Category Archives: Religion

Gender and Sexuality, Paganism, Religion

Bonus Post: Introducing the Bifrost Brigade

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Image created by Melamint and released under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

For many years now, I’ve joke about creating an organization for LGBTQIA2S+ Heathens called the Bifrost Brigade. At the start of Pride Month this year, i decided to push the idea even further by creating a poorly designed image using Canva:

As you can see, Melamint has far more artistic ability than I do. To the point it’s not really a contest.

I posted my image to Threads and and BlueSky and Melamint, a fellow Heathen with a background in design, saw it over on BlueSky and fell in love with the concept. So she took it upon herself to create a much better logo for it. The latest version of that logo (well, the one on a white background) appears at the top of this post. She was kind enough to release the image under a creative commons license (CC BY-NC 4.0), enabling me and others to use it more or less freely. (Just seriously, make sure you acknowledge her as the creator of the original source image(s). We need to honor our artists in this community.)

So I guess this means I actually need to do something with the Bifrost Brigade rather than just joking about it every so often! After all, the logo above (Melamint’s, not mine) is just too good not to use. The thing is, I don’t think I’m the right person to try to set up an actual organization.

But I think I just might be able to name and spawn a movement. So I invite you to join the Bifrost Brigade, a budding (or perhaps merely rebranded in some people’s cases) movement of LGBTQIAS+ Heathens and Norse Pagans who see our sexuality and gender expressions as an integral part of our lives and something honoring to the Aesir and Vanir.

So who can consider themselves a part of the Bifrost Brigade. There are just a few simple requirements:

  • Be a Heathen or Norse Pagan, or honor or work with one or more of the Aesir and/or Vanir.
  • Have a sexual orientation and/or gender identity that challenges cisheteronormativity. (Allies/supporters are welcome, but asked not to center themselves.)
  • Be committed to a vision of Heathenism and Paganism in that is inclusive general. (Translation: White Supremacists of any degree or flavor are not welcome.)

Why “Bifrost Brigade?”

As I said, the name (and the idea) started out as a joke in my part. It was an alliterative allusion to the rainbow bridge leading to Asgard, home of the gods I hold dear. The dual meaning that the Bifrost was also the rainbow that represented LGBTQIA2S+ pride.

The more I’ve thought about it, the more the imagery has appealed to me. As I wrote on social media, the thought of LGBTQIA2S+ Heathns gathering around the path leading to the home of our deities and owning the implied relationship with them draws me in. We draw closer to them because they embrace us and consider us family. (Heck, Loki is one of us! And I suspect he’s not the only one!)

The rest of this post is my attempt to get out what I consider the important thoughts about my vision for this movement.

I had no input on the design for the logo. Melamint took my bare bones idea and decided to use the colors of the Progressive Pride flag to create the impression of two Berkana runes back-to-back. However, i fell in love with her design almost as soon as I saw it.

I’ve seen some LGBTQIA2S+ Heathens with other common Heathen symbols in rainbow colors. The two most common ones I’ve seen are Thor’s hammer and the valknut.1 But I’m neither a Thorsman nor an Odinsman and i don’t feel particularly connected to symbols dedicated to either of those gods specifically. It’s part of the reason i went with “Bifrost Brigade,” as Bifrost leads to the realm of all the Norse deities rather than one particular deitiy. And I feel the use of the Berkano rune in the logo casts that same wide net. Sure, while certain goddesses may have a special connection with that particular rune, I feel the principles/mysteries embodied by Berkano can be foudn in all the Aesir and Vanir.

Commitment to embracing pluralism society

There are many LGBTQIA2S+ organizations out there. I think the vast majority of them use a rainbow pentagram/pentacle as their preferred symbol. I don’t connect to that symbol any more than I do the valknut or Thor’s hammer, so it never really worked for me as pride symbol, either. Plus, I wanted something that especially focused on embracing LGBTQIA2S+ people in a more Heathen context. I suspect I’m not the only one, so that’s what the Bifrost Brigade (at least as I envision it) seeks to do.

Having said that, I’m also a strong proponent of pluralism. All humans are human and all LGBTQIA2S+ people are LGBTQIA2S+ people, regardless of whatever their spiritual practices may be (assuming they have any at all). Furthermore, I think that we are stronger together. So while I see the Bifrost Brigade as being a “Heathen flavored” celebration of LGBTQIA2S+ identities and pride, I want to recognize and express solidarity and collaboration with other expressions of those identities and pride as well. We are well past the days when isolationism is healthy or safe.

Relatedly, I’m not inclined to turn away those who honor or work with deities outside of the Norse pantheon(s). For example, I would personally welcome anyone who draws on Freyja to celebrate and honor their sexuality, regardless of the fact that they might also call on Athena or Aphrodite. The Aesir and Vanir are not jealous deities and I do not believe they care who else you honor as long as it does not interfere with keeping whatever commitments you’ve made to them.2

Commitment to radical inclusion and opposition to bigotry

One of the things that frustrates me the most about the LGBTQIA2S+ community is the fact that there’s often prejudice and bigotry within our own ranks. We often can’t even avoid being prejudiced against one other! I’ve encountered misogynystic gay men, transphobic LGB people, and gay men and lesbians who engage in bi-erasure and other forms of biphobia. And a lot of us tend to forget about or even pathologize aro-ace people.

I don’t get it. We all just want to be accepted for who we are. Well, part of that involves accepting others for who they are as well. After all, at some point we have to be honest about whether we really want to end oppression everywhere or just earn our own seat at the oppressors’ table and let others go on suffering.

My vision for the Bifrost Brigade seeks to do the former. So as far as I’m concerned, no bigotry or prejudice has any place in the movement.

