Category Archives: Religion

Religion

A polytheist’s thoughts on “universal salvation” and Christian hegemony

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Note: This post is heavily based on a Twitter thread I posted. I’ve edited and added to what I said there to flesh out a few more thoughts in this post.

The other day a Christian’s post about universal salvation came across my Threads feed and I decided to post something to my social media accounts1 about it:

I got a wide range of comments in reply to this, including strong agreement with my point of view, like a friend who shared a tweet from a couple years ago where they expressed very similar sentiments.

Then there were those who offered a different understanding of universal salvation, like this one:

Some were curious and expressed genuine curiosity about the point I was getting at, even asking clarifying questions. Overall I ended up having a number of thoughtful conversations with people. Oh sure, there were the naysayers. One person condemned the whole idea of universal salvation. A couple people simply said I didn’t understand universal salvation or what heaven would be like.2

There was also the fact that people didn’t get the deeper message that I was going for: the Christian hegemony that’s often inherent in many models of universal salvation. Now, I grant you, that’s at least partly my fault. For the sake of brevity, I said something and a lot of people focused on the details of my words. In retrospect, I should have done a better job of explaining my broader point.

But the reality is that many Christians’ idea of “universal salvation” seems to amount to “our understanding of god is still the right one, but our god will still let you into the party despite not believing in him.” In many ways, that still invalidates those of us who honor other deities or practice other religions.3 Josh Scott, lead pastor at Gracepointe Church in Nashville Tennessee actually addressed this when I asked him a question about Christian supremacy during one church service:4

I appreciate Josh’s willingness to point out that Christian supremacy and Christian Nationalism go hand-in-hand and that the former is just the most extreme and most toxic manifestation of the latter. I tried to make this point in a question in one of my follow-up tweets to the universal salvation conversation(s):

I also think it’s important to notice an important phrase uttered by the Jewish journalist in Josh’s story: “[You believe that] I’m okay with God because of Jesus.” The fact is, the very premise that we need to “be made okay with God” upholds Christian hegemony. A lot of us already see ourselves as right with the Divine or numinous. Or if we need to get right or reconnect with the Divine or the numinous, we believe that is a matter for us to take care of for ourselves, not some external savior. So in this sense, many Christians who espouse universal salvation5 push a model that still says we (1) need to be reconciled with the Divine and (2) need a figure from their religion to handle that reconciliation.

This is why I’d encourage those Christians who espouse universal salvation and/or universal reconciliation to dig a little deeper and consider how their understanding of those concepts might still be problematic, especially to those of us who are not Christians.

Post History: I started the first draft of this post on September 6, 2024. I completed that draft on September 7, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized the post on September 8, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. I included the tweet in this post. The same post can also be found on Threads and BlueSky however. Similarly, while there were some responses on Threads, I will mostly be showing responses received on Twitter, as that’s where I got the most feedback and engagement. ↩︎
  2. I mean, that may be a fair assessment, but just stating that with no further comment does not actually keep the dialogue going. Tell me where my understanding is wrong, maybe? Many thanks to those who chose to keep the dialogue going, even if they disagreed with me. Of course, I’ll note that I never set down a rule about what universal salvation was. I specifically said “if this is your definition, then I have an issue with it.” ↩︎
  3. There’s a similar problem with claims that “we’re really worshiping the same god anyway.” I’m a polytheist and my deities are not the Christian (or any other monotheistic) god in cosplay., ↩︎
  4. I snagged this clip from the church’s YouTube video of the full service. This clip starts at about the 51:40 mark of the full video. ↩︎
  5. Note that I’m not claiming that all Christians who espouse universal salvation or universal reconciliation hold to such views. in fact, Josh Scott’s church makes it clear that all people are already valued and accepted by God and deny that this was the purpose of Jesus’s ministry at all. However, I think it’s important to discuss that even among “progressive Christians,” a lot of models offered for universal salvation do get pretty messy when viewed through a pluralistic lens. ↩︎
Books, Paganism, Religion

The Hamr: Reflections inspired by chapter three of “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith

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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. ↩︎
Magic/Magick, Paganism, Religion

That time I (allegedly) met a Norn: A post inspired by chapter two of “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith.

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During the second half of chapter two of Spinning Wyrd, Ryan Smith turned his attention to discussing the Norns and offering his understanding of them and what little is written about them. Overall, I think Smith offers an excellent analysis. However, there is one statement that is making a bit of personal conflict for me:

Nothing comparable to the rampant evidence of other animistic or votive practices dedicated to other Powers is present, strongly suggesting the lesser Norns were just as unapproachable as the Three.

