Author’s Note: This is the second part of a four part entry for “The Problem of Apples”. Part I can be found here. Previously, we have been introduced to the idea that Heathenry, as a modern polytheistic religious restoration, contains within itself an inherent deficiency in regards to polytheistic theology. In this section we will approach concepts of divine functionality and approach a number of influences that impact what is considered the “function” of a god within its context. Divine concepts are often and commonly related to functional spheres of control “possessed” by the divinity in question. This is one of the key characteristics of polytheistic and animistic religious identity, and in this Heathenry is no different. Recognition of these functional and spatial foci…
Anglo-Saxon Heathenry and Roman Polytheism
Posts by Marc
Author’s Note: The length of this article got too big for a comfortable readership on the format of this blog, and so I have broken it up into four parts which will be released consecutively. Endnotes will be released along with each part, but will maintain a running total throughout all four parts consecutively. If there is demand, I will format it properly into a .pdf for future use. Heathenry’s approach to conceptions of divinity is unnecessarily limited and self-curtailing, despite being a reconstructed polytheistic revivalist religion. Evidence most often used within Heathen reconstruction generally consists of literary, material, toponymic, or folkloric elements and despite the value of these disciplines, the material with which Heathens have to reconstruct the knowledge of their religious fundamentals…
Categories: Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Heathen Theology, Heathenry, Northern Tradition, Polytheism, Regionalism, Theology
“Religion is ‘a verbal and nonverbal structure of interactions with superhuman being(s).” – Hans Penner, Impasse and Resolution: A Critique on the Study of Religion. “[Religion is] a convenient label that we use to put together all the ideas, actions, rules, and objects that have to do with the existence and properties of superhuman agents such as God.” – Pascal Boyer, Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. “All religions follow the same structural contours. They invoke supernatural agents to deal with emotionally eruptive existential anxieties, such as loneliness, calamity, and death. They have malevolent and predatory deities, as well as many benevolent and protective ones.” – Scott Atran, “Religion’s Social and Cognitive Landscape”, in Handbook of Cultural Psychology. “Persons who spent whole…
Categories: Community Thoughts, Controversy!!1!, Conversational, Generalist Paganism, Polytheism, Theology, Thoughts
To Those Erecting Fallacious Political Strawmen in Response to My Last Post
Marc
Posted on May 29, 2017
Of late, there’s been some question as to the position of varying theological Pagan-types within the public (largely Online) sphere of Contemporary Paganism, and the definition of core defining characteristics of Paganism as a contemporary religious umbrella term. And, what happened to begin with the question about definitions has warped into a general attack on polytheistic theology. With this, I am putting my hat in the ring and adding my perspective, even though those I’ll be criticizing have already succeeded at getting out numerous tracts since Sunday. This has been most notably found within discussions (beginning in early April) of the question about whether or not Paganism was both an “earth-centric” religion (as denoted here: “On “Earth-Based Religions””) or, if Paganism was “dying” as…
There is some inherent, unique quality to man-made boundaries, a quality which I feel often gets overlooked in conversations about Paganism. The demarcations of space which cut across the landscape in sometimes glaringly artificial lines, which nevertheless draw our eyes to them. We follow them and trace them, experiencing them as both tangible and intangible forces. A ditch or culvert, roads and dirt tracks, an old moss-covered stone wall, and even post markers of property or former lines which no longer exist are all representative of the division of human space in this world. These structures contain something more, something that exists both within and alongside the power from the natural realm that many Pagans emphasize. At times, it can be near-palpable and…
Spring has officially sprung. Ēastre is on Her way, complete with flowers, and green things, and warm weather. Or so they say. You’d never know it, looking out the window. A late winter snowstorm that hit the Northeast dumped over twenty inches of snow in my area of the Hudson River Valley. Though there were harder hit regions, it was still an inconvenience. Those few warmer days, having reduced the snow pack’s size, have once again given way to bitter cold and sub-zero windchills. In typical New York fashion, we’ve gone from near sixty-degree days to bitter cold, often within hours. And now those selfsame snow packs are hard, and compacted, and near-solid enough for me to walk on without breaking the outer layer. But…
In developing a more comprehensive character to one’s religious identity, inspiration for practice can come readily from scraps of information or otherwise from the barest of inspiration. As a reconstructionist religion, Fyrnsidu is distinctly benefited from the use of various comparative methodologies in order to flesh itself out so that it does not remain in a static or otherwise stunted form. Incidents of holidays and a religious calendar are one such facet which are underrepresented in the historic record and must be worked around in order to craft a proper identity. The following is presented for practitioners of Fyrnsidu and the followers of the Larhus Fyrnsida to consider. Bosworth-Toller’s Anglo-Saxon Dictionary includes a definition: blōstm-frēols es; m. A floral festival Blōstmfrēols >>floralia<<.[1] This definition…
The individual Heathen identity is often subsumed under group and communal identity. This is understandable, given the nature of human society, and how we collectively buld social bonds. If we are to take someone like Ken Dowden at his word in his book European Paganism: The Realities of Cult From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, as heathens our polytheistic practice by its very nature is unconsciously designed to encourage the growth of a form of greater-than-personal identity [1]. While I heartily disagree with this assessment of the native spirituality of these pre-Christian peoples, there is truth in the idea of the coalescing of identity within a larger group. As we as a society (especially American) progress from one of hyper individuality and a disillusionment…
Categories: Anglo-Saxon, Eofores Holt Heorþ, Generalist Paganism, Germanic, Hearth Cult, Heathenry, It me, Theology, Thoughts
Originally posted on Lārhūs Fyrnsida:
Author’s Note: This piece partially builds off of “Prayer in a Heathen Context” and “Prayer in a Fyrnsidu Context”, as a natural continuation of those practices within Fyrnsidu. For practitioners of Fyrnsidu, or other Anglo-Saxon Heathen traditions, there exists a fundamental impasse in the understanding of divinity within strictly “Anglo-Saxon” religious perspectives. The problem is quite simple: the identifiable “pantheon” of Anglo-Saxon deities is beyond poorly represented in surviving literary works and materials. Outside of place-name analysis, the linguistic lineages such as the days of the week, and a few inclusions in authored works that survive – like Bede’s De Temporum Ratione – the actual identifiable names of deities are few and far between. On the surface,…
Categories: Uncategorized