I want to specifically address the issue of racism and “folkism” here, as that’s often a hot topic in many Heathen circles. To make it clear, I am a firm believer that the Aesir and Vanir will call who they choose to call to them, regardless of race, heritage, or any other factor. And who am I to question that?3

So if you can’t agree wholeheartedly with the Declaration of Deeds4 or feel the need to add some sort of caveat or qualification to it, you’re almost certainly not aligned with the Bifrost Brigade as I envision it.

The use of the word “Queer”

The logo(s) above include the tagline “Queer Heathens Unite!” I understand that the word “queer” has a complicated history and it makes some people within our community uncomfortable. I chose to use it in my original image because it’s shorter (and catchier IMO) than “LGBTQIA2S+ Heathens.” Also, I came out in the late nineties, when many people in the community were reclaiming and embracing the word “queer.”5 So I tend to like the word.

If the word makes you uncomfortable, you have a couple options:

  • You can use one of the many versions of the logo Melamint created that don’t include that tagline.
  • You can create your own derivative work based on one of Melamint’s images. (just make sure you follow the conditions for attribution defined in the license.)

Personally, I hope many people go with a version of the logo that includes “Queers unite” because I think we desperately need to unite at this moment in history. But I also respect people’s individual choices to navigate their own feelings about the phrasing.

Concluding remarks

So there you have it. And to those who feel called, welcome to the Bifrost Brigade. Let us gather at the rainbow bridge and ascend to the home of the Aesir and and Vanir. Let us celebrate the frith we share with them, fully embraced as our authentic selves.

Footnotes

  1. I’d like to note that I’m not actually endorsing the artists whose merchandise I’ve linked to here. In fact, I’m nervous because I know nothing about either of them and accidentally supporting someone who turns out to be bigoted or exclusionary in other ways is always a worry for me. But a quick google search didn’t turn up links to either image/symbol in rainbow colors that weren’t also merch. But bear in mind that the links there are for reference to the symbols I mentioned only. If you decide to buy either item, let the buyer beware. ↩︎
  2. Indeed, I’ll note I’ve had a couple fleeting flirtations with Pan myself. However, I definitely belong to Freyja. For me, she always comes (tee hee) first. ↩︎
  3. As close I am to Freyja, I cannot begin to fathom how hard she’d laugh at me or how hard she’d kick my ass if I challenged her right to call someone as one of her devotees. ↩︎
  4. Declaration 127, currently under the stewardship of The Troth, is another good example of the principles I’m going for here. ↩︎
  5. The decade I came out was the decade that the organization Queer Nation made a splash with their famous slogan: “We’re here. We’re queer. Get used to it.” Of course, by the time I came out, people were also throwing out humorous variants like “We’re here. We’re queer. Let’s go shopping!” ↩︎
Magic/Magick, Religion, Witchcraft

Pondering witchcraft/magic and the Christian prosperity gospel: Similarities and difference

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The topic of the Christian prosperity gospel and the ways in which it is similar to witchcraft and magic is something my mind keeps coming back to. I have also discussed it with others, acknowledging how their experience with the prosperity gospel makes them worry about how witchcraft and magic are presented by some. In fact, one of those conversations inspired me to write another blog post a little over five years ago.

This time, i’d like to do a bit of a deep dive into the topic, comparing the prosperity gospel to a few different understandings of witchcraft and magic, and exploring both the similarities and what I consider some of ht key differences.

My Relevant Background

To begin with, I’d like to share or revisit my own background where it’s relevant to the topic at hand. Something that I would hope is obvious by this point from this blog, I am a witch and have been working magic for a couple of decades now. As such, I’ve learned quite a bit about witchcraft and magic as I understand and practice them.

What may be less known is my personal experience with the prosperity gospel movement, or at least the principles that tend to drive it. While I’ve mentioned multiple times that I’m a former evangelical Christian, I have not spent much time discussing the details of my experiences as a Christian. The relevant bit of history is that I attended a Full Gospel1 church during the last half of my freshman year at college until I graduated in 1996. In that church, I learned the same kind of “name it and claim it” theology that is at the heart of the prosperity gospel. it was common for us, for example, to pray Psalm 91 over ourselves and others (inserting names into the passage) for protection from Satan and his demonic minions.2

Diverse Understandings of Witchcraft and Magic

I think the diversity of opinion when it comes understanding how witchcraft and magic works is another important thing to understand. After all, I think that some more simplistic understandings of magic — such as the popular manifestation movement3 of late — comes closer to the mentality — and therefore the same pitfalls — of the Christian prosperity gospel movement than others. So I think it’s important to tackle the topic by looking at those diverse understandings of magic rather than my own understanding of magical practice.4

Mechanical Similarities

Magic and witchcraft often involves using gestures and words to set an intention and focus power on that goal. Also, “spell components” such as herbs, candles, and oils are often used with the idea that their inclusion will include some sort of magical boost.

Prosperity gospel adherents may not call what they do magic or use the terms most witches and magicians do. However, there’s little denying the belief among prosperity gospel adherents to use phrases like “in the name of Jesus” and “by the blood of Jesus” as well as Bible verses to punctuate their prayers and give them a “boost” like words of power.5

Prosperity gospel adherents even have their own “spell components” of a sort. The most common one is anointing oil. A more unique example, would be the woman on TikTok who recently poured grape juice all around her property to protect her home with “the blood of Jesus.” Atheist YouTuber Taylor the Antibot covered this video recently as part of her own video about Christian witchcraft. I highly recommend you check out Taylor’s video.