Earlier in the chapter, he suggested that the “main” three Norns — Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld — are also unapproachable. Largely, I think it’s true. I certainly do not think that one can “renegotiate” the impact wyrd has on one’s life for them. And yet, I believe I have encountered and interacted with a Norn.

This happened back sometime in 2008 (give or take a year). My friend Becky had come over to hang out and she asked me to do a reading for her So i grabbed one of my rune sets and started reading for her and someone came along and “sat with me.”1 When I asked this individual who she was, her simple answer was “Norn.” I felt her presence during the entire reading.

Now bear in mind that this is a subjective unconfirmed personal experience that I had. So it and any unconfirmed personal gnosis I might derive from it should be taken with a grain of salt. However, based on my experience, I have developed a personal working hypothesis about the experience and what it means. So for the rest of this post, I will assume that some being joined me for this reading and that they correctly identified themselves as a Norn.

The Norn did not have much to say. However, it filled me with a sense that this was an important reading for my friend. First and foremost, I think the Norn’s presence was intended to make it clear that this reading was tapping into and exploring important ways in which wyrd was currently affecting and shaping Becky’s life, suggesting choices made as a result of this reading could have important impacts as well.2

I also get the sense that perhaps the Norn’s presence enabled me to better read the patterns of wyrd during this reading. After all, i will note that I consider this one of the most powerful and clear readings I have ever given. I get the impression Becky agreed with my assessment as well.

So while I mostly agree with Ryan Smiths assertion, I cannot in good conscience agree with it unequivocally. I do think it’s possible to interact with a Norn in certain cases, particularly when matters of great importance to our personal lives and the greater web of wyrd are involved. Though I’ll also note that I did not seek out this contact with a Norn and I have never tried to repeat the experience. I suppose I have a sense that when it comes to Norns, “don’t call us, we’ll call you” might be wise counsel.

Post History: I wrote the first draft of this post on August 21, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on August 22, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. Part of my own practice involves possession, typically by a deity. When i say that someone “sat with me” in this context, I mean that the deity or other being decided to share my body with me, but did not necessarily seek to take control. My personal experience is that some deities/spirits will do this on occasion just to observe a situation and/or provide commentary. ↩︎
  2. I think of it as a parallel to some tarot readers and teacher who suggest that the presence of three or more Major Arcana cards in a tarot reading indicates that the reading is touching on matters of great spiritual importance and impact. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion

I think it’s important to interrogate the worthiness of our deities

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I’ve been reading an advance reader copy of Pagan Roots by Yvonne Aburrow.1 One of the things Yvonne covers in the book is a list of terms and concepts that they believe (and I concur with them) that we Pagans should reclaim from how they’re used in Christianity. One of the words they talk about is “worship,” which Yvonne also covered in their “Reclaiming Pagan Words” series on YouTube:

To briefly summarize, Yvonne points out that “worship” originally meant something akin to “the state of being worthy.” It was later when it became about an act in relation to deities. Yvonne notes that this understanding of the word came after many of the pagan religions of Europe had already been supplanted. However, they suggest that we might see the act of worship as “giving honor to that which is most worthy.” It think that’s a pretty good definition,2 but I think that begs the question:

Are our deities3 worthy? What makes them worthy?

Back in 2022, I posted a video to TikTok4 in which I asked that first question point blank. To be honest, I can think of deities that — assuming they’re anything like how certain followers of those deities describe them — I do not think are worthy of my honor or worship. Instead, I think they are worthy of my contempt at best and my fierce opposition at worst. After all, I don’t even think my own deities are entirely above criticism, as I think I made fairly clear last week. I think that giving ourselves the freedom to interrogate whether our deities are actually worthy of even our time — let alone our praise and honor — is a powerful tool for making sure we don’t fall into the trap of authoritarian religion.

But even if we have a sense that yes, our deities are worthy of our honor, I think it’s beneficial to explore our reasons for coming to that conclusion. After all, I think doing so provides great insights into ourselves, our values, and what we hope to get out of our relationship(s) with our deities. After all, I should hope that we’re honoring our deities and establishing relationships with hem for more (and better) reasons than the fact that we’re expected to and/or we’re trying to avoid getting punished for not doing so.

So tell me, dear reader. Who do you honor? Why do you find them worthy of your honor?

