#well this is a blog where I go to have opinions about heathenry

[alpine-sitte]

Maybe this needs to be said? People, please do yourself a favor and stop subconsciously treating paganism as "Christianity Lite". Seriously.

[toverijenspokerij]

Unpopular opinion about European Catholic folk magic & Research laziness in the age of information.

After reading this, if you feel triggered by it, that’s good. And instead of yelling at me for it, ask yourself why. And no it is not that I am mean, or a bully. I am not responsible for your feelings, your practice and the validation of your craft. So if you forgot that about yourself, it is not my job to remind you of that fact. If you disagree with me, fine. That’s life. You can tell me why. If you agree with me, fine. You can tell me why. Now let’s start. I've been mulling over this subject for a few months now. And please note that this isn't me saying what you can and can't do. This is me trying to make sense of a topic that has been long on my mind. Even before I delved into my own catholic background, I was interested in Voudou and Hoodoo. This was because these traditions are very interesting. And as the age old saying goes, anything you get from a far is better. And I loved the practicality that is ingrained in Hoodoo. Over time I realized that me as a white person, a white gay man have absolutely no right whatsoever to those traditions. I'm not raised in that culture, I'm not from that land, I have no business sticking my nose there. Now I'm not saying that you can't look at other cultures and traditions. The world holds a fascinating tapestry of vast magic which provides unique insights in how different cultures see that magic works, or how certain powers flow, and how to make contact with these powers. Being aware of this multitude of magic and finding it interesting is something else then doing a spiritual copy and paste. What I'm trying to say is that if you are interested in Catholic folk magic, or folk magic in general, you are best off looking in your own country and background. Especially if you are a white European practitioner. The history of Europe is one that is built on wars, slave trade and colonizing other countries. I’m not saying that as a modern day practitioners you should feel guilty, or repent. Because that helps no one and it's not constructive. What you can do is that you don't steal from closed cultures in present day. And not being a dick when you hear a no. No matter how much you like a specific spiritual working, tradition or spirits that come with it. That this relies heavily upon white privilege and racism goes without saying. I see a lot of white- EU -magical practitioners colonizing ‘Hoodoo’ workings. I’ve put Hoodoo in ‘..’ because it is not actual Hoodoo. From making washes to hot foot powder, to the more popular well-known powders and mojo-bags. And this has me wondering why? That particular wash to clean a house and to bring in good energy, can also be done with ingredients that are closer to home, that are specific to your own culture, and do not involve stealing. Perhaps if you dig a little in your national- or regional -folklore, or ask in your family, you’ll find something that does exactly what you want. Or the elements you need to make your own! Myself as a white, gay man in Europe I am not a Hoodoo doctor. Nor will I ever be. No matter how much ‘hoodoo’ I will do. Simply because I am not from that culture, I wasn't raised in it. The only thing I'll ever be if I start copying workings, is fake. And with fake I mean, empty. Just a pretty front, but nothing to fill it with. My magic will mean nothing in the eyes of my ancestors, in the eyes of my spiritual helpers, and will be largely alien to the land I live on. So all in all I've really adopted is style over substance. Looking back on my draw to these specific traditions was my love for practicality, a wish for a frame work to start from. Something that I had a hard time finding (or connect with) in heathenry and Wicca. This does not mean that those traditions are rubbish. Far from it! It just means that those structures didn’t align with the way my psyche works and how I subconsciously process, and approach magic. For me this was one of the reasons to look into my own Catholic background. It was here that I found a complete wealth of folk magic and lore that is absolutely wonderful to explore. It's not just a magic and the folklore that is satisfying, it's equally a sense of connection with my grandparents, ancestors, the land and it’s many beings. With that also comes folk art and a sense of identity that is rooted in something else then spiritual colonization, and a cultural pick and mix. Over all for me, it has resulted in a well rooted practice that incorporates a Catholic world view as well as a more pagan pragmatism and spiritualism. And then research laziness in the age of information. And no, I am not talking about google-fu. Or actually, google-fu is part of it. And before I hear ANY spluttering, Brenda, if you manage to find your fave crochet pattern, and you know how to operate on Tumblr