Column: Remember the Shield-maidens

In late June, Jade Pichette started the #HavamalWitches hashtag on Facebook. Her explanatory post referenced the Old Norse poem Hávamál (“Sayings of the High One”) and was addressed to women who practice Ásatrú and Heathenry, modern iterations of Germanic polytheism. She called upon her audience to share their experiences of sexism within their religious communities:
So a hashtag #HavamalWitches has started to critique sexism in the Heathen community. Overall the women and femmes in the Heathen community have put up with a lot of sexism and this is basically us letting off steam and making transparent what we experience. It references the fact in the Havamal there are some really sexist stanzas so we are the Witches the Havamal warns you about.

#HavamalWitches hashtag earns applause and backlash

CANADA – Last June, an online exchange set the stage for the creation of #HavamalWitches, a campaign that has sparked kudos and controversy in the Heathen community worldwide. On June 27, Canadian gythia and now activist, Brynja Chleirich posted a meme from the group Feminists United to her Facebook page, which described a scientific study detailing how often women are talked over and silenced by men. Along with the meme she posted the comment:
Because it’s related to how I feel within my Heathen community and I’m gonna just grow a set of fortitude and leave this right here and go ponder or shit. Working with Heimdallr the past several years? This girl.

Canadian Pagans and Heathens respond to Quebec City mosque shooting

QUEBEC CITY, Mon — On the evening of Sunday, January 29, a solitary gunman entered a mosque in Quebec City, Canada, killing six men and leaving another five in serious condition. Another thirteen people were reportedly treated and released for non-life threatening injuries. The Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec is the mosque where the shootings occurred. This recent attack is not the first act of intolerance that the facility has endured. In June 2016, during Ramadan, a gift-wrapped pigs head was delivered to the mosque with a note that read “Bon appetit.” More recently the walls of the mosque had been defaced with swastikas.

Canadian Pagans rally against intolerance

CANADA — On Nov. 8, the results of the U.S. presidential election affected more than just the American population. Millions of people around the world sat on the edge of their seats as the polls came in, electing Donald Trump as the leader of one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world. North of the border, the anticipation of the incoming regime is now bringing concern and rising tension. Daily news reports include details of how the Trump administration could affect everything from the price of food to the security of the Canadian economy.