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Screaming Queen Syndrome
By Janval
Phagan
With the
report that yet another ‘worthy’ has lost the plot and is
now both throwing around curses and threatening to send out
their ‘psychic warriors’ against those that disagree with
them, one has to ask what makes previously respected
‘occult’ folk lose their marbles, their path, perhaps even
their sanity—even if only for a short time?
We all
know someone, it would seem, that has built a reputation for
being good teachers, running well-regarded
covens/groves/hearths, being fair-minded, pioneers, etc.,
and who, for some reason unbeknownst to anyone, suddenly
goes off the rails to become either a ‘dick-happy HP’ or a
screaming harpy of a celebrity.
Return of the Vikings: Why Now?
by Jon
B. Butler
In 1982,
“demonstrators gathered at the NATO base in Iceland to
protest that elves were being harassed and endangered by
U.S. Phantom and AWACS reconnaissance planes. (Americans
prone to snigger at this point might want to recall a recent
National Science Foundation survey that found that nearly
half of the U.S. populace believes that we are being visited
by UFOs carrying space aliens).
The Origins of
Wednesbury
by Rig
Svenson
This modern
stainless steel statue co-incidentally points North within a
small English town called Wednesbury in the county of the
West Midlands, England (United Kingdom) and depicts Sleipnir;
Odin's eight-legged horse in Norse mythology. Saint
Bartholomew's Church can be seen in this picture to the left
of the statue on the horizon where Hackwood theorised a
temple to Woden!
Heimðallr
by Rig
Svenson
This
article is presented to provoke insight and give clarity
about this enigmatic and little understood courageous heroic
figure of the Northern folk.
Heimðallr,
the god who was born of nine mothers (the waves of the sea),
is said to have been the father of all the castes of
humankind. There is a Rig lay, telling a tale in which he
fathers the three castes of men. He does not create human
beings; rather he fathers sons from the three primal
couples. It is through
Heimðallr
that all human beings can claim to have the genes of the
gods running through them. Until this occurred human beings
were just like the other animals of this planet. We are
equal now because the lower caste and the highest caste have
been abolished; we are all children of
Heimðallr,
our family the Aesir and Vanir collectively called the
Tivar
Heimðallr
© Little Bones Women
by Rig Svenson
The
Rydberg Religion:
How a forgotten Swedish Novelist became the object of a 21st
century cyber-cult
by R. S. Radford
Cults
and new fringe religions have been a topic of concern in the
United States for the past 30 years.Although many relatively
mainstream cults have long exploited the communicative power
of the Internet, little systematic attention has been
devoted to the phenomenon of “cyber-cults” – loosely-knit
fringe groups that, for all practical purposes, exist
only on the Internet. For reasons that will be examined
later in this paper, such cults are prone to be more extreme
than their “real-world” counterparts, blurring the
distinction between fantasy and reality in ways that can
pose real dangers to the cultists themselves, as well as to
those perceived as critical of their beliefs.
One Folk or
Ein Volk
By Anneleise Glitz
 Modern
heathen groups are also divided by what has come to be seen
as a "political" rather than a religious issue, usually
summed up in one word: race . Organisations
which describe themselves as folkish believe
that people of Northern European genetic
heritage are naturally suited to the ancient Germanic
religion and that people of other "races" should seek
inspiration within the religion of their own ancestors. Most
folkish groups (either explicitly or tacitly) do not accept
members who are clearly "Non-Germanic" -- in practice this
can mean turning away perspective members based on the
colour of their skin or the origin of their surname.
Representatives of folkish groups will state that they are
not racist; they believe that people of all races, cultures,
and religions are equally worthy of respect. However, they
also tend to believe that, like Yahweh, Oðin champions a
"chosen people" and that his choice is genetically based.
Folkish heathen groups often defend their stance on the
"race issue" by comparing themselves with other indigenous
tribal religions which shun "outsiders".
Some
Informal thoughts from a Heathen Technocrat
By Sweyn Plowright
 There
is a line of thought that we must somehow erase the
experience of the last few centuries, and regress to an
idealized vision of tribal society. That we may somehow shut
out the real world and form “Asatru Amish” type communities.
As nice as it may be for the privileged few to use log fires
for heating and cooking, this would not be ecologically
responsible or sustainable on a larger scale, adding to
deforestation and pollution. But apart from the
practicalities, such isolationism is more likely to lead to
an out-of-touch and cultish form of Asatru, against which
our next generation is bound to rebel. This may be the right
path for a minority of Heathens, but it is not one that is
likely to be productive for most. In reality, we can never
escape the influence of the wider world. We just have to
adapt to it, do our bit to change its less wholesome
aspects, and lead by example in keeping to our own standards
and traditions. The Enlightenment framework is one that can
accommodate most cultures. Only those that actively
discourage democratic freedoms will have trouble adapting.
In this respect, there is no reason that we can not continue
to value cultural diversity and tradition, within the
overarching framework of modern democracy, our own
Enlightenment heritage. This is particularly true for
Heathens, who share the same Germanic cultural roots as the
Enlightenment.
Background information:
I have been
interested in runes since reading Tolkien as a teenager in
the early 1970s. I have an undergraduate background
including physics, maths, psychology, and linguistics. In
1990 I was invited to lead the Rune-Gild's South Pacific
Region, and did so for 10 years. By 2000 I became
disillusioned with many aspects of that organisation, and
resigned along with most of the members in the region. We
set up Rune-Net as an independent, non-hierarchical network
for students of the runes. I was asked by friends to write a
Rune Primer, after they became frustrated at the poorly
researched popular rune manuals in the bookstores. My
intention is, to some extent, to bust some modern myths,
while freeing the readers to approach the runes in their own
way. I am also actively involved in music. I currently work
as a network engineer.
Music:-
The John
Dunbar Theme from Dances with Wolves
Artist: John Barry
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