Post History: I wrote, proofread, and finalized this post on August 18, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. It was was a great honor to be invited to be an advance reader for this book and I want to once more thank Yvonne for the opportunity. I look forward to promoting it and talking about it at great length when it’s released. ↩︎
  2. I might quibble a bit at the “most worthy part,” but I think that would be a lively discussion during pub theology rather than a more serious battle or a potential schism. ↩︎
  3. I’ll note that I’m writing this blog post from my perspective as a polytheist. However, I think the principle is applicable to any other understanding of the Divine and/or the numinous. ↩︎
  4. Apparently, WordPress seems to have issues saving blog posts that have TIkToks embedded in them. That’s annoying. I guess you’ll have to click through to see the video instead. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion, Spiritual Development, Witchcraft

Synchronicity vs. Looking for Signs: Thoughts while reading “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith

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Happy Friday, dear readers! For today’s blog post, i want to share some reflections inspired by Ryan Smith’s discussion of synchronicity in chapter one of Spinning Wyrd. While discussing the topic, Smith offers this bit of cautionary advice:

When you accept synchronicity into your life, you should refrain as much as possible from actively imposing meaning where it might not be present. Not all moments of coincidence are necessarily instances of synchronicity. Sometimes a flock of ravens chattering on the power line is just a conspiracy of ravens and not a visit from the god of victory to remind you that your utility bill is overdue or that a blackout is imminent.

Personally, I think this is a much needed warning. I too have noticed some Pagans’ tendency (especially among witches) to look at every moment in their life and try to find some sort of sign or portent in it. This can be anything from seeing an animal on the way to work to wondering what it means when the flame on their spell candle dances. And while I get that this is likely at least partly motivated by an understandable and admirable desire to see the wondrous in everything,1 I think a lot of people take it too far. Sometimes, animals show up simply because they exist in the same world as us. And sometimes, a flame dancing is just a demonstration of chaos theory.2

Smith goes on to discuss some of the criteria he uses to discern whether a given event is truly a case of the powers trying to send a message or just stuff coincidentally happening. His biggest advice is to focus primarily on those events that happen in close relation or proximity to ritual or other mystical work. So for example, he might take a raven or two landing on front porch shortly after holding a blot to Odin as a sign more readily than if he saw those same ravens on a fence while walking through the neighborhood on the way to the park. This strikes me as good advice.

I would also suggest that the problem often comes when we actively look for these signs and portents. In my experience, a true sign from the powers feels substantively different than a circumstance to the point where I immediately take notice even though I wasn’t looking for such a sign. And to be honest, I trust the powers I work with to send another sign if I happen to miss the first one.3 So this allows me to relax a bit and not push myself to be on the constant outlook for such signs, making me less likely to “see” ones that are not actually there.

Of course,this requires a person to have a certain level of trust in their own intuition, including the trust that their intuition will ever kick in to begin with. But that’s a confidence and trust that an be built over time and in my opinion, is something well worth cultivating. Ultimately, I think that once most people experience a handful of signs from the powers, their confidence that they’ll spot them without going looking for them begins to grow and they’ll be able to relax.4

Post History: I wrote the draft of this post on August 3, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on August 9, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. Though I have also hypothesized that “what does the flame dancing mean” is often a case of someone — especially if they’re relatively new to witchcraft — looking for some sign that their spell is “working.” That in itself deserves its own exploration as building that kind of confidence in one’s magic is a real need. ↩︎
  2. As someone who’s a bit of a math nerd, I must admit that chaos theory is pretty wondrous in its own right. Sometimes, appreciating the way in which such “randomness” can appear beautiful is well worth meditating upon in its own right. ↩︎
  3. This is also why many mystics and witches suggest that paying attention to repeating “coincidences” is another great way to discern legitimate messages from the powers. I think there’s merit to that bit of counsel as well. ↩︎
  4. Of course, even experienced witches and mystics sometimes mistake a coincidence for a sign or even misread a sign’s meaning. This is to be expected, as developing and improving our discernment is a never-ending process. ↩︎
Books, Paganism, Religion, Witchcraft

Pondering the “Invoking Fire and Ice” rite in “Spinning Wyrd,” by Ryan Smith

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When I was exploring the differences between my witchcraft practice and Wicca back in May, I mentioned that i was still exploring how to start my rituals and create a sort of ritual and magical space. At the time, I shared the following thoughts:

Also, there an aspect of circle casting I’ve found some Wiccans express that I find appealing — the idea of creating magical space, a “place that is not a place in a time that is not a time.” Or another way to put it would be “creating a liminal space for ritual.” This to me is different from creating sacred space and has a value. Setting aside a space to work magic in a given moment makes sense to me.

