HEX CONTRIBUTORS
Valbiorn Anderson
Issue 5: What I Learned from my Grandparents Story: My Grandparents Came from Sweden…
Val is a Viet Nam Veteran with a BA in Psychology and has been a writer for Vor Trú. He has no cell phone and has heated his house with wood for the last 35 years.
At 60 Winters he hopes to retire soon and devote his time to his dreams: to see these nine worlds through the clear eyes of our ancestors, unhindered by the cataracts imposed by foreign creeds, and hopefully become a grandfather also…
Rhys Balmer
Issue 4: Photograph accompanying Do it by Hand
Erik Baumann (Orekja)
Issue 1: Externsteine
I was born in Halle, Germany in 1985. After school and some months in the army I moved south as student for history and old German languages to the University of Erlangen in 2006. A few years ago the camera became a best friend and is always with me. Beside photography I spend much time on German and Scandinavian mythology, old literature, psychology, philosophy, sometimes writing and of course music where I found my passion in Black Metal and European Folk. ps: please also take a look at my deviantart gallery: www.orekja.deviantart.com thank you.
J. W. Baylis
Issue 3: Freya Introduces Odin to Seidh
Loki in the Form of a Mare
b.1970 J. W. Baylis is an eccentric and illustrator from Newport Beach. His art reflects a fascination with the quasi-historical writings of late 19th century, as well as the quirky mysticism of the late 20th century that it inspired. Odd imagery and layered meanings compete with a hint of sarcasm, which can leave some viewers wondering if they’re really in on the joke.
Michael Berman
Issue 6: Taking the Waters at Kilburn Wells
Michael Berman works as a teacher and a writer. Publications include The Power of Metaphor for Crown House, The Nature of Shamanism and the Shamanic Story for Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Shamanic Journeys through the Caucasus for O-Books, and All God’s Creatures: Stories Old and New for Pendraig Publishing. To and from the Land of the Dead, his latest work, is due to be published by Lear books in 2011. For more information please visit www.Thestoryteller.org.uk.
Brent Berry
Issue 6: Thor’s Hammer with Knotwork
I’ve always had an interest in history, art, and the past, and have always reflected these influences in my art. When I was younger I did hundreds of drawings, watercolors, and metal works related to ancient times and cultures. In 1996 my life changed due to a health threat and treatments that left me sick, depressed, and uninspired for years. During that time I stopped doing art and I had about given up on ever doing art again. However in late 2003 I was revived and inspired by the music of a girl with a Viking compass on her arm, the Icelandic singer Björk. After years of being lost I now not only began doing art again but I’ve also found a new interest and pride in my Nordic roots. I’m self taught and an expert at nothing but passion drives me to make things and I feel a need to express my respect for my ancestors through my work. I like repousse – metal embossing – and sometimes use this metal work to do Norse-influenced art.
Gandvaldr Bláskikkja
Issue 4: Gandreidr ~ The Magic Ride
Twisted Tools
Gandvaldr Bláskikkja (Sean M Thayer) holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Kendall College of Art & Design. His personal artistic focus draws heavily from the Germanic/Teutonic symbols and iconography. Gandvaldr/Sean has written and presented to and for the heathen community for the past 15 years, and has been an active participant in Teutonic/Germanic magical practices and living-philosophy for 25. He currently resides with his wife and daughter, in Michigan where he was born and raised. The photo included in issue 4 of Hex is taken from a larger collection in process entitled: “On a Windswept Tree.”
Antonius Block
Issue 2: The Language of Myth
Ingui of Bernicia
Issue 3: The Language of Myth: Origo Germanica Part I: Linguistics
Issue 4: The Language of Myth: Origo Germanica Part II: Archaeology
Issue 6: The Language of Myth: Origo Germanica Part III: Mythology
I was born December, 1979. Since my teenage years, I have devoted most of my time to various interests the fields of art, music, and linguistics. I have been interested in the indigenous pre-Christian beliefs of Europe for most of my life and much of my artistic inspiration stems from early traditional cultures.
I work full-time as a graphic designer, but I also keep myself busy with pen and ink and other conventional media outside the office. I love traditional music and I play a variety of instruments, some of which I’ve built myself.
I am strongly interested in comparative studies, and I believe that many of the difficulties in understanding the Germanic myths (and many others for that matter) can be overcome with the aid of historical linguistics, comparative religion, archaeology, and anthropology.
J. Blade Canty
Issue 5: Sacrifice: Part One
Blade is more interested in mead and beer brewing and in-depth discussions than pina coladas and walking in the rain. An Australian currently living in New Zealand with his partner of five years, Blade brings study in theology and social sciences to his approach to thinking and writing about Heathenry. He considers this as important a devotional work as blot or sumbel. He has called himself Heathen for around nine years and is a ‘member-at-large’ of Folkvangr Kindred (Adelaide, Australia). He has this strange ambition to write Heathen theology, and find a better term for it.
Blade maintains an essay blog, from which the article in this issue is taken – An Opinionated Heathen.
Among other things, Blade is also currently (provisional) Troth Steward for Australia & New Zealand and a candidate with The Troth’s Lore Programme. He has also been seen Knitting In Public.
Jason Hovatter Craban
Issue 3: Cover Art: Standing in Place
Coming of Age Story: Standing in Place
Issue 4: Do it by Hand
i grew up in rural maryland, spent most of my free time in the woods, drove a pickup truck with a gun rack and was a hard workin’ farm boy all-around redneck. in my late teens i began to seriously consider a career as a wildlife illustrator but as i discovered various alternate psychedelic realities my paintings evolved along with my need to explore the expanding world around me. after a few years as an art student i hit the road tramping around the country on foot and freight. stopping now and then in a friendly town, i worked in several kitchens, a leather shop, and a primitive boat building school. i currently call portland, oregon my home and have most recently spent several years as a custom shoe maker, “laughingcrowe leatherworks,” and am involved in a couple of musical projects, “a minority of one” being the foremost. i’m a father and lover of good home-cooked food and good friends to share it with. i’m fascinated with and strive to remember the way folks lived before this industrial age. well, even before this agricultural age, when we worshiped the wind and felt ourselves to be a part of “the spirit that moves in all things.”
Jennifer Culver
Issue 3: The Valkyrie Perspective
Education:
MA – English Literature – University of North Texas (GPA 4.0)
BA – English Literature – Texas Woman’s University (summa cum laude)
Other Roles:
Participant – National Endowment of the Humanities Institute: “From Beowulf to Postmodernism: JRR Tolkien”
Presentations:
“The Complete Beowulf” – National Council of Teachers of English 2006
“Evaluating Alternatives: Ælfric’s Presentations of Options for his Flock” – International Congress of Medieval Studies 2007
“Extending the Reach of the Invisible Hand: A Gift Looks for Gain in the Gifting Economy of Middle-earth,” – International Congress of Medieval Studies 2006
“Echoes of Dragon Slaying in Lord of the Rings: Wyrm Imagery in Context” – International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts 2005
“From Iron Bands to a Mind of Metal and Steel: Examining the Consistent Negative Perceptions of Iron” – “From Plato to Potter” Conference – UT Tyler 2005
“Teaching Tolkien: Using Tolkien’s Work as a Bridge to Literature” – International Congress of Medieval Studies 2005
“Threads of Tolkien: Using The Lord of the Rings to Help Students Connect to Literature” – National Council of Teachers of English 2005
David V. D’Andrea
Issue 2: Death
believes in the tradition of the “memento mori,” the visual reminder of the transience of life on this earth. Through signs and symbols such as aviform in flight, sigillary calligraphy, disembodied wings, and skeletal forms, he seeks to perpetuate the avowal that is death, and in turn catharsis; to create archaic crests for modern battles of loss, love, and hopeless abandon. In 2006, David received a BFA in Illustration from the California College of the Arts, where he studied under the legendary Barron Storey. Today he calls Oakland home and continues his work as a freelance Illustrator. Other interests include cryptozoology, obsolete electronics, sacred geometry, psychometry, and other mysteries of mind, space, and time. www.dvdandrea.com
Darrah Danielle
Issue 3: Owl Said
The realm of Imagination has been the wellspring of my life. I spent my childhood on both the east & west coasts of America, inventing worlds filled with talking animals & benevolent spirits that kept me from despair. I loved illustrated tales, such as those of Arthur Rackham, with all my heart. After receiving a degree in Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, I moved to the West for good, living for years among the misty mountains & myths of Oregon.
