Posts

Showing posts from February, 2017

From a Certain Point of View...

Image
Odin is a Thief and a Deceiver. Tyr is an Oathbreaker. I'm okay with that. Not exactly qualities to aspire to, though. Something that many Polytheists struggle with is the fallibility, the errors, or even the outright terrible behavior attributed to the Gods and Goddesses in the Lore. Lacking the certitude of an "all-good" monotheist worldview, the myths and stories we have from pre-Christian times don't always seem like the noblest of deeds. There's a host of  examples that can counter that narrative of "all-good",  but on the whole, most monotheists still count their Deity as lacking character flaws. A debate on that is a different post for a different blog. This here blog is Polytheist Territory, and I'd much rather talk about Them, thank you very much. I can't promise this power isn't going to my head. Yes, the title of this post is the classic Star Wars reference, where a deception was created ( retroactively , because we k

Hávamál 71: On Ableism and Tribalism

Image
For my first real post, I want to address what I consider a flaw in a recent interpretation of the Hávamál's 71st verse. The verse reads: A limping man can ride a horse, a handless man can herd, a deaf man can fight and win. It's better even to be blind than fuel for the funeral pyre; what can a dead man do? Translation by: Dr. Jackson Crawford : The Poetic Edda, Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes Now, the most basic interpretation of this verse is a simple anti-suicide message: No matter what your condition, "what can a dead man do?" has the answer of "nothing." There is no such thing as a "worthless" or "useless" individual. That's not where a Tribalist took this passage , however. From a Tribal perspective, if I understand it correctly, the smallest unit of consideration when making important decisions is the Tribe, rather than the Individual. It's never what's best for  me , but rather for  us . It

Hello World!

Image
Welcome to my blog! So who am I? I am a parent, a husband, a gamer, and a nerd. I'm a Feminist. I am an unapologetic tree-hugger. My political leaning is more than a little to the Left.  Though this blog will largely deal with topics through the lens of my very Pagan worldview, I will likely touch on a wide variety of subjects with a generous dollop of obscure pop culture references (and the occasional bad pun). Specifically, I have a goal: to one day be worthy of the name  Gothi . If you're unfamiliar with the term, it's basically the accepted title for a priest of the Gods of the Norse Pagan pantheon. I've heard that if one can stand in a group of Heathens and claim the title and no one laughs, then you're good. It sounds simple in premise, but this is the "Religion with Homework." Simple isn't what we do. I don't expect this journey to ever truly end. (It's kind of an occupational hazard when you follow a God known as "The Wand