This also feels right for working with Freyja, though I’m not sure she likes liminal spaces, so much as wild spaces. My perception of Freyja is that much of her worship and magic is about stepping beyond the domain of humans and the bounds of civilization. In many ways, I imagine it as making forays from Midgard out into the wild and primal places of Utgard. So I’ve thought about exploring a way to create ritual space that is a sort of “pocket of Utgard.” Or perhaps a sort of outpost in Utgard. I haven’t made much progress with the idea, but it’s definitely one I keep toying with.

While reading Spinning Wyrd by Ryan Smith, I ran across his “Invoking Fire and Ice” rite, which may be an excellent starting point for what I want to do. To be honest, I’m a bit embarrassed I didn’t think of it myself. After all, the rite involves invoking and bringing together fire and ice — the opposing forces that were pivotal in sparking the creation process in the Norse myths — “in a way that leads to them meeting, joining, and creating a new synthesis of possibility and space for new creation.”1 I’ve often waxed poetic of the creative tension of the fire of Muspelheim and the ice of Niflheim. And yet, it did not occur to me to magically invoke these forces and that creative tension in order to make a space for my own efforts at creation and making changes to wyrd.

I also think this idea meets my needs for creating a sort of “wild space.” After all, the civilized order of Midgard did not come from the meeting of the fire and ice of the two elemental realms. That had to be shaped from the primal forces that resulted from that first moment of creation. I feel that my invocation of fire and ice would create a similarly primal space of unordered forces that I (and those working with me) could according to my (our) needs.

Post History: I began writing this post on July 21, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized the post on July 25, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. I’m directly quoting from chapter one of the book here. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion, Witchcraft

I will call myself a “witch.” Even if I call myself other things as well.

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Part of me is surprised that no one has ever asked me why I call myself a “witch” rather than something from Norse practice (like a spae-man or a seithman.1) Probably because I often ask myself that same question and project my own tendency to question my choices onto others. But the fact that someone — even if only myself — is asking, I thought i might be beneficial to explore the answer to the question in a blog post. So here I go.

I started calling myself a witch back in 1998 when I first started exploring non-initiatory Wicca. I dropped the label somewhat when I started exploring Druidry through Ár nDraíocht Féin and then Heatherny through The Troth. However, I eventually realized that neither of these organizations quite nourished my spirit or matched how I perceived my own religious or magical practice, so i decided to go back to calling myself a witch and adopted the term “Vanic witch” to signify just how central my relationship with Freyja was to my own practice of witchcraft.

At this time, I also got involved with an email list that focused on discussing initiatory witchcraft. I found the definition that one of the initiates offered for witchcraft resonated with me:

A witch is someone who serves the role of both priest who serves the gods and ecstatic practitioner who seeks direct experience of the mystical.

Rough paraphrase of a definition given by an elder of the Mohsian tradition.

That’s how I saw (and still see) my own practice so I decided “witch” was the right term for me after all.

Mind you, I do occasionally use other labels to describe myself. I do like “seithman” and “spae-man,”2 as these refer to particular aspects of my practice (or aspects I want to incorporate into it). But they don’t really seem to encompass the entirety of my practice.

To be honest, this is reinforced by the fact that I allow my practice to be syncretic as well. These syncretic practices don’t fit into many of the Norse-specific words. And to be honest, a lot of Heathens who are more strict reconstructionists seem to almost frown on those of us who, for example, still find Tarot to be a useful tool.3 For me, “witch” is a more generic term which makes space for all my practices. It is inclusive of all the tools in my magical practitioner’s toolbox. Both those that have a basis in Norse culture and those that may be syncretized with it.

Also, I think calling myself a “witch” means I’m using an easily recognizable term more people are familiar with. If I say I’m a seithman, a spae-man, or a vitki, most people are going to have no clue what I’m talking about. Heck, I typically have to explain why i call myself a wyrd-worker.4

But if I say I’m a witch, most people have a rough idea of what I’m talking about. And now that people are becoming more aware that there are other witchcraft traditions and practices beyond just Wicca, mistaken assumptions about me along those lines also seem to be less common.