I came to the craft of collage & assemblage naturally, or rather, it came to me. My visual narratives are filled with signs & symbols that come from mystery. They speak of where I’ve been & dreams I wish to inhabit.
I continue to be inspired by the rich & varied tradition of the Fairytale, the art of Alchemy & the Occult, Medieval Bestiaries, the colorful history of Vaudeville & Cabinets of Curiosities…anything that crosses my path and speaks to me in the moment. www.foundfables.com
Currently, I live in Northern California. When I’m not in my studio I spend much of my time in the garden with my feline familiar, Pandora the Wise.
Alice Deane
Issue 3: Living Off the Land ~ A Garden Journal
I was born and raised in Southern California, the daughter of two actors. As I child my first love was drawing and painting, but I also spent many hours backstage in the theatre where my parents worked. I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area for college and remained living in and around San Francisco for the next ten years. I lived in the midst of the entire revolutionary social upheaval of the 1960’s but moved to Portland, Oregon at the end of that decade, feeling the need for a quieter pace to my life. Portland was my home for the next thirty-some years, where I met my husband and raised my daughter. Portland was indeed more to my liking and I began a love affair with the Pacific Northwest that has continued to this day, and I expect will be with me for the rest of my life. I worked for twenty years with an extremely creative and innovative theatre company, both onstage and backstage. The last ten years of my working life I spent working backstage on touring Broadway musicals during their Portland stops. Yearning for another change of pace and attracted to rural life, my husband Teddy and I moved to San Juan Island in Washington State in the year 2001. Here we live on six peaceful acres where I am growing an expanding crop of my own fruits and vegetables. I became a master gardener in 2005 and I am continually learning more about growing and eating pure, unadulterated, unprocessed foods. I am becoming involved in participation and promotion of the local food movement, and this year I plan to start saving my own seeds. I was first introduced to the Heathen lifestyle by my daughter Lucy and it immediately felt like a good fit, incorporating traditional customs and wisdom into my lifestyle. I hope that my writing for Hex Magazine will inspire readers to grow a garden, eat locally, save seeds and otherwise benefit themselves and their families by eating healthy foods and living close to the earth and the treasures and bounty this lifestyle offers.
Maribeth Coye Decker
Issue 5: Returning to Our Ancestors
The world was a different place in the 1950s when I was born Roman Catholic in Buffalo. Protestant Christian was not good enough to go to heaven and being Jewish was an anomaly. Heathen? Didn’t exist. OK, the sixties and seventies – crazy stuff going on, heard about Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hare Krishna, took comparative religions in college. Pre-Christian European religion? Myths, all myths. And of course, inferior to the one-god concept. So, I confess, I am not a Heathen from the womb or from high school or college or during my military career.
But the eastern religions seemed alien. So I took Christianity to the bitter end – you could even call me a self-taught theologian from the amount of stuff I read on the origins of Christianity. For a year, I was the main layperson in charge of a liberal Episcopalian Church. But it didn’t nurture my soul. Too much missing. As luck would have it, I married a Heathen in 2001 and slowly opened up to his beliefs, which resonated at such a deep level, I am still reeling. Thanks, Charlie.
The beliefs of my ancestors work for me. They nourish me. I’m in my third career, massage therapist and energy healer (Sacred Grove Bodywork), having conversations with plants and the earth and animals, with a deep respect for this incredible multiverse that is opening up to me. I’m still pretty shy with the Gods, but I think they’re OK with that.
Cody & Pattie Dickerson
Issue 1: Birth Story: Pattie
Interview with Steve von Till
Weißt du zu Ritzen?
Issue 2: Recipe ~ Goulash
Issue 5: Seasonal Recipes
Codie & Pattie currently reside in rural southeastern Idaho with their two daughters, where they seek a more traditional lifestyle.
Cody was born in Idaho in 1979. He’s contributed to various private Heathen publications. He works as an ironworker and blacksmith and spends his free time in the vast expanse of Idaho’s wilderness with his family, attending to their quaint homestead and independently researching Germanic and Indo-European history, culture and myth, traditional Germanic magic, and rune lore. Some evenings you may find him weeding the garden, listening to his favorite Darkthrone LP, or squeezing on his Grandfather’s bandonion. He can be reached at perchtentanz@gmail.com.
Pattie was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1979. Anxious to escape the din of the city, she moved to Idaho with her husband where she is now a full-time mother and homemaker. She enjoys outdoor activites such as camping and fishing, teaching her daughters, sharing her rich heritage with them, and maintaining pax templi between domesticated and feral animals. Her current areas of interest are Welsh folklore, Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, and homeschooling.
Dimo Dimov
Issue 5: Tangra: Ancient Bulgarian Paganism
Dimo Dimov is a Bulgarian musician living and studying cartography in Munich, Germany – born in 1983 (Sofia, Bulgaria). He plays in the bands Svarrogh, Allerseelen, Miel Noir, Fahl, and Schwarzwasserbrunnen. His private interest is in researching and collecting materials about European mythology and ethnography, and writing about this in his Blog and printed bulletin, Svarga. Also he is an ambitious photographer, working with digital as well with analogue/dark room techniques (www.dimo-dimov-photography.de.tl).
Nadine Drisseq
Review: Welsh Witches and Wizards by Michael Howard
Growing up on the rugged coastline of Devon, it was in these haunted hills that she roamed, watching the spirits and reading the tales of the land.
Brought up English, yet with Italian and German parents and traditions, a supportive atmosphere supplied the magic and rune books from an early age.
By the early nineties London had eaten Nadine in an exchange for an honours degree in Biology. Yet she pursued further education in ancient history, old religions, and archaeology, all the while following her Graal of the magical path.
Now in the colonies for 15 years with genetics research under her belt, she is the current Head of the North American Section of the IOT, and an apprentice in the Rune Gild.
Nadine runs Incendiary Arts Aromatics, her work with incense, herbs, and natural aromatics connects deeply to the lore of nature.
The rough, vulgar loneliness of the wilds stirs her blood, and she practices a path with a sincere and deep passion for its mystery and beauty. A lifelong love of Rûna, magic, and folk music, she creates song, and writes the odd essay on magic. Nadine lives by a lake outside Seattle, with her aptly-named cat, Fafnir.
