But It's Natural!

One thing I never got is Heathens who leave offerings in a way that's pretty much identical to littering. There's leaving mead in a bowl in your own garden, or pouring it on the ground in a forest, or leaving bread or steak or cake or other things that nature can handle herself... and then there's leaving bottles lying around in public areas or, even better, in protected sites. If you value nature so much that you insist on making your offerings there, why, oh why, do you leave your unopened bottles there, instead of pouring out the contents and taking the container back with you? You're not the only person passing by there. You're not the only person who enjoys the area, and I'm pretty sure other people won't see the beauty of your offering but rather that some asshole had lunch in the park and just left their trash lying around for other people to deal with.

Bonus points if you've made it abundantly clear that "Asatru wuz here!" - thank you so much for improving our reputation through your thoughtful, gentle way of treating nature.

Image'd

(Goodness, a warning is probably in order. This is long and rambling and mainly a way to get my own thoughts sorted out. It hasn't been edited for coherency)

Occasionally, in a moment of insanity, I want to write a book. Not really serious or lore-heavy, since other people have managed that far, far better than I ever could, but something light-hearted and silly - "How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Gods" or "Yuppie Heathenry - Fashionable Raiding in the 21st Century". Nothing "Teen Witch", since "Yuppie Heathenry" wouldn't actually take itself seriously.

It would be a handy little cheerful guide to life, lore, the Gods, and everything, aimed at people whose contact with nature at most consists of the flowers they got on their last date and the potted plants in their apartment, and whose religious devotion consists of showing up in church for their uncle Magnus' third wedding and not answering phonecalls during funerals.

I don't do mixing religions but I wouldn't mind updating it or making it more accessible to people who aren't interested in going deep into Old Norse culture and languages just to understand the basics, or who would feel incredibly awkward and out of place at a blót. Something for people who are half atheists, anyway, and who don't want to deal with rune-magic or seidr or chapter after chapter about how other people met/talked to/had sex with [deity of choice] and how said deity is actually a really hoopy frood who drops by for a horn of mead all the time. There are lots of useful lessons to be found in Ásatrú, anyway. Loyalty, honour, family, ambition, work ethics - that you're not going to Hell for not going to church, that you're not always required to turn the other cheek, that ambition and status isn't something to be embarrassed about and that your own ass isn't always the most important thing around.

There's this huge group of people who are somewhat-spiritual. Who wears a cross because it's pretty and buys "Pooh's Little Book of Feng Shui" because Eastern stuff is fashionable and because they feel it's a very nice idea and maybe it works. You'd never be able to make most of them hardcore Ásatrú any more than they would become hardcore Christian or Buddhists. They'd likely always mix cultures and religions. But getting at least part of the old Norse beliefs mixed into that could work wonders for removing the "neo-Nazi, wannabe-viking, longhaired metal-fans" macho image Heathenry as a whole suffers from.

It's all about fashion, all about trends. You can change the image of a religion by giving long speeches and writing academic books and participating in debates to present your views in a logical, educated way... or you can just make it trendy. It's about advertisement and the human mind. We copy what we think look good. If we see a supermodel in a Louis Vuitton store, in a black trenchcoat, buying stilettos and looking like a million bucks, we're gonna associate that trenchcoat with fashion and beauty and money and subconsciously hope for the same for ourselves if we wear that coat, too. If we instead had seen the same coat on a goth chick with pierced lips and badly-dyed hair, we would associate it with the goth culture instead.

It's not about keeping anyone who isn't twenty, trendy, and fabulous from wearing a Thor's Hammer. It's about getting everyone to do it. Make it sufficiently trendy and its image will change as well. Make Freya an icon, the original Independent Woman who can handle herself and her career, and takes what she wants and is willing to fight for it. Make it cool and trendy to go to meditation classes on Yggdrasil and repeat a mantra while imagining the peace among its leaves. Make wearing the Hammer a sign of independence and power and strength. Publish "Pooh's Little Book of Norse Wisdom" ("Serve food and drinks for your guests and offer them a place to sit. 'Oh,' said Pooh. 'I like to sit down. Will there be honey?'").