and can find the porn that you like, you can use fucking Google like a pro. And even if you don’t watch porn, you can still know how to search for things using the internet. Keep it simple. Just look on folklore. Folk tales are usually helpful. Or look for local, or national, historical societies. Small blogs. It is all about building up a research vocabulary. Write your findings and links in a word document, or in a note-book. I found very specific words for my national folklore and lore. And it has helped me so much! A local library usually has a folklore section, or you can ask the librarian. Or type those words into Amazon! Perhaps there is a book written about it. Or Google it, and a research paper shows up. And yes. It is a lot of reading. But besides being holed up in your bedroom, reading through folklore, local legends, folk accounts and what not, you actually have a direct lead into folklore that has always been with you. Family. And yes, I know family situations can vary, or quite often be difficult, but if you can, just ask your family. I did that right away, and got no-where. This was because I didn’t have the right vocabulary. Once I had, I started to ask my parents about their childhood, and if they had ever heard word X, or name Y, or perhaps seen/heard about C, or B. And much to my own surprise, they did! And not just my parents. A word that meant nothing to my parents, turned out that my uncle did know it, and could tell me more! And I have been doing just that for the past two years. What you can find on the internet, is a lot. But to combine it with talking to people, going out and asking questions is so rewarding. I can understand how research seems daunting and hard to a lot of people. Because it is. There have been days, weeks even, that I would not touch my research. And that is ok. I needed that break, or I was just busy with life in general. Nothing in nature blooms all year is- from what I can gather -a popular and very true saying. Though it is just this, because we ourselves, as western Europeans have a meager and poor understanding of our own cultural roots, we forget that we even have them in the first place. When I started my research it took me a while to actually get some information that was useful. Or a while before I could see an underlying magical pattern in it. But once that started, it was like I had struck a well! It also made me conscious of how much folklore I actually already know. This through family sayings, customs and traditions. Even things I was taught in school! And this is the part where I have to change something; at first I thought I was lazy. And I was, to a degree. Comfortable reading pop-‘dark’-poison-path witchcraft books. But I also didn’t know that within my own background there was this magical treasury and heritage just waiting to be discovered. It wasn’t until I learned more about my own background, and actively engaged with it through spiritual work, spell work, divination, talking with my family and family-friends about it, and trance work. That I saw it as something precious. As something alive, and very dear to me. And that the living part needed nurturing. And the idea that someone would mock it, or would put on a hollowed out (per)version of it made me feel ice cold. I don’t know how racism feels. But I can imagine that seeing your culture, the love you have for the traditions and customs, being taken apart by people who know nothing about it, and only want ‘the magic’ or power, hurts like a cold knife stabbed in your chest. With that said, you have probably noticed by now that I haven’t said what my background is. As is the same for that specific vocabulary. And that is exactly how protective I feel! I don’t feel ready to share it. So conclusion: if you are interested in Catholic folk magic, do not steal from closed cultures and- or traditions. And don’t assume, just because it is Catholic, you can use/apply it to your craft. Catholicism in Italy is vastly different than Catholicism in Ireland, or Belgium. Cultural differences matter! Though this doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them. And learning from something is not saying you are learning and then you go around blatantly copying. Learning gives you a new angle, a new perspective on your own practice and forces you to take a good and hard look at it, to see beyond your own cultural lens. Or perhaps you’ll find similarities. The same happened to me with braucherei! And the other conclusion; do your homework. Good Doreen Valiente was very much right about the following: “ If you cannot find it within, you will never find it without.” The folklore of your country, the lore, those patterns, that magical heritage ís within you already. Probably very covert. Within family, sayings and customs are usually good leads. But also local folk tales. Go out and discover those and see how you can deconstruct them to find their core. A lesson on morals, or an instruction on how to free an object of witchcraft, or on how witches hexed cattle! Anyway that’s all for now from me. Hope you guys have a good day!

