As a Heathen parent, what will I teach my kids about Santa…
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I will teach them that Odin was syncretized with St. Nicholas of Myra in the Netherlands, who was known as an anonymous gift giver, which gave rise to the softened caricature we now know as Santa. I’ll teach them that while there’s no jolly old man who will literally come down the chimney and leave presents, what lies beneath this caricature is absolutely real; Odin riding through the night sky with our ancestors in winter, the Álfar/Elves, in the Wütende Heer,

A persistent misconception you’ll hear is that Tyr is somehow the “original” Sky Father/head of the Germanic pantheon. However, this argument is based solely on oversimplified linguistics.
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Art: Tyr, der Schwertgott by Carl Emil Doepler, 1882. ᛏ The name Tyr means simply “the/a God”, and many of Odin’s epithets contain -tyr; ex. Geirtyr (spear-god). In the Skáldskaparmál, Thor is attested as Chariot-Tyr.

Odin clearly is the Sky Father; he slays the primordial life form (Ymir) and shapes the cosmos from his body,

Álfablót was a blót held during Vetrnatr, at the beginning of winter.
While our historical knowledge of Alfablót is limited, we have a few key details;
(Thread) It was a celebration in honour of the Álfar (elves), held at the end of the harvest season, and it was held at home with one's family as opposed to a public place of worship. Álfar were believed to hold power over health and fertility-and could cause illness, and destroy crops.

An old German folk tale about Thor, from Lower Saxony.
Still trying to find the original source. But I remember it went like this…
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Painting: Elemental Thor by Fateful Signs. In the forests of Thorenwald, a young woman had fallen in love with a man from a nearby village. Her father didn’t approve of him, so they would meet in a sacred oak grove between their two villages.

Ƿinterfylleþ and Vetrnætr
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Winterfylleth was the Old English name for the winter equinox. The Germanic peoples only recognized summer (ON: Sumar) and winter (ON: Vetr). According to Bede, the Anglo Saxons called the beginning of winter Ƿinterfylleþ, a term composed of winter, and full moon. The first full moon of what would now be October (or the end of September) marked the beginning of winter;

The recent mass banning of pagan content creators across Meta, and StJ being denied entry to the USA raises the question: why would the powers that be fear a resurgence of paganism?
I think it’s quite simple.
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Art by Andrey Kilmenko. First, paganism teaches us to love our peoples and cultures; these identities which they work tirelessly to demonize, deconstruct, and strip away.

The Zierscheibe design appeared among the Alemanni, Franks and Langobards, along with the Etruscans and Iberian tribes.
There’s several variations, always with a central point connected within a larger circle.
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With the most well-known design, you see several arms which resemble Ursa Major and/or Minor revolving around the North Star, with an extra curve where the “handle” of the dipper is. Many surviving Zierscheiben also incorporate a Fylfot.

My stance on “reclaiming” sacred symbols has always been this; regardless of where you stand politically, if someone took a symbol you held sacred, politicized it, even defiled it, do you think the correct course of action is to just…let them have it?
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https://twitter.com/hammerandvajra/status/1702400592851902877

Hindus, Buddhists, and the Navajo didn’t back away from the Fylfot/Svastika because the Austrian painter used it, and European pagans could learn a thing or two from them. Besides, there are variations which look little like the WWII-era Hakenkreuz.

Tiwesdæg musings…

The name Tyr comes from PIE dyew-, meaning bright. It was likely a derivative of PIE deywós; heavenly one, along with PIE Dyeus/Sanskrit Dyaus. In Proto-Germanic, this became Tiwaz, in Old Gothic, Tiews, in Old English, Tiw, and Old Norse, Tyr.
(Thread) Tyr means simply “the/a God”, and many of Odin’s epithets contain -tyr; ex. Geirtyr (spear-god). In the Skáldskaparmál, Thor is attested as “Chariot-Tyr”. The arguments claiming Tyr was the “original” Sky Father are based on lazy linguistics.

One interpretation of the Vendel Era helmet plates is that they depict the ancestors themselves, led by Odin, in the eternal battle against the forces of chaos. By donning one of these helmets, the wearer joins the ancestors in their battle.
(Thread) A tradition that’s survived in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe is masked processions on the winter solstice, to scare away evil spirits and usher in the spring. People dress as various vicious animals, such as wolves and bulls, and mythological creatures.

We as pagans have a very important opportunity in the years to come.
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As more and more churches across the West continue to regurgitate the same anti-European talking points as the radical left, more and more people of European descent have been leaving them. And for these disenfranchised Europeans, looking for a new community that will build them up instead of demonizing them and telling them what pieces of shit they are, the most accessible option is going to be Orthodox Christianity.

