Now, I'm the very last person to interpret the strange and coincidental as messages from the gods, but this one is just weird.

So, I went to check on the altar today (please don't mind the mess, I'm trying to let the decaying foliage turn into soil) and at first, everything seemed ok. Then I did a double take and saw this fellow.

At first I wasn't sure if he was sleeping or if he was off to Hel's hall, but the latter ended up being the case. My question is, what is going on here?!? I mean, I've always felt some kind of...something, with Ratatoskr, but this is new.

Is this a divine message? There were quite a few other squirrels about as well, that have anything to do with it? If a message, from whom? I've noticed seeds being placed there lately, could this have been his den? (doesn't seem safe, half meter off the ground and exposed) Lots of thoughts about my own death lately, are they related?

I'm telling you fellow heathens, I'm more than a little confused right now. Any goðar or squirrel experts out there want to share their input?

Even with the posts I've seen and the posts Ive seen, I struggle to find what I am looking for. I almost settle on a book and then find out about inaccuracies or some other nonsense going on.

I am wanting a book that is an intro into modern heathen practice, but I wish for a book that is more historically accurate and where any UPG is clearly stated. I am fine with UPG, as long as it isn't the bulk of it and it is clearly stated.

I've been recommended books like 'Essential Asatru', 'Asatru for Beginners ', 'Fire and Ice' but then I find out it's full of garbage or that the UPG isn't clearly stated.

So Im Sorry for making another "gimme book" post, but I just want to basically read a book by a modern heathen about modern heathenry, which includes details on practice, ritual, the gods, landvaettir, ect.

Edit: I also am slowly collecting and reading academic and scholarly historical stuff, which I find valuable. I do wish to have a deep understanding of the history, but for now I also want something to help me jump into the "religious" aspect and practice of modern heathenry.

Thank you dearly. :)

I did something that my brother (not biological) sees as betrayal. I do not see it as betrayal. We have not spoken for 9 weeks. I miss the brotherhood between us very much. We are both Norse Pagans. He learned his behind the fence, I did not, even though I have learned much from him. He is a goði. This was a title given to him behind the fence and he has the knowledge and wisdom that goes with it. I am here for advice. How do I make this right. What should I do? What should I say? Basically, in short, how should I proceed? I need this brotherhood in my life.

I'm currently at a loss for what to offer Skadi. I know what I can offer to Odin but what about Skadi? I've only started working with her to connect with her as I would like to work and honour her throughout the future, so I'm a little confused and I want to offer something acceptable.

I don't mean just food and drink but devotional acts or something like this.

Hi everyvody! Today I asked the spirits of the fish in my lake to teach me to fish, and bite my hook. Many did so and I'm very proud, as its my first time fishing! I want to thank the spirits however (they took one of my spinners as well lol).

Any ideas to how I could thank and honor them?

How do you go about rationalising faith with science?

Forgive me if this offends anyone, but some background. I've been a staunch atheist my entire life. Only recently have .....events...... happened that have drawn me towards AS Heathenry. It always annoyed me when for example people would thank God for their child surviving surgery or something. Like, no. The surgeon doing 8 years of medical school and gaining 20 years of experience is what made your child survive surgery.

Like, I know what the Northern Lights are. I know how the water cycle works. I know the sun rises because the earth spins, I know the earth spins due to the conservation of angular momentum from the solar accretion disc all those billions of years ago.

However, I have watched a few Ocean Keltoi videos and the thing that stuck out to me is he mentions that whilst a reciprocity with the gods exists, humans must do their part too. Like the rain comes, but people need to have been tending the fields for the rain to be useful.

So in my previous example of the surgeon, the gods granted the surgeon the ability to absorb all the relevant information and build up the skill to correctly perform the surgery, but it was the surgeon who actually went to the effort to learn everything is how I would interpret the influence of the gods.

So, despite not previously being religious, I do believe the ideas of the christian god - having been brought up in a western society - have corrupted my interpretation of how the supernatural works, as in the christian god directly influences events, which I believe the old gods don't do.

So I guess my question is this: in my attempt to rationalise faith with science, would you say my interpretation of things is correct? The gods don't directly influence the outcome of this surgery, but they grant a person the ability to learn to undertake it successfully. The gods don't create the Northern Lights directly, but they were ultimately responsible for the circumstances that create them, I.e. big bang, sun forms, solar flare belting atmosphere.

Like I say, things have happened recently that have pushed me towards a belief in the old gods, but I can't just ignore my knowledge of science.