[rudolf-rokkr]

Heyo. I've been trying to get into more heathenry/norse paganism kinda stuff (what can I say, I love folk metal), but the one thing that's kind of been a damper on the concept for me is the concept of Hel - specifically, how (as I understand it) dying of sickness or old age is a form of cowardice and punishable by eternal torment. Being chronically ill myself, that doesn't really sit right with me. Do you have any thoughts/corrections/resources on this topic in particular?

Thanks for the question. Basically the image of Viking afterlife concepts that has entered popular culture is extremely shallow and not a good representation of what we know believe actually existed. This is a big topic so it’s easy to get lost but I’m gonna try to keep it simple without leaving too much out but feel free to follow up if it seems like I’ve missed something. It’s long so the rest is behind the break.

I’ll start with the major point I want to make and then we’ll fill in the “so what then?” after. The reason you’re disturbed by this is because it’s, at least partially, a recruitment tactic. It’s designed to tempt you to suspend your reason and even if it did apply to your personal situation you’re better off not falling for it.

I know some people find strength in the Valhöll idea and I don’t want to take that away from anyone but my uncensored opinion is that it’s for dupes. It’s full of people who wasted their lives in service to kings who didn’t give a shit about them, who used them to gain rule over them. Óðinn isn’t vetting them for bravery, he’s vetting them for certain personality traits that are bad for self-preservation but good for early proto-state-formation. That’s why it’s the afterlife we find out about from Snorri. He was a court poet, trying to piece back together a cosmology from shreds of court poetry that extolled the virtues of fearlessly taking an axe to the face in defense of your favored tyrant. Frankly, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to go to an afterlife where you have to die every day. I think this was more of a prestige factor among the living than an actual hope for the afterlife. I could be wrong though since the primary audience of such a myth would have been, like, 18-year-old kids hopped up on adrenaline, having just left the family farm for the first time in their lives, suddenly being adorned in gold and addressed by kings and making their first kills and drinking unending ale. Frat boys to whom the world is suddenly open (note that we’re mostly talking about higher class people anyway because they’re the ones who could afford weapons, so the world was already more open to them than others). Like the primary source for details about Valhöll is Vafþrúðnismál which rather likely was performed before an audience of these young, drunk warriors far from home (see Terry Gunnell for theories about performance of Eddic poetry).

So yeah, I could see them falling for this, or thinking it sounds appealing, or whatever. But at the same time I doubt anyone would have admitted out loud that killing each other all day every day for eternity would be awful (in fact it sounds a bit like the Buddhist hell Sañjīva but with good food). If it’s a real thing its full of people who can’t admit they’ve longed for Niflhel for centuries. 

That isn’t to say it can’t be a legitimate belief as well, just that this is its primary social function from the perspective of our sources. I’m sure that another motivating factor for the preservation and distribution of this belief is that those promising 18-year-olds also had families back home and maybe wives and kids and they were supposed to come home from exploiting the Karelians for the King’s tribute to take care of all this, and the pain of such a loss is made somewhat more mild by believing that these individuals have been called to the higher purpose of preserving the cosmic order. Not saying I agree, just that I get it.

(Note that in reality we have substantial evidence that the actual motivating factor for at least some “Viking” warriors wasn’t a glorious afterlife but rather they were mercenaries and maybe not even locals).

Now onto the next point. In Gylfaginning Snorri says that Óðinn decides where people go when they die and that good (siðaðir, literally more like ‘ethical’ I guess) people go to Vingólf or Gimlé (note: not the same as Valhöll; this might be where Snorri thinks good people who aren’t killed in battle go) and that bad people go first to Hel and then to Nifhel. The problem is that he’s full of shit. This isn’t corroborated anywhere. We can put the “full of shit” onus on Snorri the Christian who believed literally in an all-powerful God and Heaven and Hell, or we can put it Snorri’s depiction of Óðinn as Hárr/Jafnhárr/Þriði lying to Gylfi, but either way it’s obviously wrong and easily refuted.