Prosperity Gospel, Magic, and Unrealistic Explanations

One of the things I notice in the prosperity gospel movement is that there doesn’t seem to be any limits to what one can accomplish through such “name it and claim it” theology. If you can find a verse in the Bible that (maybe kinda sorta even) says you’re entitled to something, you have every right to claim it and the power of God will make it yours.

Some understandings of magic seem to think this as well. i’ve heard such aphorisms of “if you can imagine it, you can have it.” To be honest, I find that an awful big check to write. And this creates problems when you don’t actually get whatever you tried to visualize/magic/name and claim into existence.

Other understandings of magic — my own included — tends to put limits on magic. We understand that the world is a complex place and, as awesome as our personal power can be, it is not unlimited. Nor is it supreme. And this leads me to my next point.

Victim Blaming Becomes a Thing

As i said, when the prayer, spell, or Bible verse doesn’t cause the desired results, someone needs to come up with an explanation. And since “prayer/magic must be bullshit” isn’t one most people who believe in such things are typically willing to jump to very quickly, they look for other explanations. When prayers don’t work out, many Christians will decide that what they wanted was apparently not God’s will. It’s not an entirely satisfactory answer, but it’s one that allows for there to be some limiting factor on the efficacy of prayers.

That doesn’t seem to be a popular explanation among adherents of the prosperity gospel. I suspect that’s because the prosperity is founded upon the belief that you deserve things you want. So saying the things you want are outside God’s will flies in that face. So other explanations are sought. And typically, those explanations are rooted in victim blaming. “You must have some sin in your life preventing God from blessing you,” “you must not have had enough faith,” and “you just didn’t pray hard enough” are all common explanations I’ve seen. If the prosperity gospel way fails you, you must have done it wrong somehow.

I’ve seen similar ideas come from various magical practitioners. Insufficient belief, negative thoughts, and insufficiently clear/vivid visualizations of the goal are often reasons I’ve seen given. Again, the message is clear: You must be doing it wrong.

Personally, I prefer a more complex and more realistic (in my opinion) view of magic that acknowledges that the world is a complex place and a lot of factors — many of which are beyond our control — go into determining what happens. I covered some examples of this in a video I produced in 2021 when I explored the limits of magic and reasons it sometimes doesn’t work.

I think that an understanding of magic or prayer that allows us to see a failure to get the results we were hoping for as something more/other than a result of a personal failing is important.

(Lack of) Ethical Consideration

One of the things that I notice about many adherents of the prosperity gospel is that they don’t seem to put a lot of ethical consideration into what they’re “naming and claiming.” If they can find a verse that they can interpret as saying God has promised them whatever it is that they want, then they typically invoke the power of the Holy Ghost in an attempt to seize it without further thought. They don’t think about how getting what they want might impact their lives or the lives of others.

And while I’m sure there are witches and other magical practitioners that similarly put little ethical thought into what they want or the impact of getting it,6 that’s not been how those I have encountered tend to act. Instead, they seem to show a deep concern for how their magic impacts others. For example, I remember one witch asking about the ethics of doing a spell to get a particular job. “What if someone else needed that job more than I did?” And while there are a number of reasons I think such magic can be perfectly ethical, I appreciate that many of my fellow witches are doing that level of soul searching.

Also, many witches perform divination when contemplating doing spellwork. Often, this divination includes questions about the potential impact and consequences of the spell. The results of such spellwork might change one’s approach to accomplishing one’s goal, modify the goal, or even scrap the endeavor altogether. I think that such thoughtful reflection is essential to responsible magic.

Closing Thoughts

I think that the parallels between witchcraft/magic and the Christian prosperity gospel is interesting. However, I also think it’s important to note the parallels that suggest problematic elements are important so that those of us who wish to be more ethical and introspective about our witchcraft and magical practices can work to avoid or overcome them. After all, while a wise person learns from their mistakes, an even wiser person also learns from the mistakes of others around them.

Footnotes

  1. This was a church that proclaimed that “sign gifts” like prophecies and speaking in tongues are still active in the world today. They preferred the term “Full Gospel” to “Pentecostal” or “charismatic,” arguing that by teaching that believers can and should be “baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.” They believed that those churches that stopped after getting people to commit their lives to Jesus and baptizing them with water were only offering a partial gospel. Sure, they’d argue, such Christians were “saved,” but they weren’t walking in the full blessings of God. ↩︎
  2. Surely, I’m not the only one who has noticed the amount of overlap between the prosperity gospel and spiritual warfare movements. And both of them seem to have this “speak it into existence by quoting Scripture and/or calling on the name of Jesus” theology. ↩︎
  3. I should note that I’m saying “the popular manifestation movement” intentionally here. I understand that manifestation is a concept that has been around in Hinduism for a long time. And like most popular ideas that share a name with practices from a much older tradition/culture, there are a lot of differences there as well. It would be a gross error to apply anything I say about the popular manifestation movement to the concept of manifestation that exists in a more traditional Hindu context. ↩︎
  4. Someone might read this post and accuse me of saying that I consider my own understanding of witchcraft and magic is superior to other understandings in it. And in the case of providing ways to avoid falling into the pitfalls that plague the prosperity gospel, I can only say that I’m guilty as charged. ↩︎
  5. An interesting trend I’ve noticed lately is that many of them are using a transliteration of Jesus’s Hebrew name “Yeshua” as if that’s even more powerful than the Greek version “Jesus.” ↩︎
  6. I also worry this mentality could become more common as time goes by. This is especially due to the fact that so much is spoken of in the witchcraft and magical communities about self-empowerment and individualism while so little is said about interdependence and our communal responsibilities. Both are equally important and I strive to promote an equliibrium between them. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion

Polytheology: Deities I believe (might) exist vs. deities I worship

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I think something that initially confuses many non-polytheists is that when I say I believe a given deity exists, that doesn’t necessarily mean I worship that deity. In reality, there are many deities that I think exists (or am at least open to the possibility that they exist) that I have no interest in worshiping. This includes Egyptian deities, indigenous deities or spirits, most of the Greek deities,1 and even a majority of the deities mentioned in the Norse and other Germanic mythologies. This can be for a variety of reasons, though the most too common are that they are part of a culture that I’m not drawn to2 and their worship tends to focus on aspects of life and/or spirituality that I’m not particularly interested in.

