Happy Friday, dear readers. I’m ready to get back to my normal blogging, which means it’s time for some reflections on chapter three of Spinning Wyrd by Ryan Smith. In this chapter, Smith discusses the four-part self, a common understanding of the human being among many Heathens. Smith explores each of the four parts of the Heathen self at a level of detail and to a degree of expansiveness that I don’t recall seeing elsewhere.

This became immediately noticeable when Smith began talking about the hamr,¹ which is that part of the self that makes up our physical form. But Smith immediately suggests that the hamr includes more than our flesh, bones, and organs:

Hamr, according to their² research, could potentially include one’s clothing, personal presentation, demeanor, effects, and even modifications to the body.

From there, Smith reinforces the idea that the physical form of the hamr is malleable, pointing out the stories and traditions of shapeshifting. He goes on to list numerous stories about the various Aesir changing themselves, including Loki’s transformation into a mare, Freyja’s coat granting the wearer the ability to transform into a falcon, and even Odin’s sacrifice of an eye in exchange for a drink from Mimir’s well.

As an inclusive Heathen, Smith goes so far as to suggest this malleability extends to the understanding — both modern and ancient — of gender. He cites the recent discovery of a female warrior’s skeleton buried in the BIrka warrior tomb who may have been non-binary or a trans man by today’s standards. This opens the door to the possibility of a Heathen who is trans seeing their own transition as a spiritual practice, which I would think many might find incredibly affirming.

Of course, even for we cis people, I think the idea of sanctifying the notion of making our physical form more comfortable for us to live in. In many ways, I see this as way of upholding the Heathen idea of independence and autonomy.³

Post HIstory: I wrote the first draft of this post on September 5, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on September 6, 2024.

Footnotes

1. Today’s post will focus almost entirely on hamr, one of the four parts to the self. I’m not sure if I’ll do separate posts on all four parts, but I felt at least hamr and fylgja deserved special attention. ↩︎
2. It seems to note that it’s important that Ryan is referring to various scholars and specifically cites publications by Lyonel D. Perabo and Neil Price. ↩︎
3. Of course, it’s always important to remember the equally Heathen values of hospitality, mutuality, and interdependence. Too much of even the most noble virtues can become a harmful thing. But in today’s society, I often feel that independence and autonomy tends to suffer more than the sense that we are responsible to others as well. Of course,t his also depends on a number of factors, including power imbalances and numerous axes of oppression and privilege. ↩︎