For one thing there’s nothing moral about it. It’s just down to the manner of death. The greatest hero of Germanic mythology, Sigurðr Fáfnisbani, went to hel because he was killed in his sleep or stabbed in the back. And we know he went to hel because Brynhildr committed suicide in order to follow him. And according to skaldic poetry, King Hákon góði went to Valhöll despite not even being heathen because he died in glorious battle.

Grímnismál says that Freyja gets half the slain warriors; Þorgerðr Egilsdóttir (who is not a warrior) in Egils saga expresses expectation that she’ll spend the afterlife with Freyja. In Hárbarðsljóð Hárbarðr (Óðinn) makes fun of Þórr because he receives slaves into his halls rather than rulers like Óðinn does. Snorri himself tells us that Gefjun receives those who die as unmarried women which doesn’t apply to your situation but is another hole in the Valhöll/Hel paradigm. He also says that Rán (the sea-gýgr) takes those who die by drowning, which is corroborated by Eyrbyggja saga (chapter 54, when the drowned men show up to their own funeral, perpetually dripping wet).

Meanwhile, other than very specific parts of it that might be designated for people marked for obliteration from existence (this is based on lines in Vafþrúðnismál describing Niflhel as the place “whence men die out of hel,” what precisely that means is not obvious), we don’t have much reason to believe Helheimr is really so bad. Hel herself seems to thrive on death and decay and all that but I mean, it’s the world of the dead, that kind of seems to make sense and we can’t frame it according to our perspective as the living. On the other hand though, most of our evidence actually points to the world of the dead having a relatively strong sense of continuity with the world of the living. That seems to be why people were buried with their stuff – they weren’t done using it. 

Whether or not we should place Glæsisvellir or Ódáinsakr in the “world of the dead” (they get an association with Jötunheimar in some sources – it’s not clear if this is part of the Euhemerizing process where mythological places are mapped to geographical locations, or if Jötunheimar was part of the “world of the dead”) is unclear. Glæsisvellir ‘shining fields’ are a sort of “otherworld” more like what you normally see in Gaelic myth and legend that tend to show up a bit later in Norse mythology but seems to possibly play on things that show up as early as Ahmad ibn Fadlan’s description of the Rus’. It’s pretty much Valhöll for peaceful people. Ódáinsakr is a place within Glæsisvellir where there is no death and everything comes back to life. They’re usually ruled over by a very benevolent and hospitable jötunn named Guðmundr or Goðmundr (though split from the same origin, guð is used more for the Christian god and goð more for heathen ones, so calling him Goðmundr is marking him as heathen). Basically it seems to be Norse Elysium.

Finally, the afterlife that has the most support from the Íslendinga sögur, which means it’s probably the best reflection of the day-to-day beliefs of average people during the Viking age is some kind of continued existence in the landscape. The most clear description is in Eyrbyggja saga wherein it’s seen that the mountain Helgafell opens up to receive Þorsteinn þorskabítr and his companions; the mountain contained a whole hall full of people with fires burning and horns blowing and everything to welcome Þorsteinn. It was later discovered that Þorsteinn had drowned (note that this is the same saga I mentioned before where drowned sailors go to Rán).

Some scholars think that this is actually the origin of Hel and Valhöll. That they were just the continued existence of the dead, basically underground or living in rocks or other natural formations (like the elves do in Icelandic folklore). The abstraction of Hel and Valhöll from geographical location might have been part of the universalization/mobilization that some scholars propose for the development of the Óðinn cult (see: Tracing Old Norse Cosmology by Anders Andrén).

We also see a sort of double-afterlife in Helgakviða Hundingsbana II (a.k.a. Völsungakviða in forna) wherein Helgi has some kind of mobility between his burial mound and Valhöll… and then is later reincarnated.

Reincarnation pops up a couple times in Norse lore, this aforementioned poem being one of them. It actually says:

Þat var trúa í forneskju, at menn væri endrbornir, en þat er nú kölluð kerlingavilla.

