ISSUE 8

Articles Available Online:

Living the Dream ~ EditorialDreams, visions, and portents have been guiding us through untold millennia. The nature and source of these forms of communication is enigmatic – indeed, it allows our conscious linear thoughts to tap into the vast mysteries of our world. Whether you feel that dreams or visions come from other-worldly or divine origins, or merely our own stew of unconscious thoughts, it is undeniable that many of our greatest achievements as well as small personal breakthroughs have been sparked by these strange communications.
Saplings in time: A Heathen TaleMore than any others in my piece these lines unify and express the theme of genius loci – spirit of place – and they do so, significantly, both in terms of the central Victorian landscape and my Northern European spiritual heritage. For if Germanic Heathenism, the religion of the god Woden, originated in one land, Northern Europe, then naturally it will be a religion replete with Northern European associations. Indeed, natural and desirable spiritual evolution notwithstanding, the entire form and content of the religion are ideally derived from this source. How far can we, or should we, nativise our religion in Australia? There is something complex, problematic, and interesting when North meets South. What happens when opposites meet? When fire and ice clash and intermingle is there creation or destruction, or both? Is there a possibility of a marriage here?
Finnish SaunaThe sauna was not only central to rites of passage, it was itself a passageway. Many Finns were (and still are) born in sauna and brought there to die. As a temple it was a place to worship and honor the dead. We see in Kalevala how Marjatta, who is with child, cast out by her father, must find a sauna in which to give birth. She finds one on a clearing with a stable in the pinewood. In this primitive sauna she gives birth to the new king of Finland, helped by horses that create the steam by breathing vapor on the hot stones.
Flower Power!We grow an organic vegetable garden which means that we rely heavily on companion planting. Companion planting brings balance to the garden, as plants help each other to repel bugs, encourage high yields, and attract garden allies. Edible flowers are indispensable companion plants. They serve their ecological purpose, while at the same time, they are beautiful to gaze upon and good to eat.
An Easy Elixir: Dairy KefirWe are 100% addicted to kefir in this household. If we miss drinking it for some reason, the whole rest of the day feels “off.” Dairy or milk kefir is a delicious probiotic, a cultured milk drink that has over 2,000 years of history. The story of Kefir takes us back to the Caucasus Mountains, located between Europe and Asia. Shepherds there noticed that milk carried for long periods of time in leather pouches or animal hides would sometimes ferment to create an effervescent beverage.

Articles Only in the Printed Publication:

Reynardine the Shape-Shifter
[T]hat folk songs by their very nature change or are changed over the years cannot be disputed, and the ones that survive do so because they are powerful and/or have something important to say. The version of Reynardine that A. L. Lloyd left us with is undoubtedly one such example. Indeed, Winick himself acknowledges this in the same paper…

Article by Michael Berman
The Gods in Our Bodies: Dance as a Voice of the Heathen Spirit
I worship the gods in many of the traditional Heathen ways. I offer them drinks of wine and good meals. I pray to them. I dream of them. I study their history. And I have found that there is an extremely important method of grounding myself in my body and the Earth that is often ignored by modern Heathens—dance.

Article by Salena Glassburn
Rune Poem I
Poem by Rebecca Buchanan
Personal Narratives: A Dream or Vision that Changed My Life
Tales of life-chaning visions and oneiromancy by Erik, Heimlich, Abigail, and Mist.
Seeds are Life
It’s high summer, and seeds are everywhere. The triumphant fruition of each plant’s cycle, bursting forth and scattering, drifting on air, floating on water, or travelling in some lucky bird’s gullet to a new piece of soil. And some seeds are being plucked by human hands, dried and stored tenderly until it is time for them to grow.

What is a seed if not life? It is history and it is potential – a song with many variations. A seed is part of a lineage that has been linked with our ancestors since humans began tilling the soil. I want to reclaim my part in that heritage, so I’m trying my hand at saving seeds myself.

Article by Joelle Premo and Mark Angelini
Creating Community in the Modern World
This article represents a collection of my thoughts and views on neo-tribalism, as well as notes about what is required to make a community successful. Everyone has their own perspective, and this is mine. I offer it here in the hope that by contemplating, grappling with, and challenging the ideas herein, this article may lead folks on to greater successes.

Article by Chris Travers
The Language of Myth: The Highest God
Were you to ask anyone possessed of even the faintest familiarity with the Norse myths which god in the pantheon they believe the most preeminent, you will almost invariably receive the answer “Odin.” After all, as Snorri informs us: “He is called All-Father, but in Asgard the Old, he has Twelve names: One is All-Father, a second is Herann or Herjan, a third is Nikar or Hnikar, a fourth is Nikuz or Hnikud, a fifth is Fjolnir, a sixth is Oski, a seventh Omi, an eighth Biflid or Biflindi, a ninth Svidar, a tenth Svirir, an eleventh Vidrir, and a twelfth Jalg or Jalk […] He lives through all ages and governs all things in his realm. He decides all matters great or small. […] He has made heaven, earth and the skies and everything in them. […] Most important, he created man and gave him a living spirit that will never die, even if the body rots or burns to ashes.”

Article by Antonius Block
Heathenism: An Earth-Centered Religion
It has recently come to my attention that there are some Heathens who believe that
our ancestral religion has little to do with ecology or reverence for the earth. Such colossal and inexcusable ignorance on the part of people who ought to know better requires a response. Reverence for the numinosity of nature was so pronounced that worship itself was centered in sacred groves. In addition to quoting classical sources as well as native Heathen sources, I will be extensively citing from modern studies of sacred groves in India which underline their religious and ecological importance, for this is the material which amplifies and brings into both focus and significance the former sources.

Article by Siegfried Goodfellow
Therapeutic Ancestor Worship
This essay is about örlog – the layers of causality which shape the present and anticipate the future; and it is about rethinking the nature of ancestor worship. It is about healing and growth, which I take as being the highest expressions of reverence one may have for one’s roots.

It is also an invitation to my reader to embrace the challenge of coming to terms with the multi-generational patterns under which each of us live – often without much awareness.

Article by H. A. Laguz
Searching for Sahsnôt
Though Sahsnôt may be taken to mean “companion of the Saxons” this still does very little to cast light on his identity. On this question there seem to be three popular proposals. The first is that Sahsnôt is a god unique to the Saxon peoples, entirely unknown to the Norse. The second connects him with Tiuu (ON: Týr). The third identifies him as Frô (ON: Frey). In searching for Sahsnôt, each of these theories should be given its due consideration.

Article by Thorbert Línleáh