Paganism
Column: After Christchurch, Declarations or Deeds?
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In the wake of the Christchurch attacks on mosques, Karl E.H. Seigfried challenges the Heathen community to take real steps toward combating white supremacy within and without Heathenry.
Paganism
Column: Ragnarök and Odin, Death and Memory
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Is Odin’s role in Ragnarök purely fatalistic, as it has often been claimed? Karl E.H. Seigfried argues for a more hopeful interpretation of Norse myth that focuses on building a better world for our descendants.
archaeology
Column: Thor’s Hammer in Iceland – an Interview with Ragnheiður Gló Gylfadóttir
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Pagan Perspectives
A farmstead from the Viking Age was found earlier this month by a local resident in Þjórsárdalur, a valley in the southern highlands of Iceland. Bergur Þór Björnsson is the great-grandson of the man who discovered the region’s most recently found Viking-era farm back in 1920. With his new find, the total number of known farms stands at twenty-one. Archaeologists from Fornleifastofnun Ísland (“the Institute of Archaeology in Iceland”) were called to the scene and soon found several small objects. Among them was a Thor’s hammer amulet, only the second ever found in Iceland.
Paganism
Column: Ásatrú Ritual and Climate Change Ethics, Part Two
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This is part two of a two part series. Click here to read part one. Transtemporal Care
The Ásatrú practice of blót builds a concept of care in three temporal directions: sideways, backward, and forward. The ritual life of the religion nurtures a sense of both intra- and intergenerational solidarity. The sideways relationship exists between current practitioners.
Culture
Review: ‘Gods of the Vikings’ invade Disney World
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Odin, Freya and Loki must be jealous. In the new “Gods of the Vikings” exhibit in the Norway Pavilion at Epcot in Disney World, it was the slightly larger-than-life bust of Thor – especially the Norse god’s hammer, Mjolnir – that was getting the most photo-opp attention during a visit by The Wild Hunt. People young and old, and speaking numerous foreign languages, clutched the imposing, 18-inch Mjolnir as friends or family took photos – perhaps an indication of how the Marvel Comics movie franchise has made Thor a rock star beyond the community of practicing Heathens and followers of Ásatrú. Five feet from the Thor bust, however, was another Mjolnir, one less than an inch and a half long: an authentic Thor’s hammer pendant, made circa 800-1000 A.D. The artifact is on loan to the exhibit from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway.