Paganism

Column: Family, Final Rites, and Care-giving

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For every Pagan, Heathen, or Polytheist  who takes care of the ill, the dying, and the loved ones of coven, clan, grove, as well as those who are solitary in their practice, there is the uneven bridge of connection during the time of final rites. Many who come to a variety of Pagan traditions were not born into them; in fact, even for those who are born into a tradition, there may be grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and estranged elders who will attend a ceremony of final rites as a matter of closure. Funeral rites and memorial services are a time of tricky navigation between those who understand and reflect on the importance that the decedent’s faith holds even in matters of death, and those who hold steadfast to tradition from the decedent’s family of origin regardless of how unwanted it may be. For those who have estranged family members, the test is not during a religious holiday such as Christmas, Ramadan, or Rosh Hashanah, but during illness, dying and death. After all, one can escape a family of origin when good health, a safe home, sufficient food, and a good job are present.

Editorial

Editorial: The dangers and pitfalls of the proposed net neutrality rollback

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TWH –A planned Dec. 14 vote by federal communication commissioners is expected to result in net neutrality being eliminated as the rule governing internet service providers. Instead, access to online services would be governed by a much weaker set of rules, based on expecting corporate executives to stick to their published policies rather than requiring an even playing field. This change would negatively impact any Heathen, Pagan, or polytheist attempting to use the internet to interact with their co-religionists, whether it’s for the sharing ideas or engaging in commerce. The concept of net neutrality is that the information superhighway should not be an unlimited toll road.

Paganism

Column: the Way We Weren’t

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Steampunk is awesome (/squee!). If you have never visited one of the major events, I highly recommend adding them to your list of coolness to be experienced. The steampunk cons are carefully imagined, orchestrated and implemented. The participants approach their costuming with amazing dedication, and the mechanical props created are dazzling; they are also often useless, but that’s not the point. The point is the remarkable enthusiasm within the subculture to manifest a temporary world that speaks to them for a weekend at a time.

Culture

Column: Report from Frith Forge

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Frith Forge, the first international conference focused on inclusive Ásatrú and Heathenry, was held Oct. 6-8 outside of Potsdam, Germany. The event was the first major project of the International Relations and Exchange Program of the Troth, a U.S.-based Heathen organization with members around the world. The German host was Haimo Grebenstein of the Verein für Germanisches Heidentum (Association for Germanic Heathenry). The conference had 31 attendees from t12 countries: Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

Perspectives

Column: Psychogeography

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Psychogeography is the effect of place upon the psyche and the importance of the psyche within the landscape. The term was first discussed in the early 1950s by Guy Debord of the Situationist International, who attributed its coining to “an illiterate Kabyle.” The concept itself is simple, ancient, and foundational to an animist view of the world. In his essay “Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography,” Debord defines the term rather dryly and pseudo-scientifically as “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.” The occultist and writer Alan Moore (who explores psychogeography in his graphic novel From Hell and in his novels Voice of the Fire and Jerusalem) adds another layer of nuance to Debord’s definition by emphasizing that consciousness also embeds itself into the landscape in turn: “in our experience of any place, it is the associations, the dreams, the imaginings, the history—it is all the information that is relevant to that place which is what we experience when we talk about a place.”