Hammerhof

I am all about tradition and history, I have a Master's in history after all. For close to 40 years, I have study what we call Asatru, Germanic Paganism, Heathenism, or what not along with the history that accompanies the traditions. Over the paste year I have read a lot of blogs, social media posts, and articles by heathens claiming that we, the modern heathens, are doing it wrong. Let me explain… I recently read an article, Historical Heathen Yule and the Facebook comments that went along with it. While the article makes a lot of good points and I somewhat agree, we are not them. That is, we are not the Saxons of the 5th – 6th Centuries, nor the Germanic Tribes of yesteryear, nor the Vikings. We are modern people in a modern world. We are not agrarian peoples who live by the rising and setting of the sun and the cycle of the moon. Though these natural elements of our world have their place in our lives and or religion. Historically the Germanic Tribes, and the Anglo-Saxons were f

Severn Days before the first day of Yule the Ancestral peoples of the Orkney Islands celebrated Tulya’s E’en, the return of the dead. On this night we head out into the woodland banging our drums and calling the dead, trolls, and hobgoblins to return to the land of the living. This day opens what the people of the Shetland Islands, whose culture was primarily Norse, called the ‘Merry Month.” Seven days before Yule, all the trolls are released from underground. Tulya’s E’en is the unofficial start of Yule. On this night we light a bonfire and torches of pitch. We head off into the wood making noise of all sorts in costumes of horns, bells, and greenery calling upon the dead and spirits of the earth to come forth and join the Wild Hunt.      

It has been some time since I have written here, the plague has taken its toll on me and I retreated into myself. With Yule approaching I decided that I should come back from Hel's realm and rejoin the living.  Yule is a time of the dead and the living. It is a time to celebrate the Ancestors and our ancestors. The historic context of Yule for the Saxons comes from Bede;  “They began the year on the 8th kalends of January [25 December], when we celebrate the birth of the Lord. That very night, which we hold so sacred they used to call by the heathen word Modranecht, that is “mother’s night,” because (we suspect) of the ceremonies they enacted all that night.” According to Bede, the Saxon Yule began on the 25th of December and lasted 12 nights. In our modern tradition we have moved our start of Yule forward to the 19th or 20th of December and ending on the sunrise of January force. As Heathens we have adapted to modern standards.  The Barhelm Theod has structured our Yule in a fashi

In researching the idea of Heathens converting non-heathens I came across this more than once, “the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens”. OK, we all know that ever since Rome converted to Christianity, they used a whole bunch of methods to convert the Heathens and pagans of Europe. They sent missionaries, assimilated holidays, used bribery, and military force to stop those “godless heathens”. Today may of the same tactics are used to convert folks around the world to Christianity and maintain their powerbase. How about us heathens? Should we be out there trying to convert people? Should I be going door to door asking, “Do you have a moment to talk about our true Gods, Odin, Thor, and Freyja?” Ok, that may be a bridge to far, but are Heathens supposed to use conversion as a method of building the folk? In my research on the subject I found very little. One blogger said you cannot convert you are heathen or you are not, but gave almost no i

In the year 2020 we have suffered through a plague that had ravage Middangeard . The plague has kept many of us in our homes and withdrawn from outside family and friends outside a few distant visits, phone calls, and Zoom meetings. Many of us have withdrawn from the outside world, and I am no exception.  I am typically a more withdrawn type, who prefers to be in a more isolated than the average human. I have often said that I would have no issue living alone in a cabin for the rest of my days. Still, part of me enjoys the company of others at times.  When the Coronavirus hit us here in the United States I had embarked on a new journey to connect with other heathens and pagans in my area. I had recently moved and gone through a difficult period in my life. I felt  it was time to keep my oath to the gods and get cracking. When the plague hit we were just getting started and we had to hit the brakes. At first many of us continued talking and working on reviving old projects, but quickly