‘It was a belief in heathen times that men would be reborn, but that is now called an old wives’ tale.’

It’s also implied in Flateyjarbók that Saint Ólafr is the reincarnation of an old heathen king who was worshiped as an elf in death, Ólafr Guðrøðarson (Ólafr Geirstaðaálfr). I did a post about reincarnation on my other blog that covers a lot of the same ground as this post.

Reincarnation is also a more or less fixed part of Urglaawe, a variant of modern heathenism focusing on the experience of the Pennsylvania Dutch (although these other afterlives are as well – just part of a process that ultimately results in reincarnation. To my mind such a view is perfectly compatible with everything else I’ve mentioned above).

The Wild Hunt does not factor much into Norse mythology but we have a pretty good idea that the concept was around based on its appearance in later folklore and its general wide spread across world cultures. It could possibly be related to the Valhöll afterlife concept, perhaps among a different class of people. We are pretty sure, for example, that Óðinn was popular in Denmark before Christianization and we are not able to connect him clearly to a ruling class like we are able to do with Norway (largely because of a general lack of literary sources for heathenism for that time or place). While no evidence compels us to do so, we have room for envisioning an Óðinn-centric afterlife that is not Valhöll, nor restricted to the upper classes. I mean he’s clearly a “god of the upper classes” but he’s no less a wandering hobo.

Anyway, the point so far is that there are lots of alternatives to the “Viking heaven” vs. “Viking hell” bullshit. This is probably not exhaustive and it partially conflicts. That isn’t surprising given that there is no centralized heathen authority and what we’re actually talking about is a huge variety of religious ideas that circulated differently along localities, social classes, time periods, social contexts, etc.

If we can point to something underlying all of this, it’s that there was believed to be some kind of continuity between life, manner of death, and afterlife. People dying in battle and going to Valhöll is, to my mind, an extension of this. “Those who die violently have a violent afterlife.” Whether or not that’s good will depend on the person, I’d imagine. Those who die in illness (and remember that there was a relationship between illness and trolls and elves or other unclean or vengeful spirits) may unfortunately find themselves in an afterlife characterized by fever and coughing and other unpleasant things. However the afterlife also seems negotiable, fluid, and furthermore determined at least partially by the activities of the survivors. When Ahmad ibn Fadlan attended a Rus’ funeral one of the Rus’ made fun of him because to him, the Muslim practice of burying the dead meant that the deceased would have to lie there in the ground while they decomposed, as opposed to the Rus’ who were cremated and thereby went immediately to the gods (by the way both burial and cremation happened under heathenism, so this is clear evidence of discontinuous religious belief among heathens and that we can’t call it “one” “religion.” Snorri associated burial and cremation with the cults of Freyr and Óðinn respectively in Ynglinga saga but of course he didn’t have all the archaeological evidence we do so we shouldn’t take that as necessarily true, but it’s interesting that he knew about both). We also see worship of the dead in the sources as the dead were considered to continue to have contact with the world of the living, for example by influencing crop yields and local weather patterns. Snorri’s Euhemerized history of the kings of Scandinavia exploits this to explain how the human king Freyr became a god – he was a human king who died and was worshiped as an ancestor at first before being reanalyzed as a god in the popular tradition. Though maybe not with Freyr specifically, this probably actually happened, even if more strictly localized, like in Vita Anskarii wherein it’s said that a certain King Erik was accepted by the gods as one of them when he died.

This is why I can’t help but think of Valhöll as “if you spend your life bootlicking you’ll spend death doing the same.” Indeed, even in the old sources, hierarchy in human society is replicated in Valhöll when Helgi Hundingsbani goes there and humiliates Hundingr by ordering him around.