And for many modern polytheists,3 that’s perfectly okay. As a rule, we have no rule saying that other people must honor our particular deities. We say “go worship other deities if you wish, or no deity at all. Just be decent people.”

This is also why I don’t see the need to comment on whether other people’s gods are “real.” Maybe? Probably. The only thing I question is the claims that some other theists make about their deities. For example, I’m never going to accept monotheists’ claims that their deity is the “only game in town.” But does that mean that I don’t think that deity exists? Or do I just think they misunderstand the nature of their own deity?4 In the end, I don’t think it matters. As long as they’re willing to live and let live, I’m happy to follow suit.

This kind of attitude makes it fairly easy for me as a polytheist to embrace a pluralistic society.

Post History: I drafted this post on 9 February 2025. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on 10 February 2025.

Footnotes

  1. The only exception seems to be Pan. i keep feeling drawn to him from time to time for some reason. ↩︎
  2. And in the case of culturally bound closed traditions, I have no business messing with their gods as someone outside that culture/tradition. ↩︎
  3. A year or two ago, I made the mistake of not making that clarification on BlueSky. I made a similar statement about “polytheists” in general and a Jewish man rightfully called me out on it. He pointed out that while ancient Romans were okay with people praying to other gods in addition to the Roman ones, praying and making sacrifices to the Roman gods was absolutely mandatory. This was a cause of much conflict between them and the Jews of the time, especially since the Romans insisted that getting everyone to honor their gods was essential to the health of their empire. Fortunately, I think most polytheists are less inclined to fuse their religion with such nationalism. But it’s also important not to erase our history, even unintentionally. ↩︎
  4. I suppose that if I were to accept that the deity themselves were claiming to be the only deity in existence, I’d have to conclude that said deity is being untruthful. However, I have no verifiable evidence that any such deity is making that claim for themselves. i just have their followers making that claim on their behalf and claiming it’s from the deity. ↩︎
Books, Gender and Sexuality, Religion, Sexuality

Thoughts from an ex-gay survivor reading other survivors’ experiences (and one in particular)

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Personal Note: As I’m sure you all noticed, my plans to return to my regular blogging schedule at the beginning of the month didn’t happen. What can i say? Oopsie. I guess the news from my electrophysiologist on 30 January impacted me a bit more than I expected. I’ll write a post about that later. But I did want to write this post about one of the books I’ve been reading.

One of the three books I’m currently reading1 is Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors’ Stories of Conversion Therapy, edited by Lucas (Luke) Wilson.2 It’s a powerful book and one I can relate to heavily as someone who tried to “pray away the gay”3 for a few years myself. I also appreciate Luke’s4 introduction, in which he goes over the history of conversion therapy and what the research has determined about it’s efficacy and harm. Lots of footnotes with lots of citations.

The rest of the book consists of seventeen short essays from various survivors sharing an experience they had while going through conversion therapy or the impact going through it had on them. I’ve only read twelve of them so far, but they’ve each been stark and powerful. They should be a real eye-opener to anyone who is wondering what the “big deal” about conversion therapy really is.5

I want to take the rest of this post to highlight the story that I’ve found the most relatable so far. That’s the essay by Chris Csabs, which is titled “Into the Dark.” Chris was in a Christian band.6 In his essay, Chris relates an experience he had after his band played at a megachurch. I noticed two things about it. The first was the impact that something as simple as having a random guy hug him had on him. Chris wrote:

A momentary look of confusion flashed across his face before he nodded. “Of course, no problem! Bless ya, bro!” he replied cheerfully, bringing his long arms out in a bear-like hug, seemingly unaware of my discomfort. My heart instantly started beating faster.

I’m disgusting.7

Such a normal act created a great deal of inner turmoil in the form of guilt and shame, simply because trying to change his orientation forced him to question his motives and feelings at every turn. I remember having similar experiences and can echo Chris’s description of just how painful and difficult it can be.

The other thing that I noted was the depiction of how lonely Chris seemed to be. Despite the fact that he was traveling with fellow Christians and had just finished performing in front of a crowd, he felt isolated. Further, he felt like he had to isolate himself. In fact, he continued writing about that hug:

I returned the hug briefly, acutely aware in that moment that, because of my plan to become straight, this would probably be the most physical affection that I’d ever again have with another man. My heart ached, and I intentionally turned my attention to the view I had of the others, still mingling and laughing with the swelling group of other congregants.

I can relate to this, as I’ve written in the past about how the the ex-gay road is ultimately a solo journey no matter how many claim to support you:

The thing is, dealing with one’s feelings is ultimately something one has to do alone. No one can feel those feelings for you. No one can take them away from you. No one can do anything other than support you through it all, and no one can give that support 24/7. I found that late at night, laying in my bed, I was left all alone to either face my desire for love and intimacy with another man alone or repress it alone. It was my burden to carry, and the more I fought it, the heavier that burden got.

I encourage you to buy a copy of the book (or check it out at your local library) and read the rest of Chris’s story. And all the other survivors’ stories as well. Though in the interest of preparing people, I will note that some may find some of the stories disturbing or even triggering. Some of the stories include frank discussions of disturbing “therapies,” suicidal ideation, and even abuse at the hands of the person providing the “therapy.” However, I think this is important because it brings home just what a toxic and dangerous practice conversion therapy really is.

