Introductions and Basic Principles

Welcome to Beyond Ragnarök!

Here you will find my thoughts on Heathenry, History, Homesteading and everything in between that is part of building a living tradition.

To start out I wanted to make a quick list of some basic definitions and principles that will shape what you find here. I encourage you to respond with any questions or comments you have -- just keep it polite and constructive.

• Heathenry: I am using this word as a general term for all the paths rooted in the indigenous spiritual traditions of Northwestern Europe. The core of this is found the regions of Scandinavia and Germany, but can include where further cultural exchange with the Finns, Rus, Central European, Slavic and British/North Sea island cultures. Asatru is just one variation among many modern reconstructionist practices. 

• Ragnarök: There are many interpretations on the story of Ragnarök and one of the more popular  is to equate it with the conversion of our folk to the transplanted foreign religion of Christianity. While that is but one interpretation among many, I do not intend to devote much of this blog to debating which is better. The focus here is not about how historic heathendom fell, but how are picking our collective cultural-selves back up, dusting off and moving onwards. To use it instead as a way to understand any kind of societal collapse and paradigm change. Our challenge is to take what has survived of our cultural heritage and restore it into a life-way that is relevant to today. Its not enough to prepare to survive what our world is going to throw at us, but to enrich our lives with meaning so our folk thrive. 

• Folkish/Tribalist/Universalist? Personally, I do see Heathenry as a familial-ethnic religion; meaning I feel that you have to have some genetic or cultural connection for this to be appropriate for you. In my view, to attempt to practice heathenry without such a connection is just as culturally inappropriate and potentially offensive as if I were to try to join an Anaanshinable medicine society -- not being connected to that cultural group in any way. That being said, virtually all modern heathens have an ancestry that can be traced back to very divergent locations and Christian ancestors that effectively broke our direct connections to our heathen gods and ways, so we are pulling together tenuous shreds of familial and cultural connections. These connections do not always have to be genetic either; adopted or married into a family with heathen cultural connections is enough, and if one really gets down to it, even being raised as a first language speaker of a germanic language (such as English) is itself one possible cultural connection. In the end, Heathenry is largely about family and ancestors -- learn more about them and that is best guide on which path is best and as such I fall somewhere in between Folkish and Universalist, rejecting the absolute position of both. 

• Blót. I do think whether it's mead, bread or flesh, your offering to the gods is the effort you put into it. The more 'pure and proper' the finished item offered is, the better. Brew your own mead, make your own bread... you get the idea. Specifically, when it comes to animal sacrifice, I do think it is appropriate if you know the animal, how it has been raised, with a good quality of life and is killed skillfully, without unnecessary trauma.

• Wights. What I have thus far studied about our Folkway has lead me to the conclusion that it was historically much more focused on the near-wights than on the gods. Some people have special relationships with a given god(s), but it is not a requirement to be 'Heathen'. It is important to call out to the gods on feasts and at sumbel, but, for example, better to remember to give the Nisse their rice-pudding on Yule.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of where I'm coming from. Look forward to upcoming posts on Heathenry, Preparedness, Homesteading and more!