Heathenry Has Standards * whines *

Yes. Heathenry has hierarchy. Imagine that.

Gangleri's Grove

Today a reader sent me a blog post (which was rather old) wherein a self-described feminist complains about all the things that’s wrong with Heathenry. When I stopped laughing, I decided I should address some of the points therein. Now, I know some of y’all send me obnoxious news articles and blog posts to wind me up and that’s ok. I read and file most of them but every once in a while, something will dovetail with an issue I want to cover, or will skirt along the periphery of something that is worth addressing so here we are. Keep the articles coming.

I deleted the email after I read it this morning but several points stuck in my head so I’ll try to recap them here:

Our intrepid blogger complained that * gasp* Heathenry has an “unspoken code of hierarchy,” and an expectation of deference to those with more…

View original post 1,215 more words

Confronting racism? More like putting your own petty values onto the Gods.

Confronting Racism

I have read this blog for a while now, I disagree with the flaming liberalism but the information is often well reasoned when it comes to maintaining a personal relationship with the Gods.  However, this post required a post of its own because my response to her got so long.

What utter arrogance.  What utter, blind, supremacy is espoused in this young woman’s post.  I’m frankly stunned.

I am a voracious consumer of things arising from cultural exchange.  I know a little of some foreign languages, enough to understand though not really enough to speak; I love certain kinds of foods and clothing that come from other cultures; I adore jewelry and furniture from cultures not my own.  I enjoy speaking with people from other cultures who didn’t grow up here, to get their views on the “insider view” of their culture and home country.  I am a voracious history buff.  I read archeology and linguistics journals for fun and personal education.

So here’s what I responded with:

First of all, I know Stephen personally and if he’s anything, he’s a separatist, not a supremacist.  How in the world you can call him a supremacist when he has spent decades fighting all over the world for minorities like the Tamils against the elites of their respective countries?  

He was a signatory on the 1993 Declaration of War against the Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality.  He has never once, in his writings or in person, expressed any idea of feeling that he is superior.  What he has expressed, over and over, is that Gods of a people arise from their people.  Just like he is passionate about the idea that the Lakota have a right to their Gods without cultural appropriation from others.  THAT is all.   

Second, Stephen hasn’t been the head of the AFA since 2015.  Matt Flavel has been.  

Third, I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but Stephen himself is the one who began expressing the idea of the Gods as being in tribes and clans, and that we as people are as well.  He’s the one who began promoting tribalism in heathenry.  And it’s true.  That is how human society has worked since the beginning.  It works.  The only thing different now is that we can communicate across thousands of miles and have much more interaction with those of other tribes, families, ethnicities.

The US was approximately 95% white in 1965.  Like it or not, it’s fact.  But that didn’t make us monolithic at all.  In researching my family tree, I have discovered that the Germans married Germans.  The Irish married Irish.  Etc.  It literally wasn’t until my parents got together that there was ANY crossover, and my respective families knew each other for 100 years, and worked together on different things, such as Rum Running during Prohibition.   But they didn’t go to the same churches, they didn’t live in the same neighborhoods, and they really didn’t associate very much outside of the occasional friendships.  And hey, guess what – my parents broke up.  No surprise.  Different cultures, little shared clan/tribe minutia, and lots of pressure on a couple. 

While you’ve apparently had a terrible relationship with your family, that’s not the norm.  I have children.  I love those children more than I will ever love you, for instance.  I love my kindred members.  They are adopted, initiated family.  They are my clan.  I don’t take that lightly, and I love them more than I love many of my other friends, regardless of how long I’ve known some of them.  Family comes first.  Always.  And if, someday, you were to become initiated into our kindred, you would have my love and loyalty on the same level as they do.  Because then you would be family/clan/tribe. Hell, I even still have love for my ex husband and regard for his safety and well being.  He’s still family, we share children, and have history together.  He’s an asshole, but he’s family asshole.  Not neighbor asshole.  Or stranger asshole.   

