Expanding Inward, the next incarnation

With the Yule-Tide now passing, with the Wheel of 2006 having nearly turned to 2007, A Heathen Blog – Expanding Inward is finding itself transplanted to new, hopefully even more fertile cyber-soil than where it’s been growing. For those of you who are coming across this blog for the first time, I am Bernulf, and I welcome you to check back and visit when you have the chance…in the meantime, you should feel free to check out my blog on its soon-to-be old host, to get a better idea of who I am and what kind of blog will be coming to WordPress.

Racism, A Heathen’s Perspective

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to respond to a post on the Wild Hunt about Odin being labeled as archetype for racists. The original post had to do with Richard Rudgley’s book, Pagan Resurrection, and Rudgley’s assertation that Odin has had more influence in the Western world than Jesus, and at the same time that Odin is archetypal for the race-haters found in Neo-Nazi and KKK organizations. To some extent, this will rehash some of what I wrote in response to that article…at the same time, I want this post to at last put forth my opinions on the matter in my own blog, and open up a little room to further discuss this issue….

Impact of Heathenry on Everyday Life

“How has your religion changed your daily, everyday life?”

One of the things most Heathens figure out pretty quickly is that Heathen isn’t something you do, it’s not something you get, and it’s not something you practice on weekends – Heathen is something that you are. This realization has had a continuously profound effect in my life. I’ve always been the informal type, raised to be loosely Christian (by which I mean I was never forced to go to church as a kid…although I had no concept for existing religions aside from Christianity). I’d say that for most of my life, I was much more spiritual than religious…and for a number of years, I was definitely setting up my tent in the pantheist camp. So when I first realized there was this thing called Asatru, that there was this living, thriving religion based on gods I once lamented as being dead, I experienced what would be the first of many shocks….

Dealing with the Mainstream

“How do you deal with the cultural / societal challenges involved in following a non-mainstream religious path?“

When I first read this question, I had to laugh. Not because I think the question itself is funny, but the circumstances in my life have presented me with two very different approaches to dealing with this, based on the experience of living in two different cultures / countries, each with their own take on religion….

The Beginning of Time

This article, written by Linden Foxcub, first appeared on Witchvox in June 2006. This subsequent version is reprinted here with permission from the author.

On the Benefits of Tribalism

I happened upon this essay on Witchvox, and thought that I would link it here so that more people could get a look at it. Throughout the essay, we are shown the relationship between power, greed, the manipulation of religion, agriculture and the end of tribalism. The author makes some pretty bold points, and I would be curious about how some of these themes might affect Heathens who are interested in tribal living. I am also curious about whether or not any of these changes in society have been directly attested to in our own lore and history?….

On the Nature of Heathenry

Heathenry is a system of beliefs that has undergone a number of changes both in classical and contemporary times. In looking at the general timeline, we see a primal religion that grew along with its people from hunter-gatherers, to farmers, to city dwellers. The way in which this has happened is one of the things I find truly impressive about Heathenry because, rather than abandon our connection to the natural world around us in favor of a religion that focused more on the doings of modern civilization, we married the natural to the civilized…literally. Like any kind of marriage, this relationship takes on some incredible complexities as well as some surprising simplicities….

Beyond Midgard

The Heathen concept of afterlife is challenging to describe in short terms, because Heathens (past and present) have conceived of a variety of possibilities for where we go after passing beyond Midgard. While some of this lack of uniformity can be placed with influence from other cultures, one also has to remember that the term Heathen itself, in its most historical sense, applied to a considerable number of tribes and people. Each of these tribes had outside contacts and influences of their own. As well, there are a few concepts concerning life on Midgard (our living world) that figure very importantly into the afterlife concepts of Heathenry….

Patron Deities

While reading an article in A Heathen’s Day, I caught a few sentences that got me to thinking:

“One of the interesting things I see today is the need for a patron deity – Anne’s adopt a God program – and I would argue that there is nothing wrong with adopting a patron deity – but I would also argue that there is no compelling need. If we feel like we have to, its the poison of monotheism not having worked itself out of our system. If we feel drawn to an individual God or Goddess above all others, that’s fine and natural, but again, we are free to accept the existence of other Gods as well.”

Valhalla I’m Coming!

Thought I would take the opportunity to address something I feel is a misconception of Heathenry…a misconception held not only by many non-Heathens, but some Heathens as well. The misconception I’m talking about is that being Heathen is all about fighting, battling and getting drunk…all in the names of our gods, of course…and that the ultimate goal of any Heathen should be to enter Valhalla.