We might also gain some insight by comparing other cultures that share beliefs in common with the pre-Christian Norse.  Though close reading of literature and comparative religion most people believe that the Norse did not believe in a single soul but rather something of a personal complex. We see this in other circumpolar cultures that also recognize things like the World Tree, ancestor worship, nature spirits, etc – that doesn’t mean we can just lift ideas from these other cultures but they do give real-life examples of how these abstract concepts can work in day-to-day life. Personally I have been very inspired by and influenced by Buryat Mongol belief and custom, especially because they themselves are often eager to share (reminder that it not being strictly “closed” does not mean that inappropriate appropriation is not possible). Buryat Mongols recognize three “souls,” each of which go their separate ways at death. One becomes a nature spirit, one which goes to the underworld and is eventually reincarnated, and another which becomes a bird on the world tree which is also eventually reincarnated (but, if I understand correctly, not along with the soul which had gone to the underworld). Among many such cultures going to the gods in the afterlife is a possibility, but a major exception to the norm. The reason I find this so interesting for this conversation is that if the Norse believed something similar, it would explain why our sources are in such conflict, how people can be going to Hel and living in the mound at the same time, how Helgi Hundingsbani can go to Valhöll and be reincarnated, etc. If you’re interested in learning more about Buryat Mongol belief try the site I already linked and also the works of anthropologist Katherine Swancutt (note that the families she stayed with had complete agency in determining what and how she would share what she learned… she talks a lot about this in Fortune and the Cursed: The Sliding Scale of Time in Mongolian Divination).

This next part is gonna be even more opinionated than what I’ve already written. I think it’s tempting to believe that people get what they deserve in death. That people who are treated unfairly in life are compensated in death and that those who were unfair themselves get their comeuppance. But to my mind heathenism lacks a mechanism for identifying or producing desert. That means it’s up to us, the living, and maybe those dead who continue to exert an influence on the world of the living, to vindicate those who were oppressed, or robbed of a good death; and to mitigate the legacy of unfairness. I do not believe that “the universe” or “wyrd” or whatever punishes wrongdoing – not because it wouldn’t be nice but because how exactly is that supposed to even happen? Do we really want to rely on gods who often act immorally themselves and use their supernatural abilities to exert their wills, to judge us? We might ask for their help, but we shouldn’t leave it in their hands. It would be great to take the burden off of ourselves but for better or worse, that’s where the burden is. This concept is a major spiritual informant to my belief in social justice, it’s (among many other things) a way to achieve a symbolic (and restorative, rather than retributive) equivalent to the social role of blood vengeance, for people who faced oppression. And what’s more, if we’re prepared to accept the possibility of reincarnation, then it actually is helping ourselves as well as our dearly departed awaiting rebirth in the underworld to make the world a better place for future generations.

Finally the last thing I want to say is that all of this is just theory. Not believing it doesn’t make you not heathen. We don’t have a Bible, there is no centralized authority, nobody living a thousand+ years ago was totally sure what happened in death – the lore we have received is just whatever models they came up with that best explained their experiences (probably especially mystical experiences of religious specialists, but still) and informed their behavior. For that matter, plenty of this shit is probably Christian speculation about what heathens believed anyway. If you have reason to believe otherwise it isn’t “un-heathen” to trust in your own ability to reason. Like, I think I did an alright job of framing my distaste for Valhöll in heathen discourse which just means it’s a productive set of religious beliefs that’s capable of autocritique. A person can’t possibly read the sagas and conclude that everyone agreed with each other all the time; variation, dissent, and creativity are generally speaking all good signs.

Hope this helps.

P.S. I know there are a lot of people who see entrance to Valhöll being granted to anyone engaging in struggle, whether physical or otherwise. I don’t agree, and if you’ve read this far you know I haven’t factored it into my understanding at all. But I don’t necessarily have a problem with it. I think it comes down to the active conception of “violence.” I do not believe that violence is strictly an act of causing physical damage to a person or object in a single event. I think that rearranging Valhöll to conform to a modern conception of violence that also includes systematic oppression is a literally incorrect way to interpret it according to Old Norse religion – but fuck it, my opinion of Valhöll is low as shit, so do whatever you want for all I care.