It could (probably rightfully) be accused of selling out and cheapening Ásatrú, but that probably depends on the point of view. Religions have to grow to survive and perhaps placing Ásatrú firmly in the mind of people by making it a part of popular culture will be exactly what's needed to make it survive. There will always be room for the dedicated students of Old Norse religion, but maybe creating a light-version to ensure it won't be forgotten wouldn't be half-bad, either. There's a series of graphic novels called 'Valhalla' published over here. They're written with obvious love for the source material - not always accurate completely to the letter, but the spirit is right, and it had a big part of the credit for kids over here actually being familiar with Norse mythology. It's made accessible to them and they enjoy it and remember it. It's entertainment and it's a good way to make present-day kids familiar with the old mythology of their country without making them read through long books about Norse myths.

It's the 21st century, really. Maybe it's time to try another strategy.

Holy Days

I must admit, I'm somewhat of a Bad Heathen when it comes to (religious) holidays. There's this long list of more or less historically based important days in Heathenry, of which various people have different opinions about which are real and which to observe, and I really tend to ignore most of it. I'm usually not aware of them until the usual bloom of posts regarding the given upcoming important day on various forums and LJ communities. Likely because I'm not part of the Heathen community and not a member of a blót group. I celebrate the holidays my family does, and that isn't a whole lot. When we do, though, it's about getting together and having a good time as a family and I can't imagine any better way to spend those days.

I don't celebrate Yule or the Winter Solstice or Christmas. I celebrate Jul and it's on the 24th and it's about good food and catching up with family and just in general having a good time while hoping for snow. We never attend church, either. Easter's about good food and family as well, and midsummer is about bonfires and summernights and Midsommersangen. I'm aware there's something in the start of February but the first thing that comes to mind there is kyndelmisse, even if I don't celebrate that, either, and I can sing Luciasangen as well as any of the girls carrying those candles. For that matter, I likely know the various hymns and songs in the 'official' blue song book better than 95% of the rest of the population. They're not Heathen songs and I'm not Christian, but I still like them and I grew up with them in school. I don't sing nearly as well as I did when I was in a choir but they're beautiful and they're part of my culture and I'm not going to just ignore them in favour of 'Norse songs' set to Christian tunes and a brand new set of holidays that don't speak to me in any way, shape or form.

Besides, it's not like "Marken er mejet" and "Det er i dag et vejr" are Christian in any sense. They're Danish and cheerful and traditional. That's good enough for me.

Pray Tell, or The Santa Claus Syndrome, Take 1

As previously mentioned, I get regular visits from a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. I doubt I'll ever convert - there's something in the Norse lore that speaks to me on a level that the Bible doesn't, some sense of rightness past the "Oooh, interesting stories!". It's hard to explain but I imagine it's the same stuff they feel when they study the Bible. Some feeling that hey, this makes sense, this is right, this moves me in a way that no other religious text has managed, however interesting they might be. We agree on a lot, and we disagree on a lot as well, and that's not even touching the whole question of which god is right.

Prayer, for one. The Bible tells to pray to God and do it heartfelt and however often is needed, to develop a relationship a bit like with a friend, to share your problems and thoughts and to respect and honour him. With the Norse pantheon it's a bit different. They don't encourage you to lean on them all the time - rather address them too little than too much. Honour them, respect them, maybe even love them, but your life is yours to live and they have other things to worry about as well. Maybe that's why I was never attracted to neo-wicca. These beings are divine and demand respect. They're not someone to casually call upon because you need a date for the prom or need to lose five pounds to fit that dress you really, really want, and oh, could you please get some money to buy it for as well? Why would they even bother with you, if the only time you address them is when you want something from them? It's like the friend who only calls when they need your help - sooner or later, you stop helping at all (another thing my JWs and I agree on - it's not a list for Santa Claus, it's prayer).

I keep my gods in my thoughts but I rarely address them. I handle as much as I can on my own, I thank them when I get a streak of exceptionally good fortune, and I only address them with a request when I've exhausted any other option and desperately need a hand and then only with an offer of something in return. Maybe that's why my JWs' way of praying seems strange to me. I don't want to bother my gods with insignificant stuff. It's my life to live and my problems to handle. I don't fear my gods but I do have an immense respect for them. And that's likely why the classic "Heathens don't kneel to their gods!" never rang true to me, either. It's my gods. I'll do whatever the situation seems to require and if that's how I wish to show them respect, until they themselves tell me otherwise, I'll damn well do just that.

Does This Midsummer Ritual Make My Ass Look Fat?

