Discipline

Continuing with my Nine Noble Virtues in Heathenry series, the next virtue on our list is discipline. In my opinion, this is one of the most difficult virtues to consistently apply in one’s life because it requires self-mastery. In my original short description of this virtue, I described discipline as meaning: “self-control, the will and the practice of governing one’s self so that others don’t have to.” It’s deceptive, to apply a short description to a virtue like this, because discipline requires and implies a great deal more than a short description can cover….

Wyrd

I wanted to draw attention to two recent, and excellent posts about Wyrd, written by two different bloggers. The first post, written by Sojourner of A Pagan Sojourn, takes a brief look at Wyrd from the perspective of someone who is just starting to research this concept. The second post, written by Robin Artisson of Cauldron Born, looks at the sacred dimension of hunting, including the Wyrd aspect of it. For those readers who are wondering what Wyrd is to begin with, I refer you to the second paragraph of my post about the Heathen afterlife, titled “Beyond Midgard.”

Also, it seems that Wyrd is a topic of discussion in one of the forums I participate in – that makes at least three different sources, treating the same topic at roughly the same time … how perfectly weird ;-)

Njord Symbol

While having a look at search terms readers were using to find my blog, I happened upon one that was looking for a symbol of Njord. I hadn’t written anything about my tutelary god for a while now, and I saw this as an excellent opportunity to change that – my thanks to the person who searched for this term, whoever that person was :-) There are two symbols out of history that would be appropriate for Njord. One of these is the footprint (based on the story of Skadi choosing Njord as husband by his feet, in Skáldskaparmal), and the other is the ship (as one of Njord’s chief areas of influence is sailing and commerce). Viktor Rydberg offers another symbol, the axe, based on his having Njord breaking down the gates of Asgard with an axe during the Æsir-Vanir war (which I discuss in my post, Njord’s Honor). My personal symbol for Njord can now be seen in my banner graphic, it’s a combination of a bearded axe, with the prow of a longboat coming out of the poll end of the axe (with the axe handle also serving as a boat’s mast).

Fidelity

The next virtue in my series on the Nine Noble Virtues in Heathenry is fidelity. For a short description, I wrote in my original article that the virtue of fidelity referred not to just being loyal, but to deserving loyalty one’s self, and further added that it was best when earned, and a curse when forced by deception or demand. This short description stresses merit in a big way, as I believe merit to be not just a virtue within itself, but the foundation for the virtue of fidelity….

Asatru, Prison, the Media

After reading the article at The Wild Hunt, about the prison inmate (identifying his religious path as Ásatrú) who is suing to have equal religious treatment in prison as that given to inmates of other faiths; and after thinking about the points in the article I felt were relevant from a Heathen perspective, I thought it might be a good idea to write down some of my thoughts here….

Happy New Year….

…. at least, to one fifth of the world’s population! For those from the remaining four fifths of the world’s population, who are wondering what the Year of the Pig might bring, first of all I wish you a Happy New Week, and hope this article might offer some insight. While I don’t claim to know much about the Chinese Zodiac, I have a sneaky suspicion that, come what may, this Yin-Water Ox (internal sign Rat, secret sign is well, secret) will trudge through :-)

Honor

Continuing with my article about the Nine Noble Virtues in Heathenry, I will next explore the third virtue, honor. I think it’s a fair estimate, that when most people think about the virtues of Heathens past and present, honor is as commonly thought of as courage – certainly the Romanticists of the late 18th – early 20th centuries held a similar view, one that was often mixed with the pseudo-racist idea of a noble savage. But what is honor, and where does it come from? My short description for it, that it wasn’t about reputation, that it was instead about worth and integrity, seems to have raised some eyebrows and I think that’s a good starting point for this attempt at exploring the virtue….

Religion of Environmentalism

I happened upon this article, by Joseph Brean of the National Post (Canada), about how the Green movement is more and more resembling a religion, and thought I’d share a link to the article as well as my reaction to it. I don’t go so far as to call myself an Environmentalist – I believe in global warming, I’m distressed about species and habitat loss, I recycle and try to minimize the amount of trash I create in the first place, I’m against whaling (and also against ramming whaling ships, thinking of the potential disaster when a ship sinks or leaks petrol), and I’m a full supporter of the Outdoor Code, as learned when I was in the Boy Scouts; yet I spend entirely too much time on a computer, and just this evening used an environmentally unfriendly can of leather sealant to make my new leather boots resistent to all the rain we get around here….

Validation

I wanted to draw some attention to an interesting post and commentary taking shape on Sojourner’s A Pagan Sojourn. The post poses some interesting thoughts about who exactly has the authority to validate Pagan religions, and includes links to some pretty interesting articles. If validity is necessary for people of any Pagan or Heathen path, then who has the authority to grant such validity? When we say that we need validity, which sense of the word are we thinking – a legal sense, or a sense of relevance? Although I do not personally think Pagans need validation from anyone other than other Pagans, and even then only to some extent (Heathens don’t need validation from Wiccans, or vice versa, for example); I do think that the issue of validation is one that should eventually be decided upon, as it affects greatly our approach to the rest of the world. It’s posts like Sojourner’s, in my opinion, that will help get the ball rolling on this process; so I encourage people to read and take part in it.

Crystal Clear Navigation

I came across this article, about how the Norse may have used crystals to navigate with, while reading a bit in the HeathenNews forum (in my Selected Links page), and thought I’d pass it along in the blogosphere. The process being described here, birefringence, is fully explained in this entry in Wikipedia. Essentially, it is this optical property (along with polarization of light), that researchers have determined will work on cloudy days, that the Norse may have possibly utilized in their navigation (knowing where the Sun was at in the sky would have given them an accurate idea of their position), enabling them to ply the gloomy and stormy North Sea and North Atlantic. In some places, I’ve written about how the Norse culture was able to embrace Nature and technology simultaneously – if this method of navigation could ever be proven to have been used by the Norse, it would be a splendid example of this seemingly paradoxical approach.