Post History: This post was written, proofread, revised, and finalized on 7 February 2025.

Footnotes

  1. What can I say? I’m an overachiever when it comes to reading? ↩︎
  2. Looking at the table of contents, I note that Luke also contributed an essay to the anthology. So he’s more than just the editor. (Insert a “Hairclub For Men” commercial parody here.) ↩︎
  3. I appreciate that the book includes stories from both people who tried “therapeutic” approaches to changing their sexuality and/or gender identity and religious ones. I think most of us who’ve gone through such things tend to use “ex-gay ministry” and conversion therapy” interchangeably. After all, while there are obvious differences in the two approaches, they’re trying to accomplish the same task and result in the same kinds of trauma and harm. Plus, as evidenced by at least some of the stories in the book, a lot of people resort to a combination of both approaches, further linking them. ↩︎
  4. I’ve chosen to refer to him in this post as “Luke” because that’s the name he goes by on social media and I’ve had a couple conversations with him there now. ↩︎
  5. Honestly, despite the fact that I tried going through an attempt (albeit self-directed) to change my sexual orientation, I found some of the stories shocking. And even those that didn’t surprise me still horrified me at times. ↩︎
  6. Chris doesn’t mention the name of the band and I’ve chosen not to attempt to see if i can hunt it down out of respect for that choice. ↩︎
  7. This line was italicized in the book, indicating it was the thought running through Chris’s mind at the time the incident occurred. Sadly, I have no way to distinguish this from the rest of the quote, so I figure I’d point it out in a footnote. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion

Polytheology: Finding a relationship between cosmology and morality

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NOTE: This series is an exploration of my personal theology, which I tend to hold lightly. It is subject to change as I gain new insights. Also, no one should interpret anything I say as the “one true doctrine.”

I think we’re all familiar with stories about cosmic battles between good and evil. They often depict two great forces, one good and the other evil, in conflict, battling for something. Perhaps they battle for control of the universe. Maybe they battle for the souls of humans. No matter what the prize, such stories fill the human imagination, something our entertainment industry has profited from. I’ve lost count of all the movies and television shows that portray such a conflict, occasionally in interesting ways. And while I agree it makes for highly captivating and enjoyable entertainment, I wish there were other stories that portrayed other understandings of morality and cosmology.1

I think it’s important to understand how popular culture not only shapes how we see the real world around us, but helps shape it. So I think it’s important to consider how such a portrayals of cosmology and morality may not be beneficial when applied to real life. For starters, it allows us to think of “evil” as something driven by an external force rather than an entirely human issue. For example, I think the oppression and dehumanization of certain classes of people is unambiguously and morally reprehensible, but I think it’s motivated by entirely human impulses. In many ways, I think framing such injustice as something supernatural can be used to absolve humans of responsibility and avoid accountability. One example of this can be seen in the response of many white Christians who were indifferent to the Civil Rights movement or even opposed it. Even many Christians2 like Billy Graham, who acknowledged racial injustice was a “human heart issue,” suggested it was a problem that would not be resolved until Jesus’s return.3 This often became an excuse to do little or even nothing.

This is not to say that I think an understanding of cosmology — or theology in general — has nothing to say about morality, however. For starters, I think that my understanding of everything and everyone being bound together by shared wyrd underscores the need for morality. That interdependence is what inspires — even forces — us to consider how our actions affect one another. If there were no consequences for our actions, after all, there would be no need for morality. Simply doing whatever we want would be a perfectly acceptable way to live our lives.

Another problem that I see with the way the dominant culture in our society frames morality, theology, and cosmology is that it does so in highly anthropocentric ways. At face value, his makes sense. After all, human religion is a human construct trying to understand humans’ relationships with the numinous — whether we’re talking about the divine, the wider world, or both. As it’s intended to offer humans guidance, it makes sense that humans would be centered there.

However, I think this becomes problematic when we allow ourselves to assume that the rest of the universe shares our anthropocentric viewpoint. This is how we start to see every natural disaster and other hardship as a personal attack on the humans impacted by these events. It’s the point where we start to speculate about which target(s) of God’s wrath the hurricane was thrown at rather than simply accepting that the hurricane was a force of nature and some humans had the misfortune of being in its path.

I think that a more careful reading of many sacred stories could help alleviate that kind of thinking. As I’m most familiar with the Norse myths, I’ll once again use them as an example. Particularly, I find an examination of the Aesir’s relationship with the jotnar (“giants”) instructive. While many individual jotnar were seen as enemies of the Aesir because they posed a particular threat, they were not collectively seen as evil. In fact, a number of the Aesir were paired with jotnar.4 I’ve seen other Heathens suggest that even Thor, famous slayer of jotnar, only killed those who threatened the balance and/or safety of the world. Beyond that, the Aesir and the jotnar seem to leave one another alone, having different interests. I think it would be good for we humans to internalize a similar sense that there are forces (and possibly entities) in this world that do not share our interests. And sometimes, it means that our best response to them is to stay out of their way as much as possible and find ways to cope and mitigate harm when that is not possible.

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on November 17, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it later the same day.