I'm skimming a forum and I'm reminded of something I've always wondered about - it's always very black and white when it comes to Heathen stuff. If you're not into tranceworkings and Loki-worship and mix-and-match Heathenry-Hindu-Indian rituals, then you're obviously a stubborn, hardcore reconstructionist who insist that if it isn't in the Eddas and backed by five independent archaeological sources, then It's Not Valid (and vice versa).

What really makes me itch to slap someone is the way someone, usually from the former group, will go "... well, the Norse people were influenced by other cultures, too! But that's okay, I respect your right to have your Stone Age, backwards version of Heathenry that will never develop any further, but I obviously just had to comment to say that."

Dear fucking morons (and could I write this entry without cursing? Sure. But it makes me feel much better this way):

There is a hell of a big difference between 'influenced by other cultures' and 'well, I like Kali! She will work well with Loki! And Karma is so h0tt right now! I'll use that, too, 'cause a book told me it was really really important!'. As far as I'm concerned, that stuff isn't Heathenry. And as far as I'm concerned, nowhere does it state that I have to respect that sort of 'religions in a blender and see what comes out' practice. There's "Huh, that's a pretty interesting ritual they have there for Midsummer - I like that, it makes sense, maybe I should read up on it, try to adapt it to my tradition and try it out" and "OMFG, some South American tribe had this really cool harvest celebration in March! I'll do the same! ... what do you mean, I live in the northern hemisphere? So what?"

It is perfectly possible not to believe in mixing religions and still not follow everything done 1100 years ago right down to the letter. Of course religions evolve over time, and it's perfectly possible to go along with society without jumping all the way other to the other extreme and use the "Everything goes" approach. Most people probably wouldn't go along with human sacrifice there days, even if they could get away with it. There's a nice middle road between those two extremes. It's just a pity those two extremes yell a lot louder.

Dusty Jewels

Keys, for some reason, have been in high fashion the past couple of months. It probably goes with the fact that long necklaces with large pendants are very much a Thing right now. Black keys, golden keys, silver keys, keys with faceted crystals, all of them as very nice pendants on chains that are long enough to almost reach my navel in some cases. Being an utter sucker for anything sparkly, and having been on the lookout for something Frigga-related, I've been drooling over them for quite a while now.

I've looked at old keys on a couple of occasions - the big, heavy, several centuries old ones, except they're expensive as fuck. It would, however, match the antique spearhead I keep for Odin and the fire-steel I got for Thor. There's just something gorgeous and feminine about the jewellery keys, though. I bought one on sale already, a necklace with a cluster of items with the two main features being a key and a crown, which I found perfect for Frigga - Key to the Home and Queen of the Gods. I've been sighing over more, though. Several bronze coloured ones covered in crystals, because they're gorgeous and feminine and just look right. Modern stuff or old stuff? I still really haven't decided.

Everything Heathen-related I have seem to fall within those two categories, actually. If it isn't very old, it's practically brand new. And the new doesn't include books. My Danish books tend to be old. 1911 print, in the case of one Edda, 18-something (but new reprint) in another. I have, I think, two recent books on Heathenry. One was good, and the other I wasn't that impressed with. I'm not interested in most modern Asatru books as a whole. I've noticed a few interesting ones I've been unable to get in Europe, but most just don't seem to click based on summaries and excerpts. I like to read books from the 1950s and just shift through the Christianity-influenced POV. I love the lore, and I can pick up a ton of interesting, quirky things from various old-as-hell mythology books. Maybe they're not politically correct, maybe they're almost downright offensive in places, but they're fun and they give a view that hasn't been through the filter of however many Heathens and Lokeans and Asatru who helped give their input and arguments. In many ways, the modern books are just as biased as the old ones, they're just biased in a different way.

Plus, the rare few drawings in the old ones are just gorgeous. I'm a sucker for pretty stuff.

Gefion

Between the harbour and the biggest park in Copenhagen (Kastellet, the old fortifications) , there's a massive statue of the goddess Gefion, carving Zealand from Swedish soil with her four sons-turned-oxen. I was actually fairly old before I saw it with water in it - it was renovated for several years starting around 1999, and before that I lived a good bit outside of Copenhagen. Still, water or no water, it's impressive - the oxen seem to have been captured mid-motion, straining against the plough and with water spraying everywhere.