I think it defies logic to have the idea that Odhinn for instance wouldn’t accept worship from someone of African ancestry.  Of course He would.  That doesn’t mean that person will be around for the long haul.  Odhinn uses and discards people, even those of His own people, and that’s a fact.  It doesn’t make Him any less a God.  It doesn’t make him any less a God of the Germanic and Scandinavian originating peoples.  To pretend otherwise is prevarication.  

There is no hatred in saying that I like what I grew up with more than what I have come into contact with as an adult.  I like Indian food.  I am a good Indian food cook.  But I don’t want to eat it every day and it’s not what I grew up with, and if I want comfort food I’m going to make chicken and dumplings or a pot roast, not lamb stuffed eggplant.  

Frith and grith are not the same.  And you of all people should know this.  Frith was for FAMILIES.  Grith is for other tribes/clans/and the greater outside.  I deal with my neighbors in grith, but I don’t make the mistake of giving them a key to my house.  Freyr is the God of peace, IN THE OLD GERMANIC SENSE.  Not in the modern progressive sense.  

Tyr will uphold justice.  Period.  If a person who happens to be a minority assaults a “white supremacist” that person should face equal justice under the law.  If a white person assaults a minority, that person should face equal justice under the law.  THAT is what Tyr will do.  Nothing more.  He’s not going to refuse to hear a prayer just because you don’t happen to like the ethics or values of the person making the prayer.  

There are Nazis in Valhalla, because they fought with honor and because they were the best of the best.  You might not like it, but it’s so.  Odhinn doesn’t give a shit about your personal value judgements about Nazis.  

I really have to wonder at someone who will tirelessly defend the right of a transgender person’s right to choose their pronouns but will demonize someone who says that they have a right to be proud of their culture and history, who says they prefer their own.  I really have to wonder at your incredible arrogance, to put your personal values onto the Gods and expect Them to do YOUR bidding regarding from whom They accept worship, and to whom They give Their favors. 

Finally, to quote Stephen:  “Just because I love my own doesn’t mean I hate anyone else.”  And I can tell you that I am convinced that Stephen genuinely believes this.  He has a great love for other peoples, and he is a crusader for their rights to exist and not be forced to assimilate into their larger culture, and to keep their own Gods and rites as their own.  I respect that.  I respect him.  He is a very misunderstood individual and has suffered many slings and arrows promoting the idea that no, we are NOT all the same, and we DO have differences to be celebrated, not denigrated.  He’s not perfect.  He has issues like anyone else.  But:  if that offends you, if that threatens you, if you think that me preferring my own children means I hate you, if me preferring my own family/tribe/clan/culture over others FOR MYSELF means I hate others, if Stephen promoting these ideas means he is a white supremacist to you, then perhaps you should look at your programming. 

Epstein Connection

Nicole Junkermann

 

Did You Know ADULTS CAN SUE for Injuries Caused by Zostavax

via Did You Know ADULTS CAN SUE for Injuries Caused by Zostavax

On this Easter I give you this

The arrogance of the Christian god

It’s good for several laughs, not the least of which is the fact that all Christians and Muslims, and a great many Jews, insist there is no god but their own – yet in the bible itself we find YVWH referencing himself as being in a company of Gods.  We find him dictating laws that he then commands his followers to directly disobey.

It’s sad how people take that book and use it as a club against those who they don’t like, those who don’t follow their ways.   Europeans have no idea how very much of the ethos they *think* is Christian, is actually pre-Christian native ethos that their ancestors have syncretized into the desert faith.

May you have a blessed Eostremonath (Easter month, which is what the Anglo Saxons called this month).

Aurora Borealis

Also known as my WAG sweater.  I don’t have a pattern, though I do have charts for the color work.  Left is the sweater body; you can see a vertical stripe interrupting the pattern where the sleeve will be.  Right is the arm hole “steeked,”  cutting the knitting to create a sleeve hole (in this case, I’ve also steeked cardigans after knitting them in the round).