Post History: I wrote the original draft of this post on July 21, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on July 22, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. Of course, those who know me closely or have followed me long enough might already know that I have “seithman” as one of my email account names. I won’t post the full email address here, as I don’t want to encourage the spammers who already like to hit me up through my contact list. ↩︎
  2. I personally find “spae-master” entirely too prideful to consider using, however. ↩︎
  3. I will note, however, that I am not a fan of trying to blend such syncretic practices to the point where I try to make some universal, coherent system out of all of it. I love both the runes and the Tarot and find them useful, but i see no reason to throw them into a blender and make a single symbol system out of them. In fact, I tend to think it disrespects both practices. ↩︎
  4. Here’s a bit of interesting trivia for you: I typically only refer to myself as a wyrd-worker on my blog and social media. In fact, I started doing it when I created my YouTube channel. I was trying to come up with a name for the channel, and considered “A Witch’s Wisdom.” However, I realized that there were so many witch influences out there and wanted something a bit more unique. So I came up with “A Wyrd-Worker’s Wisdom” instead. And while the term absolutely reflects my understanding of my witchcraft practice and its nature, I will be forever amused by the reality that I adopted the label for the purposes of branding. ↩︎
Books, Meta-Blogging, Paganism, Religion, Spiritual Development

Exploring a new book for Friday blog posts: “Spinning Wyrd” by Ryan Smith

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Happy Friday readers! Isn’t it amazing how the Powers sometimes respond to us in interesting ways? Back on July 15, I commented that I really wanted to find a new book to blog my way through on Fridays. And almost immediately, I found what I believe to be that book. This post and the next few Friday posts will be about Spinning Wyrd by Ryan Smith.

I ran across Smith’s book a couple weeks ago when my Kindle app tossed it out as a book I might be interested in “based on my past reading.” I was mildly interested in the book right away because of the subtitle, “A Journey through the Nordic Mysteries.” So I took note of it and thought little more about it.

However, when I finished both books I had been reading (Cultish by Amanda Montell and a novel from the Crowns of Nyaxia series by Carissa Broadbent), I started looking for a new nonfiction book. As it’s been a while since Ive read a book about Asatru or any form of Heathenry/Norse Paganism,1 I started doing a bit of research. I wanted to find a book that was neither just presenting (non-initiatory) Wicca with Norse names tossed in nor written by someone with folkish or other bigoted views.2 Someone on the Norse Paganism subreddit mentioned, another of Smith’s books, The Way of Fire and Ice, as a good book and one that is radically inclusive. So I bought a copy of both books.

I began reading Spinning Wyrd and immediately started falling in love. In it, Smith describes and offers advice on a radical and radically inclusve type of Heathenry that embraces mysticism, which is right up my alley. One of the things I struggle with much of Heatherny, especially Asatru, is that it’s very academic and strikes me as exoteric. While I appreciate delving into the myths and lore of ancient Norse and other Germanic cultures, I’m not interested in creating a perfect replica of those culture’s beliefs or painstakingly recreate rites that match what those ancient worshipers of the Aesir and Vanir did.

Smith seems to share a similar sentiment. In the introduction to Spinning Wyrd, he lays out the following principle for his brand of Heathenry:3

At the core of Radical Heathenry are five points that set it apart from other forms of Heathen practice and define every aspect of this form of spirituality. These are living tradition, inspired adaptation, modern relevance, inclusive practice, and active involvement.

I also fell in love because his own description of wyrd in the introduction is extremely similar to how I view it:

Wyrd is the symphony of life cocreated by the actions of all beings, from the humblest living things to the mightiest of the godly and animistic Powers of Nordic practice.

I’m excited to read and blog about this book because for the first time, I feel like I may have found someone who sees honoring and working with the Aesir and Vanir very much as I do.4 I look forward to learning whatever i can from expanding my appreciation of the mystical side of Heathen practice and possibly further root my current mystical practices in the ways of Heathenry. I’m not quite ready to full on swear my commitment to the Way of Fire and Ice (the tradition founded by Smith), but I won’t deny that it’s certainly a possibility in the future.

I’m not sure I’ll blog through this book chapter-by-chapter like I did with Changing Paths. I figure I’ll just write a post on any aspect of the book that I feel I want to comment on and explore. It’s possible that might result in a post per chapter. Then again, it might result in me making multiple posts for some chapters.