I've always loved the story, probably because I've lived my entire life on this island. Gefion (or Gefjun) tends to be overlooked or simple dismissed with one line as "One of Frigga's handmaidens" in modern Asatru and really, from an outside view it makes sense. There are so many 'minor' gods and goddesses with little mention in the sources or who seem to have been local deities. Still, she's one of the major goddesses to me. I never felt much of a connection with Freya or Skadi (who seems to be surprisingly popular but again, that's me, and I probably don't have a very balanced view of that stuff - I grew up with the myths, and the ones that somehow stuck are in a lot of cases the ones I stick with now. I didn't start out with semi-academic books about Norse mythology. Like so many other Danish kids, I started with the Valhalla comic books and Quark, the utterly fictional but damn adorable Jotun kid). ...The point being that Gefion probably is a fairly local goddess and that might be why I feel such a strong connection to her. Freya, for one, is far less associated with one particular places and far more popular, too... and it probably helps that she features more prominently in the lore, too. You don't need to be of Norse blood or whatever to follow them but when the place you live in is said to have been made specifically by one of the goddesses, it probably helps a bit on your interest in them. If nothing else, then because haha! We stole this from Sweden and you're not getting it back! *blows a raspberry*

...I think I had a point with this entry, but it's late and I lost it somewhere. I'm sorry.

Mix'n Match Religion

I spend a couple of hours every month studying the Bible with a couple of my local Jehovah's Witnesses. Let's pause for a moment and count the ways that makes me a bad and/or deluded person in the view of a lot of neo-pagans (yes, we study the Old Testament, too - don't forget to include that on the list). Then, let's pause for a moment and count the ways said Witnesses are obviously deluded, brainwashed individuals trapped in an evil cult - again, according to a lot of neo-pagans.

Today, one of them mentioned as we discussed people who haven't studied their religions that she'd recently had a run-in with a computer geek Asatru who believed that he would go to Valhalla and fight when he died. Being the helpful person I am, I suggested that next time she ask him if he's served his time in the military yet (yes, guys here can still get drafted) and if not, when he planned to. You may now pause and add to your list the ways in which the above probably makes me a bad Heathen for siding with an delusional, brainwashed Christian against a fellow Heathen and how you don't need to have done military service to end up in Valhalla.

And no, you undoubtedly don't. I'm sure Odin doesn't particularly care if you've spent 4 months in the army getting yelled at, as long as you're useful. I just think that you're a fucking moron if you believe that a) fighting and getting chopped up all day is The Ultimate Way To Spend The Afterlife when you've never picked up a weapon in your life and b) Odin would even want you there. I'm not saying that he couldn't be interested in you for other reasons just that, you know, not everyone was meant to end up in Valhalla. You think the Navy SEALs pick any yahoo who shows up?

While I'm ranting, anyway, I also don't think that seidr-workers are the end-all, be-all of things. There are awesome ones out there who do great things for their communities, and this rant isn't about them. This rant is about the drama whores - the ones who toss around the label in a way that suggests it makes them better than everyone else, all while playing up the "omg, the Heathen community doesn't accept us!!1 it's a hard path and we're called to it and it's omg, so rough but Odin guides us and we're spechul and we neeeed to do it 'cause it's our fate!!". Because somehow, magically, Odin has an urgent need for all these people who meditate (by staring into a flame until their brain gets bored and makes up funny images) and trancework (by smoking funny herbs) and are unemployed and bipolar/insert other mental illness that happens to be the current Big Thing ('cause, you see, they're seidr-workers, that's why they're ill and can't work. Remember, it's a hard path, omg, but they must do it).

These people are usually the same breed as the ones who insist that Odin is good and just and a general all-around huggly grandfather (or alternatively a hot, powerful male who has apparently taken enough of an interest in them to want sex with them when they trancework and who has the time and interest to answer their every whim).

I am, by the way, still not saying that all seidr-workers do the above, and do drugs, and are delusional. Or that it isn't okay to be unemployed, or that they're faking their illnesses. As said, there are truly awesome seidr-workers out there with a shitload of issues to deal with - and you know, somehow they manage without being drama whores. Imagine that.

Some hardcore Christians believe I'm going to burn in Hell. My Witnesses believe that non-believers will simply die and no longer exist. And you know, I'm fine with that. Because at least they're honest about it and they study the whole Bible and they don't just pick and choose what they like and deny the rest exists. I'm not a Christian but this is, at least officially, a Christian country and the Bible is an important book. Being able to smack around so-called Christians who don't even pick up the Bible outside of Sunday School but still feel holier than everyone else is just another fun benefit.

