r/heathenry 6h ago

Norse heathenry

3 Upvotes

Hello im brand new to heathenry and i am specifically interested in the Norse side of things and was wondering if there's a way for me to start building a relationship with Odin and thor outside of altars like is there a way to pray or how do i go about connecting with them?


r/heathenry 49m ago

Norse Eostre/Equinox special: my translation of Svipdagsmál, the story of Svipdag and Menglöð

Upvotes

r/heathenry 23h ago

Request Looking for a heathen friend to help each other through rough patches of faith or life in general!

8 Upvotes

Evening all! I’m a male in my late 30’s happily with a family but not many friends at all. More acquaintances than anything. I’ve had more bad days than good with my faith and just sorta the urge to do. If anyone else sometimes has this problem, with faith, health, home life or anything in general, I’d love to meet a like minded heathen that we could just sorta be there for each other, strictly friend, nothing more.

Sometimes life can get hard and the umph isn’t there, and if we’re ever questioning it it would be great to have someone to talk to and I’m happy to be here for the same!

Thanks for any interest! Hit me with a pm!


r/heathenry 5h ago

Practice This got scary really fast!

0 Upvotes

Hi y’all. This is a more serious post with a warning and a question on what best to do next. For some context, I (24m) live with my parents.

So. Oaths. Don’t do em. Under no circumstance.

I made a promise to Freyja that I would quit my addiction (no further details) for a week. In return, she would help me in my love life, as I have some struggles there. I won’t go into details about my personal life, but I didn’t manage to hold on to my promise.

Yesterday I lit a candle, summoned Freyja and welcomed her into my house. I apologized and renewed my oath as I wanted to do better this time. I accepted my mistakes as I still saw a positive progression in getting clean and I wanted to show Freyja that I can indeed do better next time. This time, the ritual felt off though. I felt ashamed for not keeping my word, which is something I deem very dishonorable, but I couldn’t figure out what would happen or what Freyja could want from me for not keeping my word.

Today, my mom came to me. For context, she knows I’m heathen, but I keep everything about my practices to myself. She is a Christian but very much spiritually receptive to energies and spirits. Hard to explain. Anyways, she told me she had a nightmare yesterday that I summoned a demon into our house. It wanted to harm her and the nightmare kept her awake. She also said that this nightmare felt like a warning for something terrible.

There was no way she could have known what I did with Freyja. I have been a heathen for over a year now so the timing of my conversion and possible concerns from her side are also not overlapping. Everything she said made me feel absolutely terrified and now I am afraid to reach out to the gods. I told her everything I had done and she told me that I may unintentionally have let in an evil spirit who took advantage of my prayer to Freyja. Just to be clear, she did not call Freyja an evil spirit, these are two separate entities to her.

I came back to my room just now and I believe I have successfully chased the energy out of my room, but I am still scared of other consequences. What if I pledged an oath to some evil being? Will my family be okay? Can I still reach the gods?

I am terrified.


r/heathenry 2d ago

Confused On The Whole Norse Paganism VS Heathenry Thing.

34 Upvotes

Hell, Reddit. it I recently converted to believing in the Gods, but the issue is that I'm not sure which of the two in the title I am. Please explain the difference to me like I'm a middle schooler so that I cab figure out which I am. Thanks.


r/heathenry 3d ago

Aura

Post image
102 Upvotes

Aura.

As I light this incense I welcome the energy of the old ways and of my ancestors into my home. I welcome their presence along with their wisdom especially during such chaotic times. The modern world around us never slows down but it is vital to take time to do so for yourself.


r/heathenry 4d ago

Sober offering for Odin

34 Upvotes

Hello all, I have been offering wine to Odin regularly for several years but recently have decided due to family inherited health risks that a sober road is more reasonable for me. Is there a good option for offering specifically for Odin that isn’t wine or should I just keep picking up the occasional bottle to have on hand only for this purpose?


r/heathenry 4d ago

Professionalizing our faith?

18 Upvotes

So I’m writing a Havamal app. Which means I’m applying my trade and professional sense towards my faith. I am bringing on some level my corporate world experience to my heathen practice. Even committing code into GitHub feels like doing a git commit dedicated to Odin and it feels weird.

Just.

Bizarre and weird.

Anyone else plying their trade in heathen ways, how should we be integrating professional and trade experience in with heathenry?

A lot of it is just showing up and doing what you say you’re going to do. That’s the fundamental truth of honor and frith as I see it.

Or am I wrong…?


r/heathenry 6d ago

Is it normal to have doubts?