I’ll also note that I feel like I’m going against some sort of rule here by blogging about Spinning Wyrd rather than first reading and blogging about The Way of Fire and ice, as Spinning Wyrd was written as a follow-up book for The Way of Fire and Ice. But the second book’s focus on wyrd really calls to me, so I want to jump right to it. I definitely plan to read both books, though. And I might even blog about the first one later on. Besides, are any of my readers really surprised that I might flout the rules a bit?

Post History:5 I started writing this post on July 20, 2024. I proofread, revised, and finalized it on July 21, 2024.

Footnotes

  1. I appreciate that Smith seems to use these terms relatively interchangeably. I understand why some Asatruar prefer to distance themselves from the term “Paganism.” However, the term has its uses and I’m not sure I want to draw such hard boundaries between myself and other Pagans. Also, I personally haven’t felt comfortabe identifying with Asatru or even Heathenry because I often feel like a lot of Asatuar would not see my own practice as “reconstructionist” or “culturally pure” enough. Fortunately, I think Smith’s book(s) might help me feel differently on that count. ↩︎
  2. To be honest, searching for a book that meets all of these requirements often feels like hunting for unicorns. ↩︎
  3. Smith refers to his brand of Heathenry as both Radical Heathenry and Fire and Ice Heathenry. He and others maintain an organization for people who are interested in exploring and taking part in this tradition. ↩︎
  4. In fairness, I do know of other Asatruar/Heathens who have mystical practices. For example, I’m familiar with Diana Paxson’s work to reconstruct a modern seidh practice and I loved Jenny Blain’s exploration of the same practice in her book. But everything I’ve read by both of them is more academic than practical or instructional. Granted, Paxson does have a couple of practical books on mysticism (Trance-portation and The Essential Guide to Possession, Depossession, and Divine Relationships) they are written outside of any specific cultural context in order to make them helpful to a wider audience. I appreciate that Smith’s books explicitly place his mystical explorations in the Heathen context. ↩︎
  5. I’ve decided to experiment with including a brief history of my process for each blog post. I feel this offers me a lot of benefits, including enabling me to remember at a glance which posts are actually ready for publication. I hope my readers don’t find it too distracting. ↩︎
Books, Religion

A graphic novel that beautifully explores interfaith cooperation.

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Last Tuesday marked the release of Youth Group, a comedic horror graphic novel by Jordan Morris and Bowen McCurdy. I had learned about it from listening to the interview Morris gave on the Thereafter podcast and pre-ordered it. As son as the book hit my Kindle account, I downloaded it and tore through it, even tweeting a bit about it as I read along.

The graphic novel is incredible and there are so many things I could say about it. But for this post, I want to focus on one particular aspect of the story: The way that the author (and illustrator) tackled the topic of interfaith cooperation.

Before I dig in too deep, I want to start by noting that this blog post will contain images of individual panels from the graphic novel. Rather than relying on a “Fair Use” defense, I decided to contact Jordan Morris directly and ask for permission to do so. He responded and gave me permission, asking that I only avoid including spoilers.1 I have done my best to honor that request, and I don’t think anything I’ve included gives away any major plot points. Special thanks to Jordan for giving me permission, though.

About a third of the way into the graphic novel, I was a bit concerned about how they might be treating non-Christian religions in it. After all, one demon seemed to be posing as a “crystal healing therapist” and in another case, a character scratching out runes was seen as a sign of demonic possession. I tweeted out a carefully nuanced tweet about my concerns regarding this, acknowledging that this might be unintentional. I explained where my concern really lie and how that was important without detracting from or erasing the positive qualities of the book.

Of course, my fears were greatly alleviated a few pages later, when I ran across one of the evangelical Christian demon hunters saying the following:

“The Wiccans seem cool. The Satanists seem really cool.”

With that one thread, Morris and McCurdy let me know that in this world of theirs, there were Wiccans and Satanists who also hunted demons. I was immediately relieved that this was not a “Christians vs. the ‘weird occult religions'” scenario after all. And yet, what came later was even more of a surprise. Morris and McCurdy didn’t just tell us that that non-Christian demon hunters existed, but introduced us to a few of them.2

The protagonists — a trio of demon hunters from an evangelical church — talk about the existence of other religious groups having demon hunters and consider getting together with them to at least compare notes with one another. As they consider this, they find themselves obligated to deal with the prejudices many evangelical and other conservative/authoritarian Christians have against people from other religions. But eventually, our protagonists decide to have a party where they invite the other demon hunters,3 and they all get together. Some stereotypes are addressed and knowledge is shared, modeling beautifully what interfaith dialogue and cooperation should look like.