Somehow, 'my' two Witnesses manage to live their faith while having good jobs, a nice place to live, a sense of style, a sense of humour, and the ability to show up at a job interview without wearing a religious symbol the size of a dinner plate around their neck and then cry about discrimination. Frankly, I respect them a hell of a lot more than most neo-pagans and Heathens I see online.

Meading Place (punny, we are)

One of the kindreds here as well as one of the main Asatru message boards both regularly have café-meetings/get-togethers/come-say-hi things at the other end of town (it sounds far. Trust me, it's Copenhagen. Nothing's that far away here). Every time, I consider showing up. Every time, I change my mind or I have studying to do, or friends to meet online (timezones, yay), or any other of a dozen different reasons. I've showed up twice, both at the kindred's meetings. First time, I bought a cup of hot chocolate, settled down with a schoolbook, and watched. I'm curious. So sue me.

Second time, I was moderately down with something and not entirely at my best, but I showed up, anyway, and got a glass of orange juice and watched. I'd actually intended to say hi that time but changed my mind after listening to a long-haired fella in an T-shirt talking to someone obviously new to the whole thing about the parts of the Eddas he'd recorded to music, his hobbies, his songs, and then recommended a few books. One of them was out of print and he wasn't sure if said new one could get it at the library. At that point I couldn't keep my mouth shut and suggested maybe the main database of used books had it, because that's where I got one of my copies of the Poetic Edda. Fella made a note of that, then continued to explain starry-eyed new one about his views of things. It was around that time I decided I should probably get going.

Now the main Asatru forum here has started on little get-togethers the same place and I've been tempted again. My main reason for staying away so far is the fact that while they encourage lurkers to show up, too, they don't know me and I only know them from said forum and frankly, I'm a superficial capitalist bastard - the result, undoubtedly, of five years of economics combined with a good friend who studies law in the same buildings. Law-girls are notorious for wearing expensive brands and it tends to rub off during prolonged exposure. And that's not even mentioning my political views.

I lurk on the forum with good reason. I'm not particularly social to begin with and from lurking, it doesn't strike me as a place I'd care to get involved with. You tend to get the impression, reading it, that there are some serious undercurrents between people there and that all it takes to set it off is a wrong word. Asatru forums in general tend to be happy to argue - often fiercely - and this one's really no expection. And when I finally started to consider posting, another newbie (branded 'troll', imagine that) set off a massive explosion when s/he posted about the general tone on the board during debates and how it might be scaring newbies away (yes, yes, yes. I'm missing the backstory, I don't know the whole thing, I'm not a part of it so I wouldn't understand, they're a family of sorts and not required to play nice with everyone, etc. I know.)

So I lurk a lot, basically. But on the bright side, they can be really fun to watch.

Heathen Inc.

Sometimes, I think what I'm looking for is a modern religion. Not in the Scientology or New Age style, but 'modern' as in something that's adapted to present day life. Being from an atheist country has something to do with it, I think. Religion is a private thing and you generally don't show it off much. Some people wear crosses - how many of them who really believes in anything is hard to say. Goth is always good for shocking people, or the sort-of-vampire look with the pewter pentagrams or Devil-heads that could double as a anchor on a medium-sized yacht. Hardcore Christians are seen more as entertainment or nutballs than anything (and then there are Muslims, but that issue is a nest of wasps I'll just leave alone here).

Point is, we're not really religious. You don't see CEOs wearing crosses or a Star of David and if that's the kind of career you're aiming for, you sort of have to adapt. What I'm looking for is a religion that can be part of my image just as the suit and the purse and the high-heeled boots can be (or maybe what I'm looking for might also be a more religious society, in a "not completely psycho"-way, but that's another ramble). Second point of the ramble is, Asatru in Denmark doesn't have the best of PR. Asatru in general gets all the fun issues of being associated with skinheads and neo-Nazis, and it isn't that different over here. We have extreme right-wing people exercising their freedom of speech and I cringe every time one of them does a Nazi salute and happens to wear a Thor's Hammer while doing it because that's really publicity we could do without. Really.