MichaELFallson
Issue 6: What I have Learned from Children Story: Schooled by Young Gods
Family Hunting Trip
Michael began his relationship with the ‘Things in the Bush’ as an infant with the guidance of his grandfather Harold. Harold was Heathen in the truest sense of the word. He was far more trusting of the trees and the animals than any human institution. Michael took his grandfather’s lessons with him throughout his life and has strived to express these currents through his works.
Creating various musical vehicles throughout his teenage years, he decided on the name Beastianity as a nineteen year old.
Beastianity has left teeth marks on the face of the music underworld since its creation and continues to claw it’s way around the world.
Through ‘Praise Dog Publishing’, Michael and his wondrous wife Melinda have a wish to share a vision of Australia that many folk have never before had access to.
Michael spends much of his time rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing native birds and fauna on his coastal woodland property.
He and Melinda also rescue domestic animals. Dogs, cats, and Dingoes mostly.
He has a 16 year background as a forensic and acute psychiatric clinician. He is currently working within a team of Child and Adolescent psychiatric specialists. Locally recognised as an expert on first episode psychosis, Michael works with many young folk and their families in crisis to support and assist them to seek appropriate intervention.
Michael travelled throughout the state of New South Wales extensively as a child, following his father who was employed in the armed services.
He takes great joy in his family and watching it grow stronger and more diverse year by year. His two children Freyja and Otto Fenrir are considered his young gods.
He is deeply conscious of the spiritual power channelled by the Australian Aboriginal Nation and is recognised by many local indigenous folk as a friend and comrade.
Michael’s connection with the Runes and the Northern European folk soul is made evident by the endeavours of those he has collaborated with over the years. He works closely with Sweyn Plowright and Henry Lauer of the Rune Net, and has recorded music and played live with Ian Read’s Fire And Ice. Beastianity have shared the stage with Boyd Rice’s NON, and have had the privilege to have shared the stage with Douglas Pearce’s Death In June over many, many moons.
This is his first written piece for any publication to date.
Christina Finlayson
Issue 3: I Am
I was born in ’72 in Montana, raised in rural Utah and have written poetry since childhood. At eighteen, I took a twelve-year hiatus from poetry as I explored the wider world to return at age thirty and delve into formalism. It was through internet poetry that I met and married My Sweet Robert (also known as R.N. Taylor, poet, artist, musician). We reside in a beautiful Victorian home in the hills of West Virginia with my two children and our new baby. When I am not working on poetry, I enjoy gardening, baking, classic movies and studying the paranormal, runes and the tarot, folk medicine and nutrition. I enjoy doing my part to preserve traditionalism and strive to do so through my poetry as well as in everyday life.
We have a web site where we showcase some of our work (www.theredsalon.com) and plan to have chapbooks available in the near future. Several of my poems will also be featured in an upcoming book called Sugar & Spice, available through Ethical Society Press.
Jason Ford
Issue 2: Fermentation
Nadleehi is a natural health enthusiast, dedicated to re-empowering self and others to nourish spirit, mind, and body with simple ceremony, whole foods and food-like herbs. Working within and studying the Wise Woman Tradition, interests of Nadleehi’s include organic gardening, nature, ethnobotany, and especially the study of altered states of consciousness as they relate to healing and spirituality.
Nils Frykdahl
Issue 6: What I Have Learned from Children Story: What I’ve Learned from Edda
Nils Larson Frykdahl was born raised in Oakland and so has a natural kinship with the coast live oak, in whose branches he has found repose all of his increasingly long life. Saved from a life of academia by the artistic leanings of his parents and dear, mad brother, he has been surprised to find himself singing and playing from town to town. Along this improbable course, he was fortunate enough to meet a woman of like persuasion but complementary temperament, with whom he expanded the journey, and now the family. His projects have included Faun Fables, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Idiot Flesh, Charming Hostess, Ink Boat, and others. The Faun Frykdahls currently live in the oak-crowned hills of northern Sonoma county, CA, where the land-spirits are stronger than the hand of man (hang in there, creek-bridge, winter is almost over).
Kim Graham
Issue 3: Troll of the Great Northwest
Kim Graham is your run of the mill Renaissance Woman. She is a primarily self taught artist who has applied herself to most major fields of art and fabrication. Painting, calligraphy, watercolor, airbrush, ceramics, mold making, plastics casting, and steel fabrication. She is determined to discover the holy grail of sculpting mediums; a non toxic, ultra strong, outdoor material that does not require molds. It must be inexpensive to make, reasonably light weight and capable of doing very large sculptures. After seven years of tests, she is very close to finding it. The troll was one of the tests. www.kimgrahamstudios.com
Alison Grandmason (Swanhilde)
Issue 1: The Allure of Brisingamen
was born in 1961 and has lived most of her life in Michigan, where she resides with her husband and son. She majored in fine arts in college, and has worked in various art fields over the years. Currently, Alison works for a major paint manufacturing company as a Decorative Products Specialist/Store Decorator. In her spare time she still paints and produces works that can be used ritually. Banners, casting cloths, and other pieces. She also has a strong interest in hex signs.
Alison’s interest in heathen esoterica was piqued in 1989, and it was then that she began a path of learning that has been both mentally stimulating and spiritually fulfilling to her. Particular fields of study include, but are not limited to, the feminine mysteries as they apply to an Odinic paradigm (emulation over adoration) and the use of runes magically and in divination. She has been a guest speaker at North Central Michigan College and has taught workshops as well as being a proficient rune reader.
Jeff Grandmason, a.k.a. Valúlfr Vaerulsson
Issue 1: Norse Shamanism—Another Perspective
Issue 4: Der Wolf ist im Getreide
Valúlfr is a Waldzauberer (forest sorcerer) with over 30 years experience in the “old ways.” He is a Rune Master, Hexenmeister, lecturer and author of the forthcoming “Corpus Runica.” Additionally, he is the former Director of the now “closed” Wolfbund, and has taught Germanic Culture at a local Community College. With a bloodline that can be traced back to both Germany and Transylvania he carries in his veins a rich history that eventually made its way to these shores of America. In the early 1700’s, several of his ancestors emigrated here from the Palatinate of the German Rhine. These ancestors settled in and around Tulpehocken, Berks Co. PA; the heart of the Witch-sign (Hexezeeche), or Witch’s Foot (Hexefoos). The Hex work of both Valúlfr and Swanhilde can be viewed at www.hexentafel.webs.com, and he can be reached at valulfr@yahoo.com.
Lucy Graves
Issue 2: Culinary Queen
Issue 3: Culinary Queen
Arriving in Portland at the age of one, I consider myself an adopted daughter of Oregon. Having been a product of the Summer of Love, I was raised in a truly Bohemian environment. My mother is a stage actress and my father is a professional musician. I have always been amid creative people exploring new and innovative ways of expressing themselves artistically. My mother has been the single most influential person in my life. She taught me to respect all aspects of nature and spirit. She continues to mentor me in the garden as well as the kitchen. I am continually amazed and inspired by the beauty that surrounds me. I currently cohabit with my wolf partner, our two sister kitties, Ratatosk’s cousin, and the Ogre who lives in the attic.