Meg the evangelical and Thorn the Wiccan introduce themselves.

This meeting of the minds becomes important to the plot. After the party, the classic “looks like the bad guys might win after all” event takes place and our demon hunters find themselves having to re-evaluate things and figure out what to do. During that time, the protagonist Cortland ends up meeting with the Wiccan demon hunters and they work together to uncover a secret that, in my opinion at least, seems central to the story and its resolution. (I won’t go into details because that would totally be a spoiler.)

The important thing to note though is that they learn this secret through a technique only the Wiccans seem to know about. Of course, the Wiccans also need Cortland because of experiences he has that make him uniquely qualified to help them out in this endeavor. So it is only through the cooperation of people from two different religious traditions that this pivotal (in my opinion at least) plot point can unfold.

This, my friends, is the kind of interfaith cooperation we need to see more of, both in popular culture and in the real world. This acknowledgement that none of these groups can hope to succeed in this fight alone is so vital and one that I hope people take to heart reading this graphic novel.

I, like Meghan Crozier, am rooting for there to be a sequel. And I hope that the sequel continues to portray the kind of interfaith cooperation that this first book did. Of course, as Morris and McCurdy continue to represent other faiths, I hope and trust they will consult members of those faiths.4 To that end, I’d like to offer myself as a non-Wiccan witch with a fair amount of knowledge about Wicca as someone they can run ideas by and/or ask for advice. If you don’t already have that connection through some other source.

Footnotes

  1. Okay, he also asked me to tag him in the post. But that was a foregone conclusion whether he requested it or not. ↩︎
  2. Sadly, we don’t get to meet any demon hunters that are Satanists (maybe that’ll come up in the sequel some of us are hoping for?) Which is a shame. Of course, I could see that leading to some interesting story-telling and world-building. Here in the real world, the two best known Satanic organizations don’t actually believe in supernatural beings. So did the Satanic demon hunters in this fictional universe start as theistic Satanists? Or are they members of the CoS/TST who are dealing with the realization that their disbelief in the supernatural was unfounded? ↩︎
  3. Wiccan, Jewish, and Catholic demon hunters show up, though the Jewish and Catholic demon hunters are mostly silent/unseen during this part of the story beyond announcing their appearance. I will note a couple of the evangelical Christian demon hunters do receive training through a Catholic group later in the story, however. ↩︎
  4. On that note, a minor nitpick/note for the authors: You two know that most Wiccans don’t actually draw pentagrams on the floor for their rituals, right? I’m hoping you did that because it’s an easy identifier despite being pretty trope-ish. ↩︎
Paganism, Religion

Bonus Post: A Norse Pagan rite to support someone severing ties with a loved one

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Explanation and Background Information

Happy Saturday, dear readers! I decided to publish a bonus post today due to something that an acquaintance from an online deconstruction community said over on Threads:

Thoughts on grief & estrangement.

The thing about no contact with a parent is they have basically died.

But society doesn’t have a way to really grieve that.

My uncle died and my health (and said estranged parent) is precluding me from going to the memorial.

I wrote cards to my aunt and cousins this week, sending my condolences.

But before I sent those, some internal work was required, bc my mom has died – but no one really knows that.

Threads post by joyfulsojournr.

What joyfulsojournr said struck a cord with me. This is something that we as a society — especially those of us who like to build religious community — really need some sort of rite for. After all, we have rites for funerals, weddings, births, coming of age, and many other life events. Why not rites to honor cutting ties with someone and mourning the loss of that relationship?

At first, I wrote a draft of a simple solitary rite for grieving the loss of relationship. However, as I thought about it more, I realized this is a moment in people’s lives where they need community recognition of and support for this important and often painful transition in their lives. So i have chosen to expand the rite into something that a kindred or other group might do. I’m including the entirety of this new community-oriented rite in this post.

I will note that this rite is deeply rooted in (my understanding of) Norse mythology and cosmology and draws on that symbolism extensively. As such, this rite won’t meet the needs of everyone. But hopefully it will give even those who do not honor the Aesir and Vanir ideas on how they might develop their own rites to help one another through such a life decision.

The ritual

Participants:

  • Mourner (the person cutting ties with a loved one)
  • Ritual Leader
  • Priest of Thor
  • Priest of Freyja
  • Priest of Idunna

Note: The ritual leader and three priests can be of any gender. Also, the same person can take on more than one role. However, when possible, the role of each priest should be taken on by someone who has a close connection with that deity.