One of the big newspapers had an article about non-mainstream religions two years ago or so, one of them being Asatru, and that was the kind of thing we could use some more of. The man they interviewed didn't wear ren-faire clothes or looked like something out of a Viking movie, and he generally looked like a normal, attractive person in casual clothes. The article was sane, straightforward and respectful, and the overall impression was a damn good one. And then you contrast it with one of the few Danish books written aboutAsatru here and you realise that the cover shows a woman in Viking costume. I have nothing against people wearing that but I honestly think that it wasn't the best choice of cover. It's about PR again and our current image is basically that of 'those people who run around and get drunk and play Viking'. There's a lot of overlap, true, but that doesn't change the fact that there are Asatru people who don't do the whole Viking thing, and you get people who are serious about the whole Viking thing but who aren't Asatru.

(And I know I'm probably getting on the bad side of most of the Danish Asatru community with that but I can live with that. I know the book gets recommended a lot, too, but I don't agree with it much. It's nothing personal with the author, it's just that it isn't really a type of Asatru I have much in common with. Doesn't mean it's wrong for other people.)

Maybe, when it all comes down to it, what I'm looking for is Gucci Heathenry - my own little hidey-hole in a mix of atheism and Heathenry, with business suits and designer altars and Odin as the strategist and leader rather than the god of poetry and magic.

Stickies

There are roughly three billion 'divisions' of heathenry at any given time: Asatru, Forn Sed, Heathenry, Theodish Belief, Odinism, Vor Sidr, you name it.

This is not a handy list of definitions for each of them because frankly, I can't keep track of half of those. I tend to stick to the 'Heathen' label. 'Asetro', occasionally, which is 'Asatru' in Danish, which gets annoying because in some areas 'Asatru' is the Icelandic version when I basically just follow sort of what we have here... to some degree, anyway. As already mentioned, I'm not interested in wandering around in a dark forest in the middle of nowhere at night and I'm not one for big, elaborate blots. I'm somewhat of an agnostic heathen. I'm not sure any gods exist but that doesn't keep me from following them as so much of what the Norse myths teach match my own way of seeing things. Which probably explains why I don't get Freya braiding my hair or Loki hiding my car keys - because I don't expect them to and I'm not deliberately looking for signs of their possible influence. Or maybe we're all suffering from collective delusions - the whole thing with 'if you talk to God, you're religious, if He talks back, you're nuts' and all.

I live in what's basically an atheist country (with an official church where the number of churchgoers is insanely low), raised by an atheist family, and surrounded by mostly-atheist friends. I don't want to believe in nothing but I'm not sure anything is there, either.

Thus, agnostic Heathen. Doesn't stop me from buying Jack Daniels for blots or wearing a silver valknut meant in the modern-day interpretation of 'bullseye'. Occasionally, I feel stupid. And occasionally, I feel like there's nothing more right in the world for me.

(I'm babbling. I got a cold and my brain started leaking. Forgive me.)

Buzzed, part 1

Hávamál (Bellows and Thorpe translations): The Sayings of the High One - the High One being Odin. It's the "Best of Miss Manners" of the Norse. Or rather, the "How not to get yourself killed in a stupid way" of the Norse. Not to say that it's the 'Bible', so to speak - you won't find a lot of Heathens willing to admit that they believe Odin himself dictated it - but it's still good, common sense.

One of the most famous stanzas is probably this one -

Cattle die, | and kinsmen die,
And so one dies one's self;
One thing now | that never dies,
The fame of a dead man's deeds.

- but there's much more than that to be found lurking around. Advice on life, love, friendship, family, and well, how not to get yourself killed in a stupid way. It also include a section on Odin's ordeal to obtain the runes as well as a section on the use of them.

Virtues - the Guest and the Host

The Nine Noble Virtues seem to be a standard post on most Asatru-focused blogs I've seen. It's a nice, handy little list alongside "The Praiseworthy Virtues of the North" but personally, I've always been more partial to the Hávamál. Not as rules but as a guide. A lesson in good manners and thinking your actions through and being cautious around the people you're with, because you never know when someone is aiming a knife at your back.

On a side note, it's always amused me how people haul out the 'honour' issue and use it as a hammer against everyone else. Even more so when the very same people turn out to tolerate each other only for the sake of appearances and it only takes the smallest of things to make everything blow up - religion, like politics, is always a touchy topic to debate. It's srs biznez.

