Spirit Writer

First of Sunwait, a meditation on Fehu with a surprise appearance by Ansuz. Sunwait is a newish tradition some Heathens are following that welcomes the season of Yule. It begins six weeks prior to Yule and focuses on meditations of the first six letters of the Futhark, one per week. Thursdays have been a popular day to do this, with that day being holy to many of us.  I've chosen Sunday because that's my most relaxed day, and I can focus more fully on the rune during the day and evening.  It's so new though that nothing is set in stone. From my understanding, this originates from this FB user (though don't quote me on that): Vantjusstaken .  You can find more info at Huginn's Heathen Hof .  Its roots are I believe from the advent tradition (again, don't quote me).  I grew up Protestant, so I didn't have this tradition, but my evangelical grandmother had another one.  We would make a chain of construction paper loops for every day in December up until Christm

This will take me days to get through, but after listening for only several minutes I can tell it will be well worth it.   "The long process of reclaiming pride in having many gods reaches a new stage with this gathering."  ~ Dr. Edward P. Butler  

Helping hands. Credit: GDJ/Pixabay If you're an Amazon shopper, you can easily donate to a pagan organization you care about with qualifying purchases. I am an Amazon affiliate, but this isn't an affiliate post. The AmazonSmile program allows you to designate the charity of your choice among their program member charities to receive 0.5% from your eligible purchases. What is eligible is explained on the AmazonSmile program About page : "Tens of millions of products on AmazonSmile are eligible for donations. You will see eligible products marked “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation” on their product detail pages. Recurring Subscribe-and-Save purchases and subscription renewals are not currently eligible." I've seen pagan organizations such as Circle Sanctuary, ADF, and The Troth listed among the options. There may be others, so be sure to search through the list for pagan or another charity that's close to your heart. Check out the sign-up page to learn how to g

I recently did a quick review for a short but info-packed book at Goodreads. Looking for the Lost Gods of England by Kathleen Herbert My rating: 5 of 5 stars An excellent little book that is actually a transcript of a lecture given by the author. Small but packed full of info on the given topic of Anglo-Saxon pagan belief and practices that can be gleaned from the sources she cited. Her speculations are an interesting starting point for those looking into the topic, and the long list of footnotes provides grist for further research. The author was also a novelist.  After attending a lecture given by J.R.R. Tolkein, she was inspired to delve deep into Old English lore for her writing. A short bio can be found at Lesser-Known Writers . View all my reviews    © Trish Deneen 

I still believe we can live up to our American ideals. Photo credit:  Currier and Ives, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons I often sit down to attempt to write a centrist or independent pagan manifesto because of the extremes that exist within paganism politically (I won't call it a community). I just don't have the spoons to write one long post citing every point of contention right now. I left the Democratic Party during the Clinton hypocrisy and was essentially told to get lost by my former party of more than 15 years in what I call the infamous 2015 escalator incident . If I write such a screed, it'll most likely be broken down into short bulleted posts. In the meantime, Conservative New Ager states how he feels bluntly in this post : "I may have no deep abiding love for the Democrats, but right now, the opposition is a bunch of Nazis, so I have to throw in with the liberal idiots until the opposition can stop being evil." Harsh, but I can't say I disagree. It fe

Set of runes. Credit: shapkasushami/Pixabay In my Yule #8 blog post , I touched upon dealing with difficult ancestors in a religion that includes ancestral veneration. I think this is something many people struggle with. Vitki Gothi Kurt Hoogstraat of Thor's Oak Kindred in Chicago shares his bindrune technique in healing our own thoughts regarding this. While he does this as a heathen, I think this technique can be adapted to Wiccan or other pagan magical systems.

"Heimdallr stands by the bridge, blowing into Gjallarhorn." Credit:  Emil Doepler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons On this final day of Yule, I honor Heimdall. He's the watchman of the gods who guards Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge, which spans the length between Asgard and Midgard, aka between the dwelling of the deities and humankind. It is his duty to guard against the mountain giants. He has keen eyesight and hears everything, even the rustle of a blade of grass. He will one day sound the great horn, Gjallarhorn, to presage the coming of Ragnarok.  While the lore suggests humans were created by Odin, it's Heimdall who fathered three classes; slaves, freemen, and the rulers after posing as a king among humans. His great hall is called Himinbjorg, and of it Odin under his name Grimnir says: Himinbjorg it is called and there Heimdall rules over sacred places. There the watchman of the gods drinks in his comfortable lodgings, happily, the good mead. Asgard and Bifro