Footnotes

  1. It particularly bothers me when stories that draw on Pagan (either modern or ancient) themes fall into this trope. The reality is that if any such cosmic battle existed in certain cultures’ stories, they were often far more complicated and nuanced than “the good guys versus the bad guys.” ↩︎
  2. Lest anyone think I’m solely picking on white Christians for their frequent allegiance to white supremacy, let me acknowledge that modern Pagan and Heathen movements and organizations have their own struggles white supremacy. In fact, I’m currently reading Queering the Runes by Siri Vincent Plouff. In it, they go through a brief explanation of Heathenry’s dark history of white supremacy. Fortunately, they also have a web page with recommended resources for ensuring that your Heathen practice is anti-racist. ↩︎
  3. For an exact quote, check out chapter two of White Evangelical Racism by Anthea Butler. Then read the entire book. I highly recommend it. ↩︎
  4. Freyr’s marriage to Gerd and Njord’s marriage to Skadi are two famous examples. Also, the interesting thing to note about the marriage between Skadi and Njord is that it was arranged to make peace with Skadi after the Aesir had killed her father, Thiazi. Again, thissuggests a more complicated relationship to me than “good guys versus bad guys.” ↩︎
Paganism, Religion

Polytheology: Remaining in community with the ancestors

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NOTE: This series is an exploration of my personal theology, which I tend to hold lightly. It is subject to change as I gain new insights. Also, no one should interpret anything I say as the “one true doctrine.”

Happy Monday, dear readers. For today’s polytheology post and in honor of Samhain/Winter Nights,1 I thought it would be good to talk about the importance of the ancestors in my theology. After all, not only are we in community with our fellow humans and our deities, we are still in community with those humans who went before us, who laid the foundations for the world we currently live in and continue to shape.

I originally became aware of the practice of some Pagans to honor the ancestors when I spent time in Ár nDraíocht Féin. In their rites, they welcome three groups of beings to join them: The gods, the ancestors, and the nature spirits, making offerings to each of them in turn. In time, I learned that more Pagan groups had similar traditions or practices.

As time went by, I came to understand why this was so important. I began to see that much of my Pagan spirituality was about being in community with others, including non-humans (and non-living humans). I came to understand that all of us — humans, ancestors, deities, and nature spirits — were meant to work in cooperation to shape the world we live in. I’ve written about this kind of mutual cooperation with our deities for such a goal:

I think this mutual need shapes a different kind of relationship between deities and humans than one suggested by religions that posit an all-powerful, authoritarian deity. Our deities must cooperate and even negotiate with us rather than handing down commandments from on high. This puts us on more equal footing and allows us to meaningfully consent to any relationship with them. It also suggests that we are all a part of that One Eternal Reality, trying to work communally to shape it into something beneficial for all.

So why is it important to have such a cooperative relationship with our ancestors? In my mind, the short answer to that question is “continuity.” After all, our ancestors began shaping wyrd long before we came along. They had a vision and I think that understanding and appreciating that vision is an important part of continuing the work that they began.

It’s important to note that our own vision for the world may not look the same as the one our ancestors had. That’s to be expected, as things have changed since them. And in some cases, I’m sure our ancestors’ vision was imperfect and not something to be continued.2 After all, if we do not think our deities are perfect sources of wisdom, why would we think better of our human forebears?

And yet, I also think their vision is not totally without merit. Sometimes, there is a fragment of something truly beautiful worth pulling out, embracing and expanding upon. Perhaps it’s an ideal that they expressed, but failed to live up to.3

I also think it’s necessary to understand their vision to understand how they created the world that they left for us. In understanding that, we can better figure out what to do with it, and even how to fix the flaws they left behind and/or created through their ignorance and prejudices. And sometimes, it’s necessary to understand why some things need to be dismantled and built over by starting with a better foundation.

In the end, I think that even when we dismantle certain things from the past, we honor our ancestors. In such acts, we acknowledge their humanity, complete with all its imperfections. And hopefully, it causes us to examine our own humanity and our own imperfections. May it be so and may it lead us to considering what foundations we leave our own descendants (both biological and otherwise) to work with in the future.

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on November 3, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on November 4, 204.

Footnotes

  1. One of the things that I love about Winter Nights is that it lasts for more than a single day. In fact, the way groups like The Troth calculate it, it lasts from one full moon to the following new moon. That’s a fortnight of ancestrally goodness! ↩︎
  2. For example, there’s no escaping the truth that a good number of my ancestors were colonizers. That is a vision I do not wish to continue and try to find ways to break away from. ↩︎
  3. Like those founding fathers who boldly stated “all men are created equal” while practicing slavery. What they said was true and valuable. We just need to practice it more fully than they did. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion

Polytheology: Human relationship with deities

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NOTE: This series is an exploration of my personal theology, which I tend to hold lightly. It is subject to change as I gain new insights. Also, no one should interpret anything I say as the “one true doctrine.”

In my previous post in this series, I posited that I do not consider deities to be omnipotent. When I’ve mentioned this on various occasions, someone has often asked, “What’s the point in worshiping them?” I’m not sure whether the person asking the question has a limited understanding of what it means to worship a deity or honestly does not see the value in honoring and establishing a relationship with a being who, while not all-powerful, still might have much to offer. Either way, I think it suggests a misunderstanding of what having a relationship with a deity or deities means in my theology.

To me, my relationships with my deities are not about unquestioning obedience or fawning, which often seems to be what comes to mind when many people hear the word “worship.” This is why, as Moss Matthey noted in An Apostate’s Guide to WItchcraft, some witches prefer to say they “work with” their deities rather than worshiping them. I particularly like the idea of “working with deities,” as I’ve described at least one aspect of my relationship with my deities like that in a previous post:

But my relationship with Freyja and the other deities goes beyond devotion as well, just as my relationships with my husband and my friends do. We are also partners in a great effort — that effort to make the world a better and more just place. So we have discussions. We occasionally even have arguments. I’ve even been known to swear at my deities before. And again, they respect me for it. In the end, we are bound together in our desire to build community, a better world, and a better place.