The name  and color scheme is because my calendar for 2018 was different shots of the Aurora in Norway and Iceland and it inspired me.  Some of the yarn is hand spun, some is commercial.

I am at a point where my enthusiasm has outrun my reasoning skills for the moment.  Now I have to sit down and do the math to center the patterns on the caps of the nonexistent sleeves as well as do the calculations for centering the neck and sewing the shoulder seams – and how many stitches to pick up for the sleeves as well.

Nah.  Not today.  It’s a nice day.  I’m going to go outside and fix stuff in the chicken yard.  I can do the math later.

Magni update

He’s 9 1/2 months old now, and not even done growing yet!  He weighs about 25 pounds.

He’s literally double the size of our other cats.  He bowls them over without trying.  But he’s the sweetest thing, the most gentle soul.

I’m pretty darned sure he’s got Norwegian Forest cat in him somewhere.  He’s got heavy fur between his toes, the heavy white fur on his belly (that you can’t see in these pics but it’s there), the fur tufts in his ears, and the heavy club like tail.

Hail Aaron.

Hail Aaron. Long will you be remembered.  

He died this week, early in the week, on the Christian day of rest.  Which is perhaps appropriate for a man who went above and beyond for his friends, family, clients, and strangers, who didn’t take rest for himself.  He left a wife and two young children, a daughter and a toddler son.  He was 33 years old.  He and my son became friends 21 years ago, and remained friends to the day he died.  They got into a lot of trouble together.  They dated and married girls they grew up with, they had children at the same time.  They helped each other out with car repair, marriage advice, child care, and more.  

He was a quiet sort, chronically exhausted looking, who possibly drank more than he should but worked very hard to make sure his family had a home and a roof over their heads.  He would sacrifice his weekends helping his friends and family work on their vehicles, or help them move, or take care of things around the house that they were unable to do because of health.  He recently stayed at work until 10pm, on his own time, to make sure a family’s car was running properly and safe.  The day he collapsed in his garage he had been reading the thank you card the family sent to him.  They thanked him for his dedication, and for the fact that because of him, they were able to take their vacation without worry.  

He got sick in December, had a little bronchitis but was well enough to continue working.  He never got better though.  He ended up getting pneumonia apparently, and still continued to work.  He was working the day he collapsed in his garage.  He hit his head on the way down and ended up vomiting while unconscious.  He aspirated on his vomit and quit breathing.  He was likely down for about 8 or 9 minutes before anyone found him.  He coded twice, once on the way to the hospital and once there.  He was placed on a ventilator and admitted to ICU.  He never regained consciousness.  They took him off this past Sunday.  He passed 6 breaths later.  

He had a premonition.  I know he did.  He told his wife the week before that if anything happened to him he did not want to be on a machine, not even for one day.  He told her what she should do with things of special value to him.  They were going to write a will in the coming weeks.  He was an organ donor and made sure she knew he wanted to donate whatever could be used. 

When he passed, because he was an organ donor, the hospital announced a Code Hero on the intercom system.  Every staff member that was available lined the halls from his room to the operating room where they took him to harvest his life saving organs and tissues.  Because he was young and healthy before this happened, there was much that could be donated. He saved the lives and restored health of between 40 and 50 people by his donation.  

He died perhaps too soon, perhaps at the appointed time.  He spent his life building up his family and his friends, even at the cost of his own health.  He leaves a legacy of dedication, love, commitment, trust, and loyalty.  May his ancestors welcome him home.  

Hail Aaron.  

Questions about Odhinn

Due to a recent conversation on a secret, closed group I belong to it spurred some questions.

Odhinn, by the time of the Anglo Saxon Conversions to Christianity, had the reputation of being treacherous, deceitful, oath breaking, etc.  I think that this, in part, is why the conversion of Anglo Saxon England went easier than Sweden for instance.

