Hammerhof

 A thousand or so years ago the European Heathen peoples Christianized. What this means is that they threw out the old gods in favor of one new god and that was that. Well, not really. Christian historians (i.e., monks and the like) would like you to believe that all the old folkloric traditions, the tribalist pagan worship was put on the curb and picked up to be disposed of. The reality is that most of the ancient pagan ways of the European Heathens was incorporated into Christianity, including the gods. This may come as a shock, but we know that Heathens prayed, and they did so in various ways: standing and holding their hands open and high, keening, and prone. When they prayed, they asked for things like help with crops, health, trade, and probable for that new tunic they saw in the corner store. The point is they pray for the same things people, non-Heathens, pray for now and they did it much in the same way Christians pray today. In the Heathen glory days, religion was tri...

I have been watching a lot of videos on YouTube about Yule and what Heathen Yule is, when it is, and how it should be celebrated. As usual, a lot of criticism towards the old guard and Asatru. Believe me I am with them on that, and I was to some extent a part of it. Over the past 40 years my beliefs, practices, and ways of worship have altered and changed. There are a few schools on Yule and the Heathen holydays in general. What it comes down to is the sun, the moon, and historically accurate or not so much. If we look at the historically accurate group, they will tell you that the moon dictated when Yule was held not the solstice. This puts Yule in January or February, and they site the Sagas, Eddas, and history. They are not wrong. The modern traditionalists Asatru types state that Yule is on the Solstice in December and is roughly around the 21 st or 22 nd . So, when is Yule? Yule was defined as a 12-day event (i.e., the 12-Days or Yule/Christmas) and other state that the facts...

I have given a lot of thought to the cycles of the moon and lunar calendars. We know that the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic Tribes lived their lives by the cycles of the sun and the moon. We know that the months started and ended on the full moon and not the new moon. Contemporary written evidence shows us that the moon was used determine months in pre-Christan England.   The ancient English people […] reckoned their months by the course of eh moon, just as they were named from the moon just as they were named from in Hebrew and Greek. Accordingly, they called the moon móna, the month was called mónaþ. – Bede, De Mensibus Anglorum The archeological and written evidence that exists today shows us that t the sun, moon, and solstices all played a role in the everyday lives of the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons as well as their religious lives. The religious celebrations or holytides were placed throughout the year not by a calendar date for a lunar, solar, or seasonal cyc...

I recently created a Facebook profile for myself as Ragnvold Thorson. When I didthis s I transferred downloaded information from my Facebook Public Figure profile and reposted it on my newly created profile. Several of my posts were flagged as “not meeting community standards”. In My appeal to Facebook, I stated that I transferred these posts and that I was unclear why they were flagged. I explained that these same posts were accepted before without issue and that there was no ill intent. About a month later my account was locked without any explanation other than I had violated their community standards. My profile was still visible, and I could read posts and what not, but I could not make posts, comment, like, create or join groups. Effectively the account was useless. A second attempt at an appeal and attempts to comminate with a real person all failed. Facebook had made the decision to silence me based upon an algorithm. Facebook has the right to ban, block, silence, etc., anyone...

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...

As I made my reemergence into the real world and back to communal Asatru. I went back to the old standards looking at The Troth and the Asatru Folk Assembly. These two organizations had always been the standard for nationwide Asatru, and before the internet and social media, these groups were how you found fellow Asatruar. A lot, can happen in a decade. When I looked at The Troth I saw all the old familiar faces. Not much had changed, at all, ever, since 1987. It looked like everything was exactly how I left it. Then I went to the AFA. I have to say I was shocked but not surprised. Given how the AFA had such right leaning politics, it was not a stretch for them to go “Alt-Right” or I like to say Nazi. What I discovered was that in my absences a lot has changed in the Asatru world. For one, there are a lot more Heathens out there than ever before and they seem to be well informed. Also, Heathenry is a lot more liberal than it ever was in the past. As a bunch of heathens, we were all...

In Heathenry we often refer to our ancestors . Who are these ancestors and just whose ancestors are we refereeing to? Most of the time when a Heathen says my ancestors , they are referring to the ancient Germanic tribes or the Norse peoples or maybe the Vikings. Here is the problem with that, while yes if you are of Northern European ancestry you might have something relation to these ancient peoples, but are they your ancestors? Heathenry has an element of Ancestor Worship . Some would say that this is a major part of Heathenry that cannot be overlooked. That is because of the idea of wyrd and orlog of the idea that, we are our deeds and the deeds of our ancestors follow us just as our deeds will follow the generations to come. Honestly, this is real and true. There are actions my Grandfather took that follow me, thing I had no notion of until I was told by my mother. There are skills he had that I have an uncanny knack for, without any sort of training. He died when I was thr...