Tess Grey
Issue 5: Od’s Girl
Winterborn in 1983, I currently live with my husband and an assortment of ferrets, cats, snakes, and motorcycles in rural Wisconsin. Aside from keeping busy with a variety of odd and interesting projects and jobs, I devote my time primarily to learning and practicing traditional homesteading skills and to magical studies, as well as to being involved with friends and family and to cheerfully being an impenitent rake. I consider myself a devotee of Freyja and Odin. I write prolifically but am only just beginning to take steps toward doing so with any seriousness, and would welcome any questions or conversations with others who write and with other Heathens, pagans, counterculture folk, and odd ducks in general: tess.grey@gmail.com.
Elizabeth Griffin
Issue 4: The Edge of the Forest
A Horse is a Bridge between Land and Sky
Issue 5: The Wand and the Veil
Elizabeth Griffin knew she was a polytheist from an early age. She is firstly a Heathen mum and secondly a lover of the arts. Professionally, she translates (foreign languages), writes (educational material for English language learners), and in particular enjoys Indo-European religion and culture. She is into genealogy, travel, photography, cooking, authentic folk music, and strong coffee. Please don’t ask her to be serious – she’s constitutionally unable.
WANTED: Gerhard Hallstatt
Issue 2: Death Story: Winter Solstice on the Snow Mountain
Issue 3: Coming of Age Story: Gandul
Issue 4: Spiritual Experience Story: Findenig Torl
Austrian artist and outlaw, founder of the Austrian industrial folklore project Allerseelen, former publisher of the magazines Aorta and Ahnstern. Loves to travel. Claims to speak several languages. Loves poetry. Claims to be poet but never published a book. Loves music. Claims to be musician but does not know one single note and plays no instrument at all. Loves mountains. Looks like a rucksack bomber. Always carries with him a rucksack containing maps, books and other items. Maps: These may be maps of cities like Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Lissabon, Moscow or mountain maps from remote areas in Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Spain. Books: These may be books by writers like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann Hesse, Ernst Juenger, Alexander Lernet-Holenia, Friedrich Nietzsche, Alexander Pushkin, William Shakespeare. Other items: biscuits, water, wine. Claims to stand with his poetry and music in a strange tradition with various occultists, symbolists and visionaries of his homeland Austria. Distinguishing marks are absinthe-green eyes, scars, a hidden tattoo. Take care and control: All his dreams come true.
“The choice of poetry and quality of music here are impeccable.”
www.lunar-hypnosis.com
“Allerseelen represent a standard of excellence that is almost unheard of in the world today. The music of Gerhard Hallstatt is, by intent and effect, a spiritual experience. If you have ever doubted the ability of art to destroy and re-create those who will let themselves be touched by it, immerse yourself obsessively in his work, and see who you are when you come out the other side.” www.starvox.net/crypt/novcd.htm
www.myspace.com/allerseelen
www.myspace.com/ahnstern
Aorta c/o Petak, Postfach 778, 1011 Wien, Austria.
Harigast
Issue 5: Listening & Sheltering: Grimms’ “The Owl”
Harigast is fury incarnate, a self-righteous proclaimer of violent truths and armoured dogmas, usually provoked by, and in opposition to, self-righteous proclaimers of violent truths and armoured dogmas.
Self-appointed avenger of wrong-doing, Harigast all too easily becomes the very breed of monster he seeks to demolish. His seething outbursts can be beautiful, but also disastrous – as much to Harigast as to his intended victim!
Dave Hobson
Issue 4: Preparing a Drinking Horn
Dave Hobson’s interests lie in the realm of practical applications—how to attain and sustain our holy folkway within our daily lives. His work as a blacksmith—as well as a practical heathen—can be seen in the ritual hammers and both Elder and Armanen Futhark Inlaid Oath rings he was commissioned to create for the Hammer of Thor Kindred in Northern California, in his runic forged art (one such piece was featured in the Heathen Art Show, Portland, 2006) and in his aluminum cold-forged Irminsuls. He is both a board member and the Folk Builder Coordinator for the Asatru Folk Assembly; he is also a member of the Odinic Rite. He is the co-editor of the Runestone Journal, the annual publication of the AFA.
Blake T. Honeytwin
Issue 3: Coming of Age Story: Agriculture and the Rite of Passage
Blake T. Honeytwin is a father of 3 children and a performing artist with Thee Hop-Frog Kollectiv. He lives in Los Angeles, CA. His ancestry is Irish, Scottish, and German, and follows a similar spiritual path as his pagan ancestors.
Thomas Hooper
Issue 6: Blessings
English born, I live, paint, and tattoo in New York City. Husband to Kimberly Hooper, son to Mary Purfield and Martin Hooper, brother to Peter & Eleanor Hooper. I have worked for Jim Macairt, Alex Binnie, Dante Dimassa, and I now work for Lori Leven. Born in Hastings East Sussex, I studied drawing at The London Institute of Art & Design, subsequently moving from London to New York City to pursue my goals in tattooing and art.
I am extremely grateful to have such good friends from all over the world in my life, to have been given the opportunity to tattoo, and to have such trusting and loyal customers.
I work at New York Adorned.
http://www.meditationsinatrament.com
http://www.nyadorned.com
http://www.hooperselectric.com
http://www.blurb.com/user/store/ThomasHooper
http://www.shirtsanddestroy.com/thomashooper
Juleigh Howard-Hobson
Issue 2: Threshold Warding
Issue 3: The Ancient Folk of the Isles
Recipes
Issue 4: Kindred Blot
Issue 6: What I Have Learned from Children Story: Hail the Next Generation
Juleigh Howard Hobson’s work has appeared in Hex Magazine, Idunna, The Old Heathen’s Almanac, Odin’s Gift, The AFA Voice, The Odinic Rite Briefing, *newWitch*, Megalithic Poems, Enchanted Conversation, Autonom, A Devotional to Thor (Retter), The Journal of Contemporary Heathen Thought (Heithinn Publications), her own chapbook: Sommer and Other Poems (RavensHalla Arts) and literally scores of other places, both in print and in cyberprint. She is the former editor of The Runestone Journal (AFA/RavensHalla), has been nominated for both “The Best of the Net” and The Pushcart Prize, was an invited artist in the 2005 Heathen Art Show (Portland OR) and her formal poetry collection has been favourably reviewed in Runa. Work is forthcoming in Northern Traditions (Primordial Traditions), The Cycle of Nine (RavensHalla Arts) as well as quite a few mainstream literary venues.
G.B. Jones
Issue 2: The Maze
is an artist based in Toronto, Canada. Her drawings have been presented on record and CD covers, T-shirts and posters, and in magazines, books, galleries, and museums throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe.
In her work, G.B. Jones seeks to explore hidden histories from a Heathen perspective.
G.B. Jones is represented by SUNDAY gallery in New York City. www.sundaynyc.com
Julius
Issue 2: Death Story: Julius
Born in 1968 in Canada, my ancestors hail from England, Ireland, Wales, France and Germany. Over the past few years I have been uncovering my heathen roots, and have found myself drawn to Odin and the runes.
I live with my wife and cats in our newly acquired home, which has been in my family since the early 1940s.
Katia (HaateKaate)
Issue 2: Living by the Dark Mist
I was born in the very middle of 1973 and have always believed the mark of the 30th of June had its significant influence on many bits along my life-path; with both Sun and Moon in Cancer and under the strong affect of Leo in the Ascendant. It lasted years, the learning how to intertwine all the elements; master the contradictions of Sun and Moon; light and dark; Fire and Water; then finally achieve the desired decent harmonious balance.
