HEX FOLK CONTRIBUTORS
Issue 5 ~ Fall & Winter 2009

Valbiorn Anderson
What I Learned from my Grandparents Story
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…

J. Blade Canty
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.

Maribeth Coye Decker
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
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
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).

Tess Grey
Od's Girl poem
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
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.

Harigast
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!
 

Leódrúne a.k.a. Michelle Maiden
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

Teresa Luedke
Kitchen Medicine & Magic
I think of myself as a “Hedgewife” drawn to the hedge and it's many mysteries. I've been an amateur naturalist/botanist for more than 30 years. I earn my living, for the last 10,  through the practice of healing modalities, such as reflexology, aromatherapy, ayurveda, esthetics, and massage therapy. I also enjoy cooking, handcrafting, and socializing with other Heathens and pagans.

Discovering the many 'simple' uses for plants, both wild and domestic, has occupied many pleasurable hours in my life. My husband also shares some of my enthusiasm but my daughter shows none! My hope is to pass on what I have learned to my granddaughter who already loves to smell the flowers and feed the chickens!

I have recently been attempting to create my own hedge garden; by locating and introducing useful wild plants on our 7 acre homestead in an effort to naturalize them. Currently I represent The Troth as the Georgia Steward, volunteer as the Fundraising Director for Savannah Pagan Pride Day 2008, and since 2003 I've served my Kindred, Kiefernwald Sippe, as the "Head Woman". www.kiefernwald.org

Contact Teresa about her column—Kitchen Medicine & Magic: hearthfire@hexmagazine.com

Laure Beth Lynch
I Don’t Call Him Santa Anymore
Laure 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.

Dan Nahum
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.

G. Peterson
Music, Myth, and Magic
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.

Brun Russellson
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).

Christine Anne Sumner
What I Learned from my Grandparents Story
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
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.

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