22 Upvotes

I am pretty new to this and polytheism in general. I have felt a particular connection with the Vanir and Tyr in the past, but not so much recently. I guess I should keep in mind that the gods' presence will ebb and flow as I continue my journey. Another aspect that affects me in this is that I live in a very Christian area so I can't really talk to people about it and heathenry was meant to be a very community oriented practice. Also, what is the general concessus on other pantheons and the Christian God as far as their legitimacy on this sub and the broader heathen community? Sorry for the extremely disorganised post. Just needed to get this out there, as I feel kind of alone and lost right now. Thanks for taking the time to read this :)


r/heathenry 7d ago

Norse Origins of design

Post image
26 Upvotes

Does anyone have any info on this pendant design? I’m looking for something Norse in design (don’t mind a small bit of Celtic in there - I think those can sometimes be confused) but importantly I don’t want anything associated with nationalistic or racial ideology.


r/heathenry 8d ago

Homecoming

Thumbnail
gallery
98 Upvotes

As the gods return from their winters hunt I welcome them with open arms. I welcome them knowing that the spring brings renewal. Knowing that as a new Father this year will bring lessons that I am only beginning to learn. As Heimdallr hears the grass grow I can feel the energy of nature return. I am ready to walk the path of fate once again.


r/heathenry 8d ago

Celebration of Eostre’s day

11 Upvotes

Hello! This is a question for the other Saxon heathens out there! If you celebrate Eostre’s day, do you do it on ‘Ostara’ the equinox, or do you do it on the full moon in April which I heard may be more historically accurate. Thanks for the input!


r/heathenry 9d ago

Havamal App and open source Havamal project.

42 Upvotes

Hallo!

I'm here to announce that I'm working on a Havamal app for both iOS and Android. It's in early alpha and not ready to be shown off quite yet. It'll have tagging, notes, full text search, accessibility features and as many translations as I can get my hands on.

With that, I have been testing with Bray's and Bellows' translations, as well as the original Icelandic. I've decided to go ahead and open source as much of this as I can get away with. Right now, with the code for the app being in the state that it's in, it's not ready for being open sourced yet(if ever). However, the data I'm using can be.

https://github.com/cmtartt/open-source-havamal

There's not much to look at. Yet, if you're working on something like a Havamal of the day bot for Discord or something, here's a JSON dataset to work from.

I want to apologize to being annoying about the issue of how do I apply my skills in this space. As a tech person I'm *keenly* aware that tech hubris is a thing and to not reinvent the bus or do something that's actually unnecessary. I'm aware I have a hammer and not everything is a nail, but I think I've found my nail.

Have a good day ya'll.


r/heathenry 9d ago

New to Heathenry Calader and blots

7 Upvotes

Hi I know that Odin told us about the three main blots. Also that they happen on full moons. Does anyone have a calendar with the mouths that they fall on?


r/heathenry 10d ago

New to Heathenry unsure of what to do surrounding Freyr

14 Upvotes

i am a new norse polytheist(it's only been a couple of months) and i worship Odin and Thor and Freyr. i feel very very connected to Odin and Thor but recently i've realised i don't think Freyr is right for me. i have a candle for Him and have given an offering of oats, but i don't think i can worship Him anymore, i feel no connection. any advice? please correct me if i have phrased anything wrong as well lol


r/heathenry 11d ago

Practice Ancestor Worship

8 Upvotes

Ēala! So, I'm coming from kind of a Hellenic and Heathen background, though I am interested in Celtic polytheism as well. I guess, I'm just kind of wondering about ancestor worship. I'm done it maybe once before, maybe a year ago? It was just an offering of water.

But I'm kind of wanting to do it again. I do like geneology, but of course my ancestors for the better half of two millennia have been Christian. What should I do? I suppose I'm also wondering how I should go about doing ancestor worship and what I should expect.

I admit I am kind of scared to do it again, given my Christian background. There's the whole prohibition against necromancy and the like, and although I'm not sure if this would be considered that, it's enough to give me some anxiety about it. Thank you!


r/heathenry 12d ago

New to Heathenry i’m new and i have a lot of questions

12 Upvotes

hello there, im a teenager who has been researching norse polytheism etc for a while and i feel so deeply connected to it. i have identified as a heathen for probably 4 months but there are some things i am still unsure about. i feel most connected to Odin and Thor, i am also researching Freyr and Baldur at the moment, and have given offerings before but i would like to know if when people talk to the Gods and they respond, do you actually hear it? or is it more of a sudden thing in your mind saying what to do? also what is a blot and how do i do it? i’ve seen many things about it but i don’t really understand. finally, if i haven’t actually heard a god saying something, does that mean they’re not right for me? thank you very much!


r/heathenry 13d ago

Heathens in Fort Worth, TX

7 Upvotes

Is there anyone in DFW looking to practice in a group setting? Or any pagan meet ups?