He was a God of War.  He required blood.  Lots of it.  He required the triple death in many cases but He was perfectly satisfied to accept blood.  In fact I believe it intoxicated him, much as the Mead of Inspiration did.

So let’s examine this.  Odhinn hung on the tree, sacrificed himself to himself, in search of enlightenment.  That tells me pretty plainly that he is a God in search of not only wisdom, but the evolution that comes from wisdom properly assimilated.

My personal experience, my personal gnosis, of Odhinn, is that he NEVER lies.  He also never tells the whole truth either.  His reputation for treachery, I believe, comes from this very thing.  It allows peoples’ personal biases to to color what they hear, often to their disappointment and peril.  I myself have been guilty of this on occasion.  My gnosis regarding this has made me evaluate most things in my life in this light.  Is it re-affirming personal biases?  Is it beguiling me because it’s what I want to hear?  Am I ignoring signals and evidence I should really be taking into consideration?  This has changed my outlook on life in ways you can’t imagine.  Is my life happier for this?  NO.  But it’s healthier in many ways.

So my questions to you are these:

1.  How do you think Odhinn approaches His people in the current era?  We don’t sacrifice people to Him any more.  If He gets blood it’s because we give our own.  How does He get our attention now?
2. How do you think he has changed over the millennia?
3. Do you think he has evolved?  Is He more, or less treacherous?
4. Why do you think he has gained such a position of supremacy?
5. I have added a question – why do you think people are worshipping the Gods more than the wights and ancestors?

 

Please, take as much space as you need to answer these questions, or make a blog post of your own and link back for me to read.

 

Marijuana reduces Benzodiazepine use

https://cannabis.net/blog/medical/cannabis-use-reduces-benzodiazepine-dependency-by-45-reports-study?fbclid=IwAR0JoeJcb4d-gLuxK1yO0T0s-ud6n7gg6fT2nQeuwCkw7O-hCsIfEav8GpA

This is big.  There is a syndrome called “benzodiazepine abstinence syndrome” that can last for YEARS after last use of these drugs.  It causes tremors, increased anxiety, cravings for it, sleep disturbances, mood disturbances.  Most people who are genuinely addicted to benzos will never completely recover especially if they are older.  This is big, it’s a way to both manage their anxiety and get through abstinence syndrome.

I’m getting quite tired of the “studies” put out by people with ties to Big Pharma who try to scare people.  Marijuana does not cause schizophrenia.  That’s a genetically linked disease.  Marijuana does not increase violence, unless you count the cartel violence because it’s an illegal drug and of course growing, transporting, and dealing are all dangerous occupations because it’s illegal.

Want to know what does cause all kinds of problems?  Big Pharmaceutical drugs.  Oxycontin.  Oxycodone.  Xanax.  Ativan.  Suboxone.  Yes, suboxone.  There’s a whole underground market for this drug.  It sells for as much as $20 a pill or strip.  What about the violence associated with these drugs?  What about the deaths associated with these drugs?  Show me the massive increase in marijuana overdose deaths – in fact, show me any marijuana overdose deaths at all (1 supposed toddler OD because of parental stupidity doesn’t count).

It does make people drive very slowly.  It gives people “the munchies” if they are new to using or don’t use regularly, if you use regularly it actually reduces appetite.

I will have to look on my old laptop but I also have a study that shows that opioid use goes down by a pretty substantial margin when marijuana is used in conjunction with opioids in pain patients.  Like 35-40% or more.

Marijuana has been known and used for at least 10,000 years.  There is documentation for its use in ritual and in medicine going back at least several thousand years.  We have cannaboid receptors.  Because we evolved to use marijuana.  Do I smoke?  No, because I will lose my living if I do.  Would I if it were legal?  Yes.  And it should be legal.  Government should not be in the business of telling adults what they can and cannot do, what they can and cannot ingest, what they can and cannot smoke.