Big part of my young life I spent in mountainous areas of Bulgaria, in the heart of nature; this surely had its effect and helped the feeling of deep love I carry for the idea of fatherland, roots, cultural and folklore patrimony.
In the means of photography I found a long searched way of expressing myself and my perception of inner and outer world with all of its shades, hues and spirits.
I am a mother of two daughters – my Flame and Resurrection that took me to the exceptional spaces of love and taught me there are no limits for the heart and no obstruction for the will… or maybe just refreshed the memory of always known but untimely buried truths.
kate2ili@yahoo.com
www.myspace.com/kaatehaate
Ensio Kataja
Issue 1: Days of the Week
(b. 1971) is a Finnish writer and an Elder Fellow of the Rune-Gild. He has been studying and working on Runic Tradition for over a decade. His first book, Riimujen viisaus (The Wisdom of the Runes), was published in 2005 by the Finnish publishing house Athanaton. He is currently writing his next book and masterwork for the Rune-Gild. Kataja is a contributor to English Rûna Magazine and also writes a regular online column PYHÄ at wihaz.wordpress.com.
Andrew King
Issue 2: Cover Art: LXVIII Cybele
Born in the West Country, Andrew’s initial creative work was in the visual arts, studying at Caerleon and Lampeter. After many years of experimentation, he began his mature work with the first of his Emblematic paintings in 1991. In 1994 he started making documentary recordings of vernacular song, music, and customs. He moved to London in 1995 to further this work and the illustrative compositions that he was doing for a number of the Post-Industrial/Neofolk bands of the time (Current 93, Sol Invictus, L’Orchestre Noir, Ernte, etc), and to complement this made his first attempts at his own mangled versions of traditional song the following year.
Since then he has created a number of sporadically issued albums and carefully chosen compilation appearances. Although his first album was issued by World Serpent, his breakthrough release was The Amfortas Wound (issued on Athanor) a cathartic collection of murder ballads and mystical anthems. Subsequent releases have included a mini-album on OEC, a split CD with Changes, a number of carefully chosen compilation appearances, and collaborative work with Les Sentiers Conflictuels, Brown Sierra, Andrew Liles, KnifeLadder, and The Triple Tree, whilst his recent live work has included vocal and percussion work for Sol Invictus and Duo Noir.
Along with his visual art practice, he has continued his folklore and archival work through these years, having worked for both the English Folk Dance & Song Society (1999-2001, 2007) and the Sound Archive of the British Library (2001-2005), his area of specialisation being pre-1914 cylinder recordings of British traditional singers.
In 2006 his second American exhibition “False True Lovers,” at CounterMedia, Portland, Oregon, was organised, hosted and curated by Hex Magazine.
www.myspace.com/AndrewStewartKing
Tryggvi Thorleif Larum
Issue 3: Oden’s Dream
Tryggvi Larum was born in 1956 in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland to a Norwegian-American father and Icelandic mother and at three years of age he immigrated to California. Soon after entering the California school system he began to display an exceptional talent for art, primarily in drawing prompting his instructors in the final faze of his education to encourage him to pursue a career as an art teacher.
In 1975 following in his father’s footsteps he served as an American soldier in Northern Italy and then in the 1980′s he returned to Iceland to retrace his ancestry while serving aboard Icelandic fishing trawlers.
He returned to California where he currently resides with his wife and daughter. He worked in multiple professions while continuing to occasionally practice his drawing until 1998 when he discovered and began to explore wood sculpture as a means to find a new artistic voice to relate the spirit of his talent, culture, ancestral reverence and life experience. Although still an emerging artist his chosen art style draws from his 20 year personal study of the fragmentary history, art and archeology of Northern European Bronze and Iron Ages.
His work began to draw public and media attention from the start of the completion of his first sculpture. Over the years his reinterpretation of these art styles and their mythology and evolving imaginative mix of traditional and sometimes contemporary styles has lead to numerous awards including the public installation of his work in art centers in the U.S., Canada and Iceland. His most recent acknowledgment came in the form of a 2007 nomination of a cultural folk art fellowship to the N.E.A. from Northern California’s Morris Graves Museum of Art and full sponsorship from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts for his 2007 exhibit of his work at the Nordic Heritage Museum of Seattle. See more work: www.nordicart.net
Leódrúne a.k.a. Michelle Maiden
Issue 5: Cover Art: The Fates
British illustrator Leódrúne (born 1977) has always been fascinated by the mythology and cultures of ancient Europe. She is currently studying for a degree in archaeology, with her main area of interest being western and northern Europe in the prehistoric to medieval periods. With spiritual affinities to both the Germanic and the Celtic traditions, Leódrúne is interested in runes, Ogham, shamanic journeying, archetypes, and sacred geometry. She has also developed some skills and knowledge in herbalism over many years, especially in the use of herbal dyes.
Constantly inspired by the landscape and history of the British Isles, she loves to explore the wilderness and ancient sites, as well as reading about the tales and beliefs interwoven with the land. Her artwork draws on themes from pagan mythology, nature, archaeology, folklore, and the Otherworld of faerie. At its finest, she seeks for her artwork to illustrate and communicate the archetypal realm, though she admits she will often just paint what she finds visually beautiful or interesting.
http://www.myspace.com/leodrune
J. Athur Loose
Issue 6: Musing on Volund
J.Arthur Loose was born unto archeologists in the American Southwest. Memories of silver-clad Navajo and Hopi Indians inspired questions about his own cultural heritage, and brought him to the artistic medium of metal. So much of what we know about the past has arrived in the form of ancient metal objects of function and beauty! Residing in Wolfdales with a beautiful swan-maiden and her host of cats, he enjoys teaching high-school art & jewelry after escaping his toil on Saevarstath. He has also been known to brew a fine mead and play an occasional tune.
L. Beth Lynch
Issue 5: I Don’t Call Him Santa Anymore
Issue 6: Making a Nine Herbs Garden
L. Beth Lynch (aka Valgrind) is a priestess of Odin, seidhrkona, writer, and herbalist-in-training who resides in the Pacific Northwest with her partner and a houseful of animals, plants, Gods, and other assorted wights. Her musings on life in Odin’s service, as well as information on her writing and other activities, can be found online at Gate of the Slain and Green World of the Gods.
ManWoman
Issue 2: Thundersign—Reclaiming our Sacred Symbol
ManWoman was born in 1938 in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada. In 1958, out of gratitude for remaining alive after a near-fatal accident, he took a vow to be “God’s artist.” One month later, he had a spontaneous out-of-body experience and ecstatic awakening.
After four years of art school, in 1965, on his twenty-seventh birthday, he went into a trance and his soul soared up into the inner Light. For one year he was flooded with all the classic mystical experiences—heart openings, third-eye openings, flights of the spirit, union with the universal force—all of which at first terrified him and then compelled him to dedicate his life.
Long before the feminist and Goddess movements became popular he was given a new name, ManWoman, to express his new found wholeness, the integration of his entire being.
A Wise Old Man in a dream marked his throat with a white swastika and told him to reclaim it as a sacred symbol. He accepted the challenge.
Katherine Mathis
Issue 1: Birth Story: Katherine
holds a BA in History from the University of Texas. She is married with one child, and has previously published in Renaissance Magazine, Intaglio, and other various small journals and magazines. Katherine is a solitary practitioner of Celtic Paganism.