Items Required

  • Two drinking horns or cups filled with a suitable beverage
  • An apple or a few apple slices
  • An offering bowl (can be excluded if the rite is to be performed outdoors and offerings may be poured directly onto the ground.

Ritual Body

Gather everyone to the ritual space and get everyone’s attention.

Priest of Thor: (Making the sign of Thor’s hammer at each of the four cardinal directions, then toward the sky, then the earth.) Mighty Thor! Hallow this place that we might gather with the gods, the ancestors, and the spirits of land here!

All: Hail Thor! Hallow this place!

Ritual Leader: Gods. Ancestors. Spirits of this land. Please attend this rite that you might witness what we say and do here today. For with this rite, we seek to influence wyrd.

All: Hail to the Powers! Witness our rite and our working of wyrd.

Ritual Leader: Today, we both witness and participate in a shift in wyrd. A member of our community, [Mourner] has chosen to cut someone from their lives. Step forward and name the person.

Mourner: I have chosen to remove [person] from my life. (Mourner may acknowledge who this person is and what relationship there has been between them if they wish.)

Ritual Leader: Have you made this choice of your own free will?

Mourner: I have.

Ritual Leader: And do you believe that this is the best course of action for the sake of your health and well-being?

Mourner: I do. (Mourner may briefly elaborate on why they have made this decision if they wish.)

Ritual Leader: Then as your community in frith with you, we shall honor this choice.

Priest of Thor: As Thor guards the enclosures of men and gods from those chaotic forces that would do harm, I swear to help you maintain your separation from [person] so long as you wish it.

All: So we all swear.

Mourner should take up the first cup or drinking horn at this time.

Priest of Freyja: Freyja, the queen of the Vanir was once separated from her lover, Od. During her separation she cried tears that turned to gold, demonstrating that grief itself is precious and valuable. And while you have chosen to cut off [person], we acknowledge that there will still be grief involved. I invite you to pour out your grief at this time.

Mourner should pour out an offering from the vessel they hold.

Note: The participants should discuss each of the next three offerings and only include the ones relevant to Mourner. For example, if Mourner has no good memories with the person they’re cutting from their life, that offering should be left out.

Priest of Freyja: Even relationships that no longer serve us often had its bright moments. These will lead to memories that need to be grieved. And there may be grief that no such future memories will be created.

Mourner should pour out another offering. Optionally, they may also share some of the memories they are grieving.

Priest of Freyja: Often when we end a relationship, it is because we realized that it was not the kind of relationship we had originally thought of us. Such disillusionment is often painful and we must grieve the loss of what we thought we had as much as we grieve those things that were real.

Mourner should pour out another offering. Optionally, they may also share what some of the shattered illusions the termination of this relationship is forcing them to grapple with.

Priest of Freyja: The termination of a relationship often comes with the loss of hope. Hope that the relationship will improve. Hope that we can somehow fix or salvage it. The loss of that hope deserves to be grieved.

Mourner should pour out another offering. Optionally, they may also share what hopes they had for the relationship up to this point.

Priest of Freyja: Hear us, Queen of the Vanir! Having witnessed [Mourner’s] offering of grief, we acknowledge the pain of her loss and the value of her grief. Like your own tears, let their grief be a precious as gold to you.

All: Hail Freyja! Accept their grief!

Reilgious Leader: Grief is not a one-time experience that can quickly left behind. As your community, we recognize that these offerings are just the start of your grieving journey. We swear to support you as that journey continues.

All: So we swear!

Priest of Idunna: (Picking up the apple or apple slices) As Idunna nourished the gods with her apples and kept them strong, let us nourish, comfort, and strengthen you during this time of change and grieving.

The Priest of Idunna should offer the apple to Mourner, who should then eat it.

Ritual Leader: (Picking up the second cup or drinking horn) Let us all share a drink and toast our love and support to [Mourner].

Hold a one-round sumbel where each participant affirms Mourner’s decision, offers a blessing during their time of grieving, or otherwise demonstrates their support. Mourner should drink from the cup last, offering gratitude to those in attendance and stating their hopes moving forward.

Ritual Leader: Gods! Ancestors! Spirits of this land! We thank you for witnessing this rite. We ask you to continue to bless our community and especially [Mourner] during this time and grief.

All: Hail to the Powers! Thank you for your attendance!

Ritual Leader: This rite is concluded. Let us break together bread in kinship and frith.

Retire to feasting and good conversation.