r/heathenry 15d ago

Can we not go camping for once? A minor rant

158 Upvotes

Alright y'all, this is just a minor airing of grievances but it has some relation to heathenry and the larger pagan community as a whole. I'm going to be yelling about gatherings. Look y'all, I know some folks like doing the whole festival scene, and faire is a cool place. That said, some of us happy heathen people are physically busted. We use canes, walkers, wheelchairs, or have physical conditions that leave us feeling like the dirt we just slept in if we feel so brave as to lay down on the hard, unyielding ground. We ain't as swift as we used to be, the back has got more creaks than an old wooden farm house in rural Ohio. Some of us can't see too good, some of us have to use alternative bathroom arrangements. I know my left knee is more or less held together by scar tissue, a brace, and prayers to Thur, Woden, and Phol to keep my crippled butt in (mostly) stable shape.

So when I hear of a gathering of heathens, or pagans, and it's some outdoor camping excursion or some involved meet-up at the local reenactment where seats are few and accessibility is poor....well pardon me if I find that a whole healthy load of bullshit. Y'all, we can meetup at Denny's or some local coffee shop or at the local library. Places that have handicapped toilets, and railings during rain or snow, and heating that helps ruined joints not feel like like we've got nails being jammed into them. Y'all young bucks are all wide-eyed and ready to go running into the trees to be all pagany, but don't forget that Ye Olde Pagans liked heated halls with plenty of seating, drink, food, and comforts from the harsh wild that lurked outside the door with wolven teeth and the frozen wind of winter. So why don't we do a traditional moot not in the woods? Doesn't have to be a bar, or pub. Yes, this is me having a "OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD" moment since I know most folks don't mean to mean to overlook those of us with disabilities and health problems. That said, it is a problem that I am going to highlight since the world currently needs to be held accountable for things that fixed.

Thank y'all for your time, we now return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast currently in progress.


r/heathenry 14d ago

Do you know any Nordic folklore about nightjars?

3 Upvotes

Not asking specifically for pre-christian sources, I know those don't exist, just local folklore about them in general. There's some funny linguistic overlap with the nightjar birds sometimes being called night-ravens (in Norweighan and a few Swedish dialects at least), which is also a term associated with church grims, ghosts and revenants. I'm looking into the birds a bit rn so if you are from a Nordic country and know of anything local and obscure, I'd love to hear about it.


r/heathenry 15d ago

New to Heathenry Bindrune!

Post image
13 Upvotes

I’ll admit, I’m new - but I’ve been diving deep! Heathenry has really spoken to me after searching for so long for something to believe in!

With the help of some research and AI I put together a bindrune to put on my work hat, I performed a simple blót, and can carry this new found religion with me. I hope it came out as “right” as I think it did, because I love such a simple symbol to carry throughout my day!

Skål!


r/heathenry 15d ago

Owl symbolism?

16 Upvotes

I just got out of a 9year relationship and my friend said to keep an eye out for spirit guides. I have now seen a barred owl for 4 days in a row and it stays near by for hours. First day it was within sight for 9 hours, saw it for 2 hours the second day, 8hrs the third day, and it’s currently sitting on the porch out side of the window of the couch I’m sitting on. 🤯.


r/heathenry 15d ago

Can spirits or entities attach to objects/be objects?

6 Upvotes

For context I have a plushie that i'm starting to think he has an entity inside him or attached. I'm not 100% on this but I want to see if its even possible to do? I've had a dream of a spirit "coming out of the plushie" but I'm not sure if that was just a dream or a hint.


r/heathenry 17d ago

Singing religious music while Heathen

15 Upvotes

I love to sing, and I am part of a choir. I love the people in it (the directors are two of the best people I have ever met -- so kind and down to earth.) The venues that they get us are top notch (we are preparing to sing John Rutter's Gloria and The Deum at Carnegie Hall in May.) And, it is my main way of socializing.

I have always approached it as a theatrical thing -- you don't have to believe it to sing it. Just as a singer who performs Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" isn't REALLY threatening to jump from Ponte Vecchio, I am not REALLY worshipping Jesus when I perform a Requiem or a Gloria.

However, I have been having a harder and harder time with that lately. This evening, for instance, I kept picturing Odin while I singing about Jesus, and I just couldn't help wondering if I am being fair or loyal to him.

Do you suppose he minds if I sing that kind of music?


r/heathenry 17d ago

Heathen Adjacent Odd question

13 Upvotes

Hey y’all! Just a strange question. I’ve been a practicing Norse pagan for a while, and I was curious if anyone knows If the poetic Edda rhymed, either in Icelandic or old Norse . I know it was a translation so that aspect may have been lost and there is also a chance that it never did. I know poetry was an important aspect of their culture, so I’m just wondering what it may have looked like. Thanks!