Unless we can offer them something better.

Soft vs Hard Polytheism…

Soft Polytheism is the belief that there are multiple Gods, but the majority of parallel deities in the pantheons of related cultures are cognates.
(Thread) While there are certainly deities with regional cults that were only worshipped by certain cultures, the fact that so many cultures agree there are certain deities, which share multiple key characteristics, points towards one ultimate Indo-European pantheon.

Alright, someone posed the very valid question of how I reconcile being a Folkish Pagan with the fact that multiple Indo-European cultures venerate Gods which clearly have cognates in other IE pantheons.
(Thread) First of all, every single Indo-European religion has an aspect of ancestor worship, which inseparably binds a faith to its People.

Let’s have a look at the ᛟ rune…
“(An estate) is very dear to every man,
if he can enjoy there in his house
whatever is right and proper in constant prosperity.”
~Anglo Saxon Rune Poem
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Pics: a stone from an Alemmanic burial ground, and the original Beowulf manuscript.

The Old English name ēþel, meaning homeland, comes from the same root as OE æþele and ON aðall; nobility, from Proto-Germanic aþala/ōþala; nobility, as well as people, family, descent, and nature, as in one’s noble disposition.

Book recommendation; Leechcraft, by Stephen Pollington.
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This book talks about the Anglo Saxon traditions of herbal medicines and healing, through surviving medical manuscripts, Christo-pagan magic, and there’s a section on the use of amulets.



It includes a few original Anglo Saxon medical texts; the Old English Herbarium, the Lacnunga, and part of Bald’s Leechbook, with the original facing Old English text.
Many of these texts were suppressed for centuries after the Norman invasion, considered to be witchcraft.

When I visited the Maasai People, I was surprised to learn that they had maintained a coming of age ritual, which was strikingly similar to the Indo-European Koryos phenomenon.
The R1b Y-DNA runs deep.
(Thread) When a boy comes of age, 15-17, he undergoes a ritual death and rebirth. He trades his brightly coloured shuka (cloak) for a black one, shaves his head, paints his face with white clay, and leaves his tribe.

The other day, I saw someone post that religious syncretism is a form of “coping” and universalism. I’m going to have to strongly disagree.
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Pic: a Graeco-Egyptian seal, with a syncretized image of Hermes-Anubis, and a Roman shrine of Hercules Magusanus.

First of all, like it or not, our sources on European paganism are fragmentary. Charlemagne and his friends made sure of that. The “Dark Ages” are called such because of the lack of records, due to the destruction of literature with any hint of paganism.

I’ve seen a few people compare Heimdallr to Kartikeya, but the Vedic deity Heimdallr most closely resembles is Agni.
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Heimdallr serves as a connection between the Gods and Midgard through the Bifröst. Agni, likewise, brings all offerings to the Gods through fire.

In the Gylfaginning, Heimdallr is attested as having unmatched vision and hearing; he can hear grass growing and the wool growing on a sheep. He would also be able to hear every prayer. As fire is used in every ritual, Agni sees all things, and protects every hearth.

Insight into Ausa Vatni, the Germanic naming ceremony.
There’s a few accounts in the Poetic Edda and the Sagas, and the consistent aspect is sprinkling water over the baby, Ausa Vatni means “to pour over water” in Old Norse.
(Thread) From the Poetic Edda:

Hávamál:
“A thirteenth I know, if a thane full young
With water I sprinkle well;
He shall not fall, though he fares mid the host,
Nor sink beneath the swords.”
(Hávamál 158, Bellows)

Heard someone claim that the Gods wouldn’t reward their followers, because they do not punish.
Oh, they do.
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From the Poetic Edda alone, off the top of my head; Völuspa: oathbreakers, kinslayers and adulterers are sent to Nástrond, where they are shredded by Níðøggr and a wolf (Garmr?).
Grímnismál: Odin causes Geirrøð to fall on his sword, expediting his trip to Hel.
Lokasenna: Odin guts Loki’s son and binds him with his own entrails.

Certain “academics” continue to insist that the runes are mere letters, with no esoteric or spiritual element.
So they’re just going to ignore…

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The very word rune, from Proto-Germanic rūnō, means secret.

In the Hávamál, Odin hung from Yggdrasil to obtain the runes.



The Anglo Saxon sword pommels with singular Æsc and Tir runes.

The use of a singular Othala in Beowulf, and on a stone in an Alemannic burial ground.

The Lindholm Amulet and Anglo Saxon rune rings, with runic formulas which don’t spell any known words.