[mysticnaturechild]

Beginners and how to get started

Whether you come from a long family of history of witches and taught from a young age or you are the first in your family line, either way, we all have to start somewhere right? Well, I have always had an interest in pagan, Celtic, Nordic lore and when I found Wicca I was instantly hooked and intrigued. Now I am not Wiccan, but I did study it when I first started out until I figured out that was not the path for me.  I am pagan and yes I am a witch I love nature, love crystals, herbs, you name it. I have done tons of reading on various religions from Hindu to Asatru and each one has it’s own unique path that yea you may not stay on but it’s a stepping stone to where you’re supposed to be.  Having an awakening was the scariest part of it all because I shed the self I knew and was growing into the self I am now aware and heightened to a new vibration. I also realized how much I had my blinders for signs, hints, clues from the universe this is where I am supposed to be.

For a beginner, you don’t need to go out immediately and buy everything for your alter right away or spend a ton of money to practice trust me learned that the hard way… I started by reading books by Scott Cunningham yes he focuses on the Wiccan faith but his books are a great starting point for any beginner looking for knowledge, then I was turned to Silver Ravenwolf her books are also a great source of all over information. Just because some the books titles maybe geared toward a path you’re not following they have a wealth of knowledge in them. I also was lucky to find a Facebook group, but be careful there and have a wonderful witchy family that when I need help is there, and I also leaned my knowledge to others as sharing knowledge is how we all grown and learn as well. The hardest thing about starting is worrying about what if your family finds out, or your friends find out. Well no you don’t have to come out of the broom closet so to speak right away unless you’re comfortable. When my mother found out what I was she judged me, but only because she did not understand it, and still doesn’t but because most people are so stuck in there faith they become closed minded to the facts and truth. I don’t practice around her and she doesn’t ask me about it and that’s how we get along. I also don’t judge her on her faith as she leaves the subject alone with me. If your friends are your true friends they will still be your friend no matter your religious preference, and if they stop because so then they really were not a good friend, to begin with in my opinion. A lot of peoples fears about when they hear pagan, which we have been stereotyped as bad and evil for so long that breaking that cycle is hard, but believe it or not more and more are awakening to there true selves, whether you decide to follow druidism, shamanism or Heathenry aka Nordic Pagan it is all in how the new generations help change the mindset and opinions of others by teaching, love, tolerance, and not judging others along with helping those who do not understand what your path is about. I will always tell someone do not be afraid to be you because lying to yourself is the worst thing anyone can do, and it is so freeing to recognize who you are proud of it.

    So start small read, read, read yes a lot of reading but great things happen in books, take notes, and if you have questions on starting a Book Of Shadows ( journal of things you learn, spells, herbs, crystals etc..) keep it all in one place. Also, you do not have to join a coven either don’t fall into a situation that could be unhealthy or bad. Do your research on the coven, and do what feels right go with your gut feeling and intuition they will tell if something is right or not, and learn to trust those feelings.

I hope this helps clarify for anyone looking to get started on your own path , and always feel free to email the blog with any questions I am here to help as best I can or point you in the right direction.

Blessed Be )0(

  Day 17 Beginners and how to get started Whether you come from a long family of history of witches and taught from a young age or you are the first in your family line, either way, we all have to start somewhere right?

[exploringlokabrenna-blog]

Even due to those differences, we have to be careful.

Humans have a very distinct ability to see only what we want to believe or see. Molding excuses, or reasons in order to reject an idea of another. Sometimes when we see what we want, we let it go too far.

In beliefs, there is a very strong line between reality and what’s in your mind. People draw those lines at different places. The biggest part, is to be sure what you are perceiving, is not your own mind ‘declaring’ something. People get excited as they experience something, and have an extreme tendency to ‘run off with it’ building it into something more and more than it actually is.

This is a huge problem in religions like paganism, where beliefs in energies, spirits and other metaphysical sorts of things manifest and can be considered normal.

This is also exactly how people manipulate others. In paganism, you have to draw strong lines. Usually that takes being screwed over once or twice to figure out. Most people I know have had it happen at least once. It seems stupid, someone gets you to believe something, where now when you think of it, it’s like ‘what the hell was I thinking?’

