset of genderfluid.
can include wyrdflux, wyrdman, wyrdwoman, etc.
what the colors mean: red for fire pink for inclusion and affirmation of LGBTQIA identity periwinkle for ice blue for the sea dark green for Yggdrasil bright green for nature and landvaettir yellow for sunshine and joy in community brown for inclusion and affirmation of Heathens of color black for the dead
racism, transphobia, and other shitty behavior will be blocked and mocked 💖
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w-y-r-d · 9 months
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broomsick · 5 months
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It is my belief that Freyja can help you embrace your gender identity and gender expression, as well as to better understand your feelings of attraction, or lack thereof. I believe I have received great help from her in these matters throughout my life. Hail Freyja!
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tears-of-amber · 1 year
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A SHORT PRAYER TO FREYJA
She who weeps amber, She who weeps gold. May She walk with me, as my fate unfolds.
Freyja the loving, Freyja the wise, may She bless us, every sunrise.
She who is true strength, who beauty defines. May She be with us, by our sides.
-Velvet Rose
This is my prayer but feel free to reblog it and use it in your practice!
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libraryogre · 1 year
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A bit to ponder for my heathen followers:
Was Loki AMAB?
No answers, not even really any observations to make, just a point to meditate on.
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samwisethewitch · 5 months
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I am literally begging Marvel/MCU stans to tag your content appropriately.
I'm glad you got a new season of the show you like! I'm glad you love the characters! I love online fandom and I hope y'all continue to enjoy doing your thing.
But as someone who worships Thor, Loki, and other Norse deities, I would like to not be flooded with MCU content when I'm trying to connect with other people who share my religion. I've blocked the #mcu, #marvel, #marvelloki, and #lokiseason2 tags, and I'm still getting MCU content in Heathen tags.
Please use proper tagging etiquette when posting about fictional characters who share names with real religious figures.
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