Update 2020/2021: Covid-19

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 The plague has kept many of us in our homes and withdrawn from outside family and friends outside a few distant visits, phone calls, and Zoom meetings. Many of us have withdrawn from the outside world, and I am no exception. 

I am typically a more withdrawn type, who prefers to be in a more isolated than the average human.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 At first many of us continued talking and working on reviving old projects, but quickly we all became withdrawn. 

I continued to develop my Tribal Hall system and work on developing solid ideas that would last and keep the Nazis, racists, and fancasts outside our Halls. I too succumbed to the side effects of the plague. I withdrew form the world into my own self. As heathens I feel that this is all too easy, we are few and far from one another and the solitary practitioner is far more common than tribe or cynred. 

Virtual Heathenry

During the past year of plague, many heathens went virtual, Zoom meetings and Blot became a thing. Some larger Heathen and Asatru organizations embraced these technologies, while other rejected them. Many questioned if virtual rites were even possible. As someone who has been involved in the technology field for over 30 years, I have long advocated for virtual everything, stating that it was just as good as in-person. However, in the case of religion I disagree. I feel that we should  not fall into the trap of virtual ritual. That being said, live broadcast or livestreaming ritual, much like Christian churches do is just fine, but the idea that a lone heathen can perform a blot alone for all how are watch just seem absurd. 

In the days of the Ancestors a plague very well might have devastated the a tribe. Family units live together in close quarters, the lived, worked, and worshiped together as a single unit. The way to survival was trough the tribe and the gods. When sickness raced trough the tribe, together they would hold rites to try and counteract the plague and together they would overcome or be destroyed. 

The days of large tribal units living together are more or less a thing of the past. To some extent we have a version of this today, those of us who have blood family, oathed family, or a combination there of. In many cases we are in close contact with the other members of our family and thus have both security and risk from the plague. Some heathens have Cynreda or kindreds that they are in close contact with regularly and act as a tribe and family, but many are isolated  from other heathens. For me this is true. 

I have a mixed spiritual family, I am a heathen and so are my two biological children. My wife and her two biological children are Christians. In the days of yore, the religions might have melded and both been observed as one, but in modern society this almost never happens. Thus, it makes for a difficult time around what we'll call "shared" holytides. 

Moving Forward in the Plague Years

We are not likely to see an end to the plague for a few years. Yes, a vaccine is on the fast track, but it will take years to get everyone around the world onboard. There will be an immanent threat for years to come that will subside as time moves on. In the face of death, how to we build our local heathen communities, or tribes? Do we just forge onward and put ourselves and our families at risk Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. At the time of writing this we are seeing a second (some say a third) wave of the plague. We are hitting all-time highs in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. What it comes down to is the individuals' personal feelings of safety. 

Hammerhof 2021

My plan going forward is to make attempts to gather local heathens in the Eastern Connecticut area virtually in order to form a community in the future. I will do this through social media, virtual communications, phone calls, and limited in-person meetings. I will continue my work, my writing, and studies in Heathenry. 

I would like to bring those individuals in the local heathen community together to create a modern version of the tribe, but that is a different story...stay tuned.