Dawn McCarthy
Issue 6: What I Have Learned from Children Story: The Wonder of Little Objects
Dawn McCarthy is a lady who enjoys singing, theater, nature, and various studies centered around the hearth and food. She was raised in a large family in eastern Washington State by two piano players from Chicago. After spending years in New York City, where she cut her teeth as a singer and performer, her life and song writing took a pivotal turn with a solo quest through Europe in 1997. Since then, she has enjoyed writing and touring as a livelihood, largely through her music and theater work in FAUN FABLES. While they await the birth of their next child, she and her husband Nils and daughter Edda enjoy the seasons of Northern California and travel as a family. http://www.myspace.com/faunfablesmyspace.
Kati Meden / FleckchenErde
Issue 3: Holle Auf Erden
I was born 1974 in Braunschweig / Germany and – thanks to my parents – grew up in a nice small village near the forest. After school and some years of trying to find my way I moved to Berlin and studied graphic design. Today I work as a designer – together with my boy friend and two cats in our
own design office.
Since 2003 I am a student at the FoxFire School of Integrative Medicine & Experiential Shamanism which really helps me a lot to reconnect to earth and spirit (just to name two). Another important part of my life is to celebrate the wheel of the year (reclaiming tradition) with a group of wonder – and power – ful women.
In Autumn 2007 I started to come out with my own projects which are inspired by my shamanic path and experience. You can see some first expressions of that on my website: www.fleckchenerde.net and on my myspace profile: www.myspace.com/fleckchenerde.
Jack Montgomery aka Gray Owl
Issue 2: Traditional Germanic Healing Arts in America: Powwowing
Shadowdancer was born in South Carolina. He makes his living as an academic librarian in Kentucky. He has
studied world religions academically and personally since the early 1970s.
Gray Owl is also a folklorist and practitioner of Powwow and Hoodoo, both historically American shamanic traditions. He has written numerous articles for Pagan magazines and is currently writing American Shamans: Journeys with Traditional Healers to be published in 2007 by BUSCA Press. (www.buscainc.com)
He also became a professional musician in 1966 and guitar, bass, harmonica, mandolin, and Appalachian dulcimer. His first CD, Onward to Avalon has enjoyed success in the US and abroad, and was awarded 5 Broomsticks (highest rating) by NewWitch Magazine. His 2nd CD Everywhere I Look is receiving airplay on college radio stations and streaming radio worldwide. Both CDs reflect his beliefs regarding spirituality as well as magic, myth and archetypes.
Thomas Muether
Issue 6: Old Swabian Spring Dishes and Customs
Thomas Muether is a philosopher who also has advanced degrees in the History of Religion (Indo-European Studies). During his professional career, he has taught at several colleges and universities. He spends much of his leisure time in the kitchen. He also teaches cooking and traditional methods of food storage and preservation.
Dan Nahum
Issue 5: Sub-editing
Dan Nahum was born in Canberra, Australia in the early 80s and spent many years identifying as an aggressive rationalist. In his early 20s he became more deeply aware of his reverence for the natural world and sense of an ebb and flow of forces inexplicable in purely materialistic terms. He was excited to discover that, on reflection, this really didn’t interfere with his existing belief system, and today he proudly identifies as an atheistic pantheist (or pantheistic atheist). He plays drums for Ironwood and Sword Toward Self, contributes in various capacities to Greed & Rapacity, and has his own personal musical expression in Bleakwood. He is presently working on a new issue of Eightfold Sun zine, and is delighted to contribute to Hex in a sub-editing capacity.
Uwe Nolte
Issue 4: Cover Art: Mordred’s Weihe
Since his earliest childhood, the memories of his legendary hometown Merseburg in Saxony-Anhalt have left a permanent impression, enriching and imprinting his soul for the rest of his life. The towers of the castle bathed in moonlight, the imposing facade of the cathedral, the ivy-covered battlements of the castle on the banks of the Saale river: it was a veritable wonderland. Forgotten treasure must be hidden there!
Only later, long after the discoveries of childhood, did it become apparent that “real treasures” are to be found there: the “Merseburg Charms,” the architecture that has evolved through the ages, and a history that is fundamental to Central Europe. But inspite of his present capacity for intellectual reflection, the rule also applies in this case: In the end, the artist remains a child, outside of any norms and free as a bird! Legend, mythos and magic are the three foundations of his sovereign worldview, that cannot, should not, and may not submit to any fashions or ideological tendencies. He follows an inner voice rather than a career path, is rooted in the past rather than the present, and is more indebted to the Classical world than Modernity. The cultivation of a multifaceted creativity and the permanent quest for perfection are the only constants in his creative life.
And so it is no surprise that he has not only striven for artistic self-realisation as a musician and poet, but also as a painter, photographer, actor, and organiser.
Uwe Nolte’s main musical endeavors have been Rückgrat, Scardanelli, Orplid, Sonnentau, and most recently Barditus. His symbolist photographs have graced the covers of the last three projects. The work on the cover, “Mordred’s Weihe” (“Mordred’s Consecration”) is from his cycle “Kreis der Gestalten.”
<kontakt@noltex.de>
German bio & photos:
www.noltex.de
www.barditus.org
www.orplid.de
ocean
Issue 4: Hollow Tree
ocean lives in an inflated shellac’d whale bladder oubliette in Olympia, Washington. His most recent book “Black Hills Cabal” is available at mirrorflower@gmail.com
Diana L. Paxson
Issue 3: Sex, Status, and Seidh ~ Homosexuality and Germanic Religion
DIANA L. PAXSON is a consecrated priestess and an Elder (and former First Officer) of the Covenant of the Goddess. She is an Elder and former Steerswoman of the Troth, an international heathen organization whose journal, IDUNNA, she edits, and leader of Hrafnar Garth. Since 1990 she has pioneered the recreation of Oracle work, which she has taught in workshops all over North America and in Europe. Paxson is the author of numerous mythic short stories and novels featuring the Old Religion, including RAVENS OF AVALON and THE GOLDEN HILLS OF WESTRIA. Her most recent non-fiction books are TAKING UP THE RUNES and ESSENTIAL ASATRU. A book on trance work, TRANCE-PORTATION, will be published in September. She also writes a regular Goddess column for SAGEWOMAN magazine. For more information on her work, see www.hrafnar.org
Kristina Tandrup Pedersen
Issue 4: Glam’s Øje
Born in Denmark 28.08.1984
I have painted my whole life, but 4 years ago I found out I could express myself even better with the art of photography. Mother nature inspires me, like when I walk along the ocean, the sunlight paints my face before it goes down or when the big trees whisper on a windy day in October.
The hidden people and the animals watching every step.. Sometimes they can be seen, sometimes they cannot, they are important spirits..
When I don’t do art I take lessons at the Danish Herb School, to learn the secrets of the healing plants.
I travel as much as I can afford with my backpack exploring different cultures. Right now I am working on coverart pictures for a Russian band, and have different exhibitions in Denmark where I live my life.
www.Njordfoto.dk
www.myspace.com/Njordfoto
G. Peterson
Issue 5: Music, Myth, and Magic
Issue 6: Scandinavian Memoirs
Although his academic concentration has primarily focused on digital media and culture, G. Peterson has dedicated his extracurricular time to the study of Scandinavian traditions and customs. Being a self-proclaimed “folklorist,” Peterson hopes to further his academic pursuits in the context of experiencing folk culture.