Of course, I will note that this does not mean that I don’t show great honor to my deities. After all, while neither all-powerful nor all-knowing, they are typically smarter and capable of producing greater change than I am alone. I think a certain amount of appreciation for that is wise on my part. And this is where I favor Yvonne Aburrow’s efforts to reclaim the word “worship” and understand what it means in a more Pagan context.

Of course, i will note that I’m probably more interested in my deities’ wisdom than their power. That is my witch side influencing my theology. After all, I believe that we are empowered and capable of doing much on our own, rather than reduced to asking our deities to give us what we need and/or want.

This is also where Gardner’s writings have influenced my theology, as he once wrote that the gods of the witches wanted people to be happy, but needed people’s help to make that happen. This again suggests to me that our deities are as reliant on us as we are on them. Perhaps they rely on us even more than we them. After all, I think Terry Pratchett1 was on to something when he suggested that deities were only empowered through the faith their followers had in them in his book Small Gods.2 I think there’s a certain amount of sense in this line of thinking.

I think this mutual need shapes a different kind of relationship between deities and humans than one suggested by religions that posit an all-powerful, authoritarian deity. Our deities must cooperate and even negotiate with us rather than handing down commandments from on high. This puts us on more equal footing and allows us to meaningfully consent3 to any relationship with them. It also suggests that we are all a part of that One Eternal Reality, trying to work communally to shape it into something beneficial for all.

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on October 15, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on October 16, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. I’m not sure whether Pratchett would be honored, amused, or horrified (probably some combination of the three) by the suggestion, but I’d argue that the man was one of greatest theologians in my lifetime. ↩︎
  2. Yes, I’m taking theology from a fiction book. After all, what are the ancient myths but stories once told to convey important ideas and truths? I see no reason to not search modern stories for important ideas and truths as well. But for the record, I hope no one ever takes The Color of Magic as literal history. (Monstrous Regiment, on the other hand….) ↩︎
  3. After all, consent is only meaningful if it can be withheld and/or withdrawn without retribution. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion

Polytheology: The nature of deities

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NOTE: This series is an exploration of my personal theology, which I tend to hold lightly. It is subject to change as I gain new insights. Also, no one should interpret anything I say as the “one true doctrine.”

Happy Monday, dear readers! After last week’s brief detour into a book review, I thought it’d be good to get back into my polytheology series. With that in mind, I wanted to write something about my views on deities and their nature. This topic is near and dear to my heart because I think that, thanks to living in a society that is soaking in Christian hegemony, most people have very Christian and/or monotheistic views about this topic. As a polytheist, I’d like to take a moment to push back against the assumptions this leads many people to hold and offer a different perspective (or more than one).

The first one that I want to tackle is the “omni” attributes of God espoused by Christianity and other monotheistic religions. As an evangelical Christian, I grew up being taught that God was omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipresent (all present). I’ve seen some people more recently talking about God being omnibenevolent (all good or all loving). While omnibenevolence was certainly something my church ascribed to God, we never used that word.

But in a polytheistic theology, I’m not sure attributing these traits to our deities makes much sense. After all, can you have more than one omnipotent deity? What if they disagree with one another? Who would win the argument? And why would omniscient deities disagree with one another? Wouldn’t they have the same infinite knowledge and therefore come to the same conclusions?

If you look at the Norse myths,1 you start to notice that they don’t really bear out these traits either. After all, the Aesir begin to age and grow weak when the Jotun Thjazi has Loki steal Idun and her life-sustaining apples.2 Apparently, without these magical fruits, even the Aesir are powerless against aging and death. And while one might argue that Odin may have eventually become all-knowing and all-wise,3 he had to gain that knowledge and wisdom through processes that involved things like learning seid-magic from Freyja, hanging himself on Yggdrasil in order to acquire knowledge of the runes, and sacrificing an eye in exchange for a single drink from Mimir’s well. As for omnibenevolence, I think that Loki’s mechanations to bring about Baldr’s death demonstrates that attribute to be not applicable to at least some of the Aesir.

Similarly, our deities are not necessarily uncreated, nor have they always existed. Indeed, the Norse myths talk regularly about the parents of the various Aesir, suggesting they were born into existence just like most living things. In fact, some polytheistic theologians suggest that deities may not have even started out as being deities at first. Many deities may have been a nature spirit or human ancestor that over time became deified.4 This idea draws me back to something I said in my post about the One Eternal Reality:

Of course, I’ll note that the One Eternal Reality goes beyond deities and encompasses humans as well.

This draws attention to the fact that while we and the deities are different, we are not quite as separate and unlike one another as other theologies might suggest. I hope to explore that thought more when I discuss the nature of relationships between humans and deities in my next post in this series.

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on October 6, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. I suspect this is true in myths from all around the world, but I’ll focus on those myths I’m most familiar with and which speak most directly to my own spiritual tradition. ↩︎
  2. It’s interesting to note that in the telling of this myth over at Norse Mythology for Smart People, the author notes that the original tale most likely involved not apples, but some other form of fruit or nut. ↩︎
  3. I’m not sure I’m counted among those people. While I believe the Allfather is extremely wise and knowledgeable, I’m not convinced he’s omnipotent even now. ↩︎
  4. Indeed, this is a question i keep coming back to and bringing up to others. What makes a deity a deity? What distinguishes them from an ancestral spirit, a nature spirit, or some other being? ↩︎
Books, Magic/Magick, Paganism, Religion

Hamingja: Reflections on chapter three of “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith

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Happy Saturday, dear readers! In today’s post, I want to take a brief look at the fourth and final part of the Heathen self that Ryan Smith discusses in the third chapter of Spinning Wyrd.