Hopefully this isn't too ramble-y, but this is something I've been ruminating on recently.

Edit: perhaps as the years have progressed they have granted humanity the ability to understand stuff more and more, so the "barrier" of the unknowable gets pushed further and further back? We still don't know what was before the big bang for example.

So the subject of Anglo-Saxon Heathenship came up a few days back, I thought I would post this here since it may prove useful to some folks who are interested in that tradition.

The 24th of April will be the night for most of us, when the sun goes down and the Full Moon of Éostre-monaþ is already visible. This is a great time (roundabouts) to have a feast in honor of Éostre!

https://ingwine.org/lorehoard/easter-freolsdaeg/

​

Does anyone go to Bilskirnir in the afterlife? If you can go there is there a requirement like being a great warrior that dies in battle to go to Valhalla?

I was flipping through some of illustrations in The Viking Age Volume one, and noticed a majority of weapons found, especially those in urns, were destroyed before being placed with the dead. Do you reckon this was done to kill the spirit of the weapon so it can accompany it's owner to the afterlife? Somewhat pointing to the animistic side of ancient people, or am I way off?

Welcome to our weekly r/Heathenry Discussion & Questions thread! If you want to share something Heathenry-related or ask a question about Heathenry, but don't want to make a whole thread about it, then share or ask it here!

New to Heathenry? Then check out the stickied Statement of Purpose post to learn what this subreddit is all about. Also, please check out the resources in the sidebar, especially The Longship, our beginner's guide.

Finally, feel free to join our Discord server.

Still have questions? Ask them below!

can i dedicate a candle by burning a peice of paper with the rune for a god(ess) with the flame of the candle, or would they see that as destruction of their rune and of something that represents them?

I've been really trying to sit down recently, comparing differences and pairing complimentary concepts between the many diverse beliefs among the ancient Egyptians and with my one of own ancestral cultures, the Norse. I've actually been having a really fun time crafting/compiling a creation story, description of the soul, afterlife, and general religious beliefs shared by these two ancient cultures. I've noticed that understandably there are two very different calendar systems between the two places and so I decided to opt more towards the Norse leaning concept of seasons because even though I am North American it is still closer to my climate/weather than that of the Nile. I'm having a surprisingly more difficult time than I thought I would with trying to find the (or one of the) Norse beliefs on what causes the seasons to change. I could be totally missing something but I was wondering if anyone at least considered that Ragnarok could have possibly been this very story in a pre Christian Scandinavia. I know that I have either read or heard that Ragnarok could have potentially been a cyclical event rather than a world ending event and that it was only made to be so when the monks who penned the stories down wanted to equate something to their concept of an Armageddon. If Baldr is associated with sunlight/goodness/joy/purity and his death was the precursor to Ragnarok, which he rises again after (like the sunlight increasing as we leave winter), and it's already a concept of the dead mortals rising up again to fight, why not then could the gods rise up again after "death" also?

I'm trying to find pictures of actual historical Mjolnir pendants. I know what the Romersdale and Oland pendants look like. I just can't seem to find pictures of the actual found artifacts, just a bunch of replicas. Does anyone know where I might find pictures of the actual artifacts that were found?

My understanding is the Longship is our "official" newcomers' site. But I see Troth recommended very often as well. I'm just curious about the history of the two. Do they share authors? Have they every conflicted? Or are they just two completely unrelated but reliable resources? TIA

I'm starting to organize things for my first Beltane celebration and have done some reading on it. Just wanted to make sure that I'm on the right path of sorts. Honoring Frey and Freya (and who else would you suggest? I'm definitely open to suggestions) should definitely be a major part of the celebration, right? This is my first time organizing an event where other folks will be there and want to make sure I'm doing the right things. Thanks everyone!

Edit: I'm also wanting to celebrate/rekindle/etc a pretty serious relationship and thought this would also be a good time to do so. Am I thinking correctly based on what I've read?

Hi I’m pretty new to heathenry and I love learning about things by reading about them. I’ve reading a couple ebooks by Mari Silva but I’m getting kind of suspicious about the accuracy and trustworthiness of the info because she cites some people I’ve seen here as sources to avoid.

I don’t have a huge budget for books so if you could pick a few to get started what would they be? I’m not afraid of difficult or intense reading so throw anything on your list!

Thanks in advance for helping me find appropriate sources of info for my journey!

I am in a constant cyclical debate with myself on the importance of origins VS the need of modern interpretation.