Joelle Premo
Issue 6: What I Have Learned from Children Story: At Wild Grove Homestead
Joelle Premo lives in metro Detroit, where she enjoys coaxing what wildness she can from the suburban landscape. She achieves this end through exploring, brewing, growing, crafting, singing, foraging, and general merry-making. She also co-writes a zine with her cousin called Stone’s Throw.
Matthew Raymond
Issue 4: Sacred Symmetry
Born in Sydney, Australia in 1980, Matthew Raymond spent much of his early life in the fringes, finding solace from the urban chaos in the Blue Mountains, a community within a World Heritage National Park. Of Mauritian Heritage, he is a living link in a bloodline spanning across East Africa, India, France, and now Australia. Passionate about social justice and possessing a deeply connected respect for the land, Matthew has taken the expressive next step through the creation and performance of music and is a member of the Sydney based progressive outfit Ironwood. Matthew currently works as a psychologist in intellectual disability and mental health; regularly bears his soul through honouring the oldest musical instrument of humanity, voice; and frequently rejuvenates his spirit in the national parks of the world. Matthew periodically captures this process via photography.
Brun Russellson
Issue 5: The (Re)wilding
Brun Russellson dwells amidst the Southern Appalachians with his mate, Quinn, where together they steward a 23 acre homestead and honor the eldest traditions of their ancestors.
Indulging a driving impulse to live as close to the land and the cycles of the seasons as possible, they hunt, gather, and grow roughly half of what they eat, depending on the time of year.
In his free time, if he’s not wandering somewhere in the Black Mountains, Brun is researching the pre-Christian and pre-historical animist traditions of the British Isles and Northern Germany (drawing particular inspiration from the Mesolithic and early Neolithic periods).
Scott Schroder
Issue 4: Spiritual Experience Story: Equine Spirit in Winter Night
My first notable accomplishments were my expulsion from three Kindergartens in a single month, at the age of five. At eight, I was detained by police walking on a Southern California Interstate, having rejected the idea that the human landscape would only accommodate automobile traffic.
As a teenager, I was intensively involved in the punk scene, singing in a band, producing zines and getting expelled from further schools. Thereafter, I rejected any property I could not carry, alternately seeking visions in the wilderness and in the midst of urban decay. In the late 90s, I settled down in the Sierra Nevada foothills, in a basement somewhat less inviting than the overpasses I was leaving behind. With essentially no budget, I prepared numerous successful legal challenges to government timber sales.
I live in Portland, OR, where I write constantly. I perform in various capacities and am nursing a fledgling music project called Blood Seeks Blood. I am frequently troubled by the idea that whatever criticism I have of modernity, I am its product, and perhaps am not able to live as integrated a life as those who came before me.
Rima Staines
Issue 1: Her Storybook Children
Issue 2: Soup and Pipe
Issue 6: A Mountain Song for my Wordless Son
Far away & long ago, there was a place that is also close by and right now. To get there you must step around the corner of everything that you hold to be real, and yield to an odd world which will take you in hand and tell you stories so strange and beautiful that you will be sorry to leave. Welcome to The Hermitage…a little cottage in the forest, a stopping place on your journey. Please come inside, stay awhile and wander through rooms of curiosities…
Rima Staines is an artist, writer, and clockmaker who paints and draws the things she sees when exploring this fairytale realm…where she spends most of her time. Although she was born a Londoner in the 20th century she has always had one foot in Early Medieval Europe. She doesn’t really know what to do about this. Rima’s curiosity leads her through the many worlds of words, languages and lettering, books and stories, puppetry, nature and interesting people, music, superstitions, folklore and fairytales, and most of all the otherness that can be found on the periphery of our lives, the strange and grotesque, the absurd and unnerving…that topsy turvy in between place where things are not quite what they seem…
Rima paints and draws on wood and paper. She enjoys entwining script and image closely and loves to write stories to tell her characters’ tales using forgotten words and other languages. She also makes Things from Wood and has been initiated into the mysteries of Binding Books.
For inspiration she surrounds herself with images of skeleton leaves, medieval manuscript pages, ancient faces, Russian icons, old toys, bells & gypsy caravans, huts in the snow, jars & boxes, old violins, rusty keys & children’s rhymes…and most dear of all things The Music – which inspires Rima more than anything…
She travelled for a year and a day in a hand built wooden house on wheels and is now sitting amongst books and paints in an old house on the edge of Dartmoor.
At intothehermitage.blogspot.com her tale unfolds.
www.intothehermitage.blogspot.com
www.the-hermitage.org.uk
www.onceuponoclock.com
www.thehermitage.etsy.com
Jj Starwalker
Issue 3: Everything She Touches Changes ~ Learning the Art of Hex
Jj Starwalker was born into a remarkably magical mid-western family that appeared most conventional to the average eye, as they blended their talents smoothly with their mundane occupations as farmers, housewives, nurses, teachers. Even as a young woman, Jj walked her own path, immersing herself in scientific disciplines yet still studying hex work and regularly relying on telepathy for communication (before cell phones.) Her life path has been at times rocky and convoluted, which strengthened her capabilities. She is woman who doesn’t let adversity stop her, with a take charge attitude when needed, and a supportive team spirit when this is called for. Jj has a knack for cutting through the distractions and getting to the heart of a situation, assessing any problems and addressing concerns with an inborn sense of balance that mixes magic and the mundane to find a solution that manifests on multiple levels.
Her friends know her as “stubborn and determined, in a good way;” her stick-to-itiveness doesn’t stop until the idea finds expression in the tangible world. She is most comfortable being the Crone in the cottage just out of sight. The friend she asked to help with this bio added “Your hexes just plain work. I know the one you created for us for land working has carried a charge that is practically visible and certainly has brought visible results.”
Oscar Strik
Issue 2: Voyage to the White Island—A Folktale in the North Sea Tradition
was born in 1985 in the Netherlands. He holds a BA in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Amsterdam, and is currently working towards a MA in Linguistics. Besides being a linguist, he works as a semi-professional folklorist, volunteering at the folktale documentation and research department of the Meertens Institute for Dutch Language and Culture.
In his spare time, he writes stories, poetry, and music, inspired by his surroundings and the tales and songs of older times. Professional and non-professional interestes include: the history of language(s), language change, endangered languages, runology, mythology, folklore, fairy tales, folksongs, music, nature, space, etc.
He currently lives in Hilversum, the Netherlands, with his partner Diane, with whom he maintains the musical and cultural webzine Evening of Light – www.eveningoflight.nl
Christine Anne Sumner
Issue 5: What I Learned from my Grandparents Story: Although both of my grandparents are resting in the earth…
Chris Sumner has an MS in Art Education with a certificate in Women’s Studies from Syracuse University, a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in Drawing and Printmaking from Pratt Institute, and a Certificate in Web Design and Management from Broome Community College. She has taught art in a public school for 16 years.
Her writing and art are mostly narrative and reflective of personal emotional experiences.
Chris’ interest in Slavic Reconstructionism emerged from her mother’s genealogy investigations, resulting in her discovery of her heritage as a 3rd generation Carpatho-Rusyn American. Chris is a moderator for the Slavic Reconstructionist Yahoo group, and has contributed recommended reading databases, book notes, herbal compendiums, and other features to the site. A crucial component of Slavic Heathenry is the worship of one’s ancestors, which is what motivated this contribution to Hex for the topic of “What I Learned From My Grandparents.”