What jumped out at me is that Smith (or at least those whose views he’s sharing) seems to hold two slightly different views of the hamingja. On the one hand, hamingja sounds as if its an impersonal force, that can be shared, given away, or pooled among people. At the same time, Smith (or his sources) describe the hamingja as a sort of guardian spirit, which in my mind would make such sharing and pooling less feasible. I suppose I’m more likely to lean into the former understanding myself, as the idea of the hamingja having its own intelligence would put me in the same quandry I have over the fylgja.

In many ways, Smith’s discussion of fylgja reminds me of the idea of will, talked about in many witchcraft and other occult communities. I see the will as that part of us which enables us to transform our desires into action, which makes it the root of magic. Smith’s discussion of the hamingja as that part of the Heathen self that most directly allows us to reshape wyrd and help build our reality seems to align with that understanding quite well.

Of course, this idea that hamginja is something we can direct and utilize makes me wonder at the choice to refer to it as “luck,” as that’s a term that I typically see as related to chance and forces beyond our control. This does not seem to fit hamingja as Smith describes it, other than in the sense that Smith notes that orlog has a role in defining and shaping our hamingja. To me, this reinforces the idea that magic and our ability to shape wyrd has its limits, something I’ve explored before in a video.

I think this also makes sense from a Heathen viewpoint, this mutual influence between orlog and our hamingja. it reminds me of the creative tension between two forces that seems to consistently pop up in Norse myth and lore, starting with the mixing of fire and ice in the creation story.

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on October 4, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on October 5, 2024.

Books, Paganism, Religion, Spiritual Development, Witchcraft

Let’s talk about “An Apostate’s Guide to Witchcraft” by Moss Matthey

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[Content Note: Brief references to of cults, homophobia, self-hatred, and authoritarian control.]

Happy Monday, dear readers! I thought I’d take a brief break from my polytheology series to talk about a book I recently finished reading. That book is An Apostate’s Guide to Witchcraft: Finding Freedom Through Magic by Moss Matthey. In it, Matthey describes his own experiences leaving the cult he was raised in and finding a home in witchcraft. Along the way, he shares a bit about his own witchcraft practice and offers advice and simple exercises to those readers who might be interested in exploring whether witchcraft might be something they’re drawn to.

In a lot of ways, I found a lot of Matthey’s story relatable. After all, we are both gay men1 who grew up in fairly conservative Christian church2 that essentially taught us to hate ourselves. We both eventually found freedom in our respective witchcraft practices, which bear some unsurprising similarities.

One of the things that I appreciated about Matthey’s approach to the subject was that he was quite clear that he had no interest in spending a great deal of time dissecting the beliefs of “the cult”,3 setting these goals for the book instead:

Through these pages I will introduce you to a world of magic and spirits, where queerness is celebrated and sin does not exist. I will tell you how I left a cult and the lessons I learned along the way. Culture and community will be celebrated through folklore, myth, and folk magic. We may even take a detour into theology and philosophy, though hopefully it won’t be too boring. Above all, we will celebrate the joy and freedom of Witchcraft.

I think he accomplished those goals quite well. I cannot recommend this book enough for those who are coming out of any religion that asserted any degree of authoritarian control. I think those who, like Matthey and myself, experienced abuse and/or trauma due to their sexuality or gender will find it particularly helpful. And if a handful of people read it and find a home in witchcraft, all the better.

Another reason that this book holds special meaning for me is that I think it diversifies the stories available to those deconstructing. I often get the sense that the stories available — both those published in books and those shared less formally — tend to come from who have either found a way to remain in Christianity (albeit a more progressive form) or those who have walked away from religion altogether. While I think both of those trajectories are valid for those who find comfort and healing in them, I don’t think they are the only trajectories available. Also, I feel that the fact that those two trajectories get the lion’s share of the attention means that deconstruction discourse still often focuses exclusively on Christian theologies and Christian understandings of the world. Combined with Changing Paths by Yvonne Aburrow, this book could help provide a needed correction to that.4

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on September 28, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on September 29, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. I want to point out that I’m using these words carefully when describing Matthey. In the book, he notes that he has started to prefer referring to himself as “queer” rather than “gay,” though he affirms the latter is an accurate description. He also notes that his understanding of his sexuality and gender continues to be more expansive. So while everything I’ve been able to find suggests his pronouns are still he/him and it’s okay to refer to him as a man, I want to draw your attention to all this just in case I missed something and am unintentionally misgendering him here. ↩︎
  2. I will note that I don’t feel that my church exerted quite the same degree of control over its members as the cult Matthey belonged to (the Jehovah’s Witnesses) tends to. For example, my family was not instructed to shun me at any time. But that’s the interesting thing you learn when you study cults: There are different degrees of cult behavior, and my church was “bad enough.” For more information on cults, I would recommend Cultish by Amanda Montell in addition to the books by Steven Hassan that Matthey recommends. I will note that I haven’t read any of Hassan’s books, but have looked over his BITE Model of Authoritarian Control (which Matthey also mentions) in the past and consider it an invaluable tool. ↩︎
  3. Matthey only mentions the Jehovah’s Witnesses by name once in the entire book. The rest of the time, he simply refers to it as “the cult.” I’m not sure if this was his reasoning personally, but there are traditions of witchcraft that hold that naming something gives it power, so it is often better to not say the name of those who are a disruptive influence. Again, I don’t know if that motivated Matthey’s choice about how he chose to refer to his former cult in the book, but I think there’s a certain amount of wisdom in that line of reasoning. ↩︎
  4. Of course, once Yvonne’s upcoming book, Pagan Roots, is released at the beginning of next year, I think all three books would make a powerful trio. ↩︎