Paganism

Column: Doing the Gods’ Work – a Conversation with Ben Waggoner

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Pagan Perspectives

Back in 2013 and 2014, when I was getting ready to start gathering sources for my masters’ thesis in Old Norse Religion, I realized something: while the vast majority of medieval Norse-Icelandic sagas were readily accessible in Old Icelandic, quite a few of them were hard to get a hold of in translation. Sure, I could have soldiered on, armed with only my trusty Old Icelandic-English dictionary and go through every single saga in the original language, but it would have taken such a long time that, had I done so, I’d probably still be at it today. What I needed were more general editions and translations, with enough notes and index-entries to quickly find relevant information. When it came to the more popular sagas, such as the so-called “family-sagas” (Íslendingasögur), I had little problem finding good versions. In my excessive exhaustiveness, however, I found a severe lack of material related to the more obscure sagas.

Paganism

Column: What of the Christians?

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Pagan Perspectives

One of my most vivid school memories comes from a history lesson I had when I was about seven or eight. From very early on, history had been my favorite subject. The books were always filled to the brim with colorful pictures, and the fact that the topic encompasses just about everything that ever took place regarding mankind drew my attention. That day at school, we were supposed to learn about the Renaissance and the 16th century. As I opened my book, my eyes met with a picture of a crowd laying waste to a church, breaking windows and tearing down statues.

Paganism

Column: The Goddess of Freedom

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[Columns are a regular weekend feature at The Wild Hunt. Each Friday and Saturday columnists from various backgrounds and traditions share their perspectives and add their insights to the larger conversation in the community. If you like this feature, consider making a small monthly donation or make a one-time donation toward this vital global community venture. Either way, it is your help and your support that keeps daily and dependable news coming to your doorstep each day from wherever its origin.]

Back when I was a little kid, something like 20 years ago, my mother took me on a trip to Paris. For about a week, we wandered around the city of lights, visited friends, took the metro, ate crepes, climbed the Eiffel tower and more. On the morning of our last day there, my mother told me we only had time to visit one more place before going home and that I’d have to choose between Disneyland or… the Louvre.

Paganism

Column: Honoring Differences in Energy Perception

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Energy is all around us and pervades all things. In my opinion, the vast majority of us are born with some ability to sense and work with that energy on a magical level. Among many magical practitioners, there is great emphasis placed on one’s ability to “see” energy. As a community, we tend to value and favor those who can “see” the circle of energy raised to protect those gathered. We tend to seek out those who perceive the abundant energy around us in technicolor and hear the voices of deities and spirits as clearly as most humans hear one another.

Paganism

Column: The Intersection of Pagan Religions and the Social Sciences

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There are many intersections between a person’s profession and their spiritual calling. There are parallels that exist in the reasons that someone practices within a specific spiritual belief system, and what that same person chooses to do for a living. There are types of people that are more geared toward professions that are in the service field and others that are not; this is not something new within the way we understand the development of personality and the way we define an individual’s strengths. When considering theories like “nature vs. nurture,” there are insights into the personality of those who find themselves in the field of helping professions.