Wane Wyrds

I belong to several online groups and forms dedicated to heathenry or Asatru in general, even though as a Vanatru most of my belief and practice is not very "acceptable" to more hardcore types. Anyway I wish I could remember the conversation and place, but not long ago someone was discussing blots and how,when,why etc. they should or should not be performed. Hyndla and Freyja by Hanz Frolich, public domain In the simplest sense of the words, a blot is a ritual sacrifice to the gods. Once upon the time these sacrifices could have been the sacrifice of an animal or in some cases even human sacrifices. Other precious objects such as gold, food, or drink were also common offerings to the gods, along with other things of great number. Today's sacrifices can take any number of forms similar, minus the human sacrifice part of course. At any rate, a blot to the gods or a particular god is a fairly common modern day heathen ritual. In this particular conversation, there s...

( I wrote this for an assignment in one of my new classes, spirituality and medicine. I thought it would make a great blog post as well, since this is at the core of my beliefs. Hope you enjoy.) It is my belief that for human beings of different religions to peacefully live and work together, there must be a collective human recognition of the individual right to self-determination. This would require a letting go of doctrines of absolute truth, and negate the existence of a religious code of morality which asserts the concept of moral duality, right versus wrong belief. We need to be rid of doctrines which harm the human dignity of anyone, or attempt to enforce the beliefs of one group on another. Though my own spiritual beliefs are pagan in nature, I always say I am a humanist first and foremost, particularly when it comes to the social relationships between human beings. Ultimately belief requires individual action, and this leads me to believe that spiritual matters should be...

It seems my mind is being pulled in so many directions, I feel like I can't focus it on just on topic, and when I try my mind strays towards something else of equal interest. I'm trying to get back in the groove of working again and I just can't focus on anything for more than a few seconds. So maybe I will just post some things of interesting and updates on what's happening. A recent offering to Nerthus for helping me with a spell to relieve pain I'm back to school, this time for my last semester. In December I will FINALLY be finishing my Bachelor's degree and HOPEFULLY finding a decent job which is close to home. Fingers Crossed. I am now working on a couple electives, both of which focus on religious topics, as well as starting the first draft of my final Study-In-Depth project for degree completion. The topic is on Ritual kinship functions in Geisha life. I chose this topic because of my love for Japanese art as well as my own fascination with the ge...

Today something interesting happened to me. I do a lot of thrift shore shopping, and today I went to one of my fave shops to have a look. There were several people browsing about the store. I happened to start looking through a rack of clothes, when suddenly someone whispered in my ear. A distinct yet unintelligible whisper. I turned to ask the person what they had said, but found myself staring into thin air. I looked around but there was no one anywhere near me in the store. I shrugged it off and went back to shopping. For me, such things are a fairly regular occurrence, though being outside my home it is a bit unusual. Some people might call me crazy, and that's ok. These whispers in the air have been happening to me since I was a child, along with the appearance of fleeting figures scurrying about corners or unexplained momentary bursts of light in darkened rooms. Once upon a time it terrified me. At times I was sure I was crazy. But I honestly don't believe I am. The ...

Instead of arguing about what reconstructionism is or isn't, I am posting about my own personal definitions of it, as it is something that is on my mind. Like the word heathen, the term reconstructionist is one that is quite ambiguously defined within the heathen and pagan communities. I have gotten flack in some corners of the webz for calling myself a non-reconstructionist. So I feel that the best way for me to address this is by simply explaining my views on reconstructionism and why I do not consider myself a recon. Reconstructionism has been defined and redefined and discussed to death by many in the heathen and pagan world. There are any number of articles, posts, and other such personal definitions out there that I won't bother addressing them. The point is that there simply isn't one true definition that everyone agrees is universally accepted for the term reconstructionist. So for me personally, I go with the bare bones approach. Reconstructionism, for me, i...

This season is mild I hear it is different elsewhere But here, where I am  The green bursts up in every spare inch between the cracks and over the fields The forest is dense The nearby lake shore obscured By it's blazing emerald foliage clinging vines of orange flower clutch at the fences In the fields along the roadside waves of yellow sunflowers and purple hyacinths dance with the bees and butterflies. The limbs of the oaks sag  leaf cloaks dragging them downward Underneath is a cool breeze  and the smell of wet earth Sitting below one wonders at how a tree must feel When the wind steals about it Gentle caresses of touch like the hands of a lover How one must ache for it On a windless day with the sun burning And the sudden showers of cool raindrops one could only describe  as ecstasy with a strong wind blowing.  (this worked is copyrighted 2013 Cena Bussey)

Hello again! I'm back with another post continuing the summary of Freyja's Cats, a thesis by Brenda Prehal exploring the image and myths of cats in Norse culture. In the first post I summarized some information from the paper which gave some examples of how cats were portrayed in Norse literature and the material record. This post will focus mainly on the cat in relation to the practice of Seidhr, the goddess Freyja, and the idea that the cat may have been somewhat symbolic of elite pagan power in Scandinavia. From now on my own thoughts and interjections will appear in bold, as opposed to paraphrasing of the original paper in plain text.  Animal-head post 174 from the Oseberg ship-burial The abundance of cat imagery and folklore in non-Eddic literary sources and the material record is contrasted by the near absence of cats within the Eddas. The author questions the reasons for this within a short discussion. The main idea here is that the cat (along with various other fe...