Chris has many varied interests, especially animal and nature symbolism, collecting animal skulls, skinning and tanning hides, herbalism, energy healing, making custom incenses for spiritual work, reading, organic gardening, meditation, and studying occult topics such as tasseography, divination, and the pre-Christian beliefs, practices, and culture of the ancient Slavs and Neolithic man. Survivalism and pre-industrial technology also figure prominently in her interests.
Chris has designed and created her own cloak, drum, staff, and ritual tools from natural materials, and designed and burned her own znaki – Slavic rune set – with her wood-burning pen. She also crafted her own place of power – Svata Mestos – on her land, and believes firmly in feeding the land so that it may feed us.
She believes that humankind has become too far removed from its relationship with Nature and that by re-establishing and honoring those connections, personal spiritual growth happens. She resides with her children in New York State.
Svartesól
Issue 5: A Vanic Hearth
Svartesól is a long time devotee of Ing-Frey, God of the World. A New England native of Prussian, Norwegian, and English descent, she moved to Southern California in 2006, where a large part of her spirituality involves learning about the indigenous American land-spirits and the land itself. She enjoys working with horses, as well as maintaining a thriving organic garden of fruits, vegetables, and medicinal and culinary herbs. She believes the revival of traditional crafts and poetry and the knowledge of Anglo-Saxon history and language is vital to fleshing out modern Heathen experience. To that end, she has clergy credentials through the Geferraeden Fyrnsidu (The Fellowship of Anglo-Saxon Heathenry), where she also proudly serves on its Witangemot and is Guildmaster of its Bards’ Guild.
You can see more of her writing at Wanderings on a Wain, or follow her blog, Vanic Thoughts.
Eric Tanafon
Issue 6: The Cinderlad
I spend much of my time writing software (for money) and stories (for that and all other possible reasons). My hobbies include fairy tales, folk singing, and the pursuit of personal gnosis. I live in New Hampshire with my wife and children.
Molly Tanafon
Issue 4: Spiritual Experience Story: Ships That Pass
I am a 13-year old Pagan girl who lives with my family in Manchester, New Hampshire. I am homeschooled, and I love to write and practice magic. This is my second story.
Ruth Thornee
Issue 4: Four Dimensions of Myth
Ruth Thornee studies comparative religion in her spare time as a History student at the University of St. Andrew’s, Scotland. She is keen on walking in the highlands, traditional cookery, herbalism, and applying traditional virtues and a clannish aesthetic to her everyday life.
Jeroen van Valkenburg
Issue 1: Muspellheim
Northland
(Leiden, 1973) is inspired by ancient myths and sagas that he encountered during his study of Archaeology at the University in Leiden. Especially the stories from the Viking era (9th to 11th Century A.D.) play an important role in his works. His interest mainly lies in the religious and mystical side of Viking culture. He tries to capture their magical and mythical atmosphere in his creations. His oil paintings can sometimes be regarded as icons of gods and goddesses long forgotten. His work has been exhibited in many galleries in Holland and abroad. His work is also well known from all the book/cd/lp covers he has designed.
www.jeroenvanvalkenburg.exto.nl
www.myspace.com/jeroenvanvalkenburg
Squiffy Q. Veisalgia
Issue 3: Hair of the Hund
Coming of Age Story: Coming of Age
Known for draining the dregs out of her dad’s beer cans at an early age, Squiffy was created for a life of liquid appreciation. Sequelae led her to seek remedies, which she would like to share with you, her kin (hic). Her knees are now too arthritic to jig on tables on pub tables as she once did, but her liver is still holding out.
Madeline von Foerster
Issue 1: In the Garden Part I
Odinn’s Self-Sacrifice on Yggdrasil
Issue 2: In the Garden Part II
I was born in San Francisco. My family’s cultural origins: German, Austrian, and Russian, exerted varying degrees of influence on my identity. I attended art school in Mannheim, Germany, for a time before returning to the San Francisco area to complete school at the California College of Arts and Crafts. Although as a child different things attracted me than do at the present, my aesthetic sensibility has actually been rather consistent. I have always appreciated things that looked old and slightly arcane, and I loved the beauty inherent in mystery…
www.madelinevonfoerster.com
Taylor Wade
Issue 2: Atop a Mountain
I was born in Southern California in 1986 and moved to Portland 17 years later, where I live today. At a young age, I became keenly interested in my heritage, which lead me to develop a passionate appreciation and love for European history, culture and the myriad of supreme aesthetic endeavors that have risen and flourished throughout Europe over time. Philosophy, music, religion and literature are the areas in which my attention has been intensely focused, laying the foundation for my creative manifestations. I am soon to begin work on my BA in German literature, and am also working on becoming a writer and composer.
BK Ward
Issue 3: Her Path to Divinity
I currently reside in Seattle with my daughter Kali. My time is spent drawing, painting, creating sounds in a band (BLACK NOISE CANNON), experiencing nature, and traveling as often as possible. I’ve been doing visual art since I can remember, influenced by the Surrealists and the discovery of Entheogens at a young age. More recently finding an affiliation with the ongoing and ever burgeoning Fantastic/Visionary art movement, through this I have been making connections and expanding my horizons.
Robert Ward
Issue 2: Were Valkyries Real?
In the 90s Robert Ward published a magazine called The Fifth Path which proved to be very influential, since it was one of the first magazines to focus on what then was called Apocalyptic Folk (now more commonly referred to as Neofolk) as well as the Heathen ideas frequently associated with that genre of music.
After the ‘death’ of that venture, Robert became more and more involved in organized Asatru. He used his graphic arts skills and publishing experience to transform the Asatru Alliance’s magazine—Vor Tru—into an exceptional publication, that could boast greatly improved layout and content. This metamorphosis lasted for about ten issues, from issue 49 to 59. He also authored several articles such as an overview of “The Hammer of Thor,” “The Wild Hunt,” and reports about Ötzi and the Caucasian Mummies found in China. His vision was to develop Vor Tru as a vehicle to help gain more visibility and respect for Heathenism, a vision not shared by everyone involved, which eventually led to his disillusionment.
During the last years of his life, Robert nevertheless forged ahead with new plans for a Heathen focused magazine called Northwind. It is from this unpublished project, that the present article has been culled. In this spirit of kinship, and in Robert’s memory, we are proud to present it in Issue 2 of Hex, three years after his untimely passing on September 17, 2004.
Hunter Yoder
Issue 4: Runic Symbology in Contemporary Deitsch Hexology
Issue 6: Cover Art: Runic Universe
Hunter Yoder was born and raised in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, Berks County, PA. He began painting hex signs on barns at an early age before attending Kutztown University to earn a BFA in Painting. He has been involved in experimental film making and video art and has shown his works in NYC at the Museum of Modern Art’s Cineprobe program and in France’s Festival International du Jeune Cinema Different Programme. His current work is a culmination of his background, life experiences, and insatiable thirst for knowledge of the commonality of symbolism across all cultures. An avid Netherland Dwarf rabbit breeder, entheologist, and father of four, he is co-founder of www.Zaubereigarten.com and author of The Backdoor Hexologist, Volume One.