It’s very easy to manipulate someone. Especially, when they are innocent and simply reaching out for knowledge. Wanting to learn how things work. A lot of people take advantage of that, either for fun, or because they actually do believe they are the next messiah, or a spiritual war is happening all around them, and they somehow are the key to ending it.

In my opinion, a real pagan, will never force anyone to believe what they do. They can guide via knowledge and experience. They never force others in their beliefs.

Along with that, in my own opinion, a spiritual guide/leader/priest/ess-  they stand as a understanding guide in a very confusing world of mixed beliefs. They encourage when their student does well, and they ‘drag back to reality’ or ‘check yourself’ when they start going in an unhealthy or delusional direction. They are people, teachers, just like ones in everyday life. They’re not there to manipulate you or to gain power or wealth through their followers. They don’t use their position as a place of utmost power, but give adoration and acknowledgement to those who deserve it.

I am sharing a post that is from my favorite heathenry blog. It’s my favorite due to the fact that the author actually really puts an intense amount of work into their posts, including providing actual citations to historical documents and studies. Along with making it clear what is their belief and what is found information. I recommend Grumpy to everyone. I won’t lie, the majority of my Norse knowledge is from his teachings. So thank you so much @grumpylokeanelder for taking the time to do all of this for people

Because of his site, when I started looking into studying Loki, etc. I actually felt like I was being taught correctly. Grumpy and others call out a lot of stupidity in the communities such as fake possession, manipulation, not using discernment, psychology, etc. These are all extremely important.

When it comes to learning anything about paganism or similar belief systems, I find this post specifically and as many as the following mentioned to be mandatory reading before delving further.

http://grumpylokeanelder.tumblr.com/post/38152545884/divine-communication-ethics-and-manipulation

https://thetwistedrope.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/discernment/

Also these

http://grumpylokeanelder.tumblr.com/post/38570351921/question-tumblr-lokean-community-feels-like-a

http://grumpylokeanelder.tumblr.com/post/46843869945/on-teaching

http://grumpylokeanelder.tumblr.com/post/45950918615/grumpy-lokeans-guide-how-to-find-articles-using

https://sexgodsrockstars.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/hearing-the-gods/

https://pixiecraft.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/in-defense-of-judgement/

http://glegrumbles.tumblr.com/post/126676320748/polytheism-while-dealing-with-mental-illness

https://thetwistedrope.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/gods-and-god-phones-101/

https://thetwistedrope.wordpress.com/kemeticism/kemetic-faq/

https://satsekhem.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/saying-no-a-guide/

http://satsekhem.tumblr.com/post/68000133048/me-so-im-officially-asking-you-to-leave-big

A list from GLE (GrumpyLokeanElder’s website) following his ethics post. I recommend finding the time to read or skim over all of them, although apparently twilight and fire is now no more L

Related links worth reading:

http://twilightandfire.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/pagan-blog-project-possession-a-rant/

http://sexgodsrockstars.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/possession-a-rant-on-a-rant/

http://twilightandfire.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/the-inequality-of-divine-commuication/

http://sexgodsrockstars.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/hearing-the-gods/

http://forestdoor.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/hearing-the-gods/

http://kenazfilan.blogspot.com/2010/09/possession-and-invocation.html

http://kenazfilan.blogspot.com/2009/07/great-bad-review-of-drawing-down.html

http://thetwistedrope.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/discernment/

http://templeoftheflea.weebly.com/1/post/2012/02/choosing-a-diviner.html

http://templeoftheflea.weebly.com/1/post/2011/09/channeling-and-spirit-attacks-read-this.html

http://templeoftheflea.weebly.com/1/post/2012/08/three-simple-rules.html

http://witchofforestgrove.com/2011/07/13/why-i-hold-back/

http://pixiecraft.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/in-defense-of-judgement/

More links

https://thetwistedrope.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/what-an-earthquake-taught-me-about-discernment/

https://sexgodsrockstars.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/hearing-the-gods/