It isn't a big place I live in but it's mine, and I take the job of hostess seriously. Being a good host is just as important as being a good guest - nobody wants to be known as someone who lets their guests go hungry and thirsty, just as nobody really wants the reputation of being "That Person" who always gets too much to drink, smashes the plates, insults the other guests, and finishes up by puking in the sink. It's about reputation, certainly, but even more so it's about personal pride. It's my home and I want it to look its best when I get company. Sometimes, that means compromises, too - as a host and as a guest. Maybe I don't like everyone on the guest list at a party, maybe I even hate their guts, but a party isn't the right place to duke it out, verbally or otherwise. It's that reputation thing again. Sometimes, you have to suck it up and deal with it to a certain extend. Not that you have to talk with them beyond "hello", just that maybe it isn't the brightest idea to try and drown them in the gravy... even if they sort of had it coming, and any jury would deem it not just excusable but praiseworthy.

I like being a good host. Maybe it's a little too 'housewife-y' for some but it works for me.

Hammer and Chains

I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for jewellery. Silver, mostly - I love gold, gold is shiny and beautiful and so very nice, but I have the wrong looks for it, so silver it is, occasionally with bronze. I love hammers, too - gorgeous Thor's Hammers with just the right combo of weight and design, and I'm lucky in that regard as you can find those in just about every regular jewellery store over here (it certainly helps on the price, too). The only problem is finding one that wasn't meant for people twice my size. I'm not 6'2, bearded, and built like the Thunder God himself. It's that image thing again - those gorgeous, old-fashioned Mjollnirs look perfect on some people (usually men) but they'd look completely out of place on me.

In passing in a store, back in December, I noticed someone with a designer-style necklace in bronze or something similar - small coins, bronze beads, several thin chains, the whole nine yards - and as the centrepiece was a Mjollnir in bronze as well. I've never seen anything like that necklace around here and I'm guessing it was a custom piece but to me, it looked perfect. It was unique enough, with enough thought put into it, that I doubt it was just a fashion statement or because it looked cool.

It was modern, really. And I think that's what I liked the most about it - that it wasn't like most people you see wearing a hammer, that it was someone who made it their own and made it fit their own style. That's the kind of Hammer I adore the most. And that's the kind of Hammer I'll fall for every time I see one.

Characteristics of a Yuppie Heathen

Well. Not quite yuppie but the impression probably fits. I certainly feel like one when I check out various Asatru or Heathen or Norse Paganism boards. It's also why I made this blog - because maybe (unlikely) I really am the only person out there who feels out of place on those boards, but that won't stop me from ranting about it.

I don't drink. I get a hangover from practically two glasses of wine so it's not worth it. I do keep good booze in the house, though, and I'm probably a bad heathen for not offering my Gods some home-brewed stuff but let's be honest: I don't like the stuff myself. Why would I offer it to my guests, then? Never mind the fact that I'm bad enough as is in a kitchen. We don't need the added disaster of homebrewed mead.

I live... well, about as far away from actual nature as you can get here. I'll probably move out in the countryside when I have kids but so far, I'm just fine here. The parks are fine for nature. We have some pretty ones.

I'm not interested in dressing up all Viking-style or performing blots in Old Norse. I like our language - it isn't pretty but it gets the job done. And to be honest, I like my suits. I respect our history but why should we remain static? Why would the gods remain static? I respect people's right to show up in whatever they feel good in and I accept the fact that I'm sufficiently environmentally damaged from my job and education to feel completely out of place in the kindreds I've had contact with. They're nice people - smart ones, interesting ones - but not people I'd normally have anything in common with, other than the fact that we happen to worship the same gods.

I'll be honest and say that I don't get most of the 'contact with deity' discussions, either. Maybe I'm too much of a sceptic or maybe I'm just not interesting to them or maybe they just know I'll work things out of my own most of the time. Freya doesn't show up to braid my hair. Odin doesn't give me advice on seidr and Tyr doesn't show up for a friendly chat. I try to honour them through hard work and by building up a reputation I can actually be proud of. I wouldn't say I try to be a good example but I'm always aware of how I appear when I have a Thor's Hammer hanging in plain sight. I don't want to be the type of person that makes me wince and I don't want to give my religion a bad impression because I act like a moron while wearing a one-inch silver Hammer for all to see. Asetro gets enough bad PR as it is. I try not to add to it.