Shepard

Paganism is often broadly associated with tree-hugging new-age beliefs about nature worship. Not wrongfully so, if you ask me; the veneration of nature is key to my version of Heathenry. Animism and panentheism are two central tenets of a heathen worldview, and they are the major drawing points for me as a budding naturalist and a child of a wooded hollow. Of the many spirits heathens revere, one category that is ever-present and critical to maintain good graces with are the landvættir. Also k...

This blog was originally for me to collect my thoughts, but the idea evolved a bit as I wrote, and I felt a desire to make this a sort of compendium of one heathen's practices. Specifically, crafted to be understood by non-heathens and even non-pagans. After my first two posts went public, I shared them with my raised-Catholic-currently-broadly-Christian mother. She appreciated the transparency and clarity, since my religion has always been pretty thoroughly obscured from her view. (She's almo...

In this entry we'll be walking through the steps I take to give offerings to the gods, the vættir, and the ancestors. This is personal to me, and many heathens have their own takes on ritual practices in their own hearth cult. Prologue: The Groundwork The first thing to lay out is when and why to perform an offering. To maintain a healthy and cyclical relationship with the entities you give to, there should be some semblance of consistency. There is no real historic precedent for what days yo...

Heathenry is orthopraxic, not orthodoxic, meaning that this religion is based on praxis or practices rather than specific accepted creed. In the days of pre-Christian Europe, the hearth was the center of the home. From its flames came food, warmth, and a central meeting point for the family and the broader community. The vast majority of religious worship took place around a fire, for flames were the means of transmuting offerings to the gods. Blood, animals, meats, alcohol, and baked goods were...

Several heathens have tasked themselves with defining our religion, my favorite of which is the brilliant mind behind the Longship. Blogs from individual, established heathens are incredibly helpful to new heathens. It's a snapshot of someone's life, a personalized toolset to help them uncover the groundwork for their own reconstructionist faith. My goal here is not to explain myself to other heathens, however; this is to help non-heathens and even non-pagans understand what people like me belie...