For instance, I can happily spend hours going down the rabbit hole of Odin's possible indo-European origins, in a Quixotic quest to find some kind of ancient source or essential kernal that would unlock the true nature of Odin and somehow convey a hidden "truth".... Yada yada enlightenment, yada yada secret knowledge, etc.

Or, what futhark is the best futhark? Which is the most accurate to the "old ways"...?

And so on...

VS

Understanding that we as people have a habit of fetishizing and ascribing undue meaning, significance, and authority to that which is old or exotic to us.

Tradition! Because... Well.. That's how it was done!

Or the unfortunate reality of early occultism "borrowing" heavily from Kemetic, Judiac, Greek, and "Oriental" sources for clout, then reshaping meanings to fit the preferred narrative.

Basically it's "The Old Ones knew something we have forgetten and I must look to the past to find the secret of connecting to the divine" VS "mistranslated, skewed, and biased fragments of text from long dead authors in a world unrecognizable to us now point no more to truth than one's own imagination and intuition."

Anyone else have this internal argument? Any tie-breakers?

Hello! Is there anyone on here who worships the English gods (Woden, Thunor, Frīg, Tiw, Ing, Ēostre etc) rather than the Norse gods? I have recently been studying and getting into Anglo-Saxon heathenry/paganism and would like to talk with any practising Anglo-Saxon heathens. I find academic texts are great for learning, but not for putting those things into a modern practice. I would also love to make some friends! :)

Just as the title says, I was waiting for the bus on the way to my security job. Spotted a rainbow, and poured a little of my coffee onto the ground as a libation to the greatest security guard of them all. Does anyone else have any spur of the moment-type practices like this? I would love to hear about them.

I'm new to heathenry and I'm trying to find some YouTube channels that's heathen based but has good sources and will teach me the basics of heathenry.

Welcome to our weekly r/Heathenry Discussion & Questions thread! If you want to share something Heathenry-related or ask a question about Heathenry, but don't want to make a whole thread about it, then share or ask it here!

New to Heathenry? Then check out the stickied Statement of Purpose post to learn what this subreddit is all about. Also, please check out the resources in the sidebar, especially The Longship, our beginner's guide.

Finally, feel free to join our Discord server.

Still have questions? Ask them below!

Hello fellow heathens, I suspect many of you been practicing for quite some time, so figured to express this here in the group. I myself have come from a long time practice of the occult for decades now, and trying currents from western ceremonial magic to sorcery at a practical level, with ever really finding anything with resonance. Being of far northern Irish and northern European ancestral heritage (diaspora). I even sought Irish paganism and witchcraft, but it just didn’t get to me in my senses, what I mean is that feeling like it’s the right place. I’ve stayed away from the nordic ways of understanding all these years. It’s become trendy with shows and video games and that didn’t bring me closer to an understanding. Being old school in this so we didn’t have social media when my path in the occult began. What brought me to the old ways is simply nature, all of it. So my quest you would say has been to find a place where nature fully encompasses its foundation. The more I read the Eddas, and the Havamal and getting a proper historical understanding of it all. The more realization that this is the path for me. Almost as if I was fully connected to it, but forgot along the way somehow. It’s difficult to explain.

For secrecy

Not much to work with besides a few small things brought from home and a couple of things just lying around.

Hi! I’m currently looking to convert to heathenry. I have no idea where to begin my studying or worshipping, and would like some advice. Thanks in advance!

I don't know a thing about the runes yet, the processes, what they mean, or anything. But when I made a fun little trip to the malls crystal shop, I saw them and couldn't help myself. Everything in me told me to buy the set. The exact set. Just wanted to share the story and ask where can I learn about the runes?

Could be temples, stores, iconography or anything else.

These are some of the things I do.

offerings - chocolate, honey, white candles.

I do meditation, prayers ( every morning) , journaling

I've made a basic alter. Though , I have to hide it when I go out :(

I'll make a portrait of her very soon.

Please also share some meditation tips. How do u meditate with freyja or any deity ? Guided meditations or something else ?

Thanks for answering my questions :)

Hear me out. They're both sex and war, both associated with birds (or at least wings/feather cloaks), there's a significant necklace associated with both of them, they both have a story of losing a lover (Odr left Freyja when She left for her necklace and Inanna sacrificed Dummuzi for his betrayal while She was trying to take the underworld), they're both depicted with large cats, I'm sure there's plenty more I'm missing right now but I just needed to get this thought